Dr. Leo Marvin: Are you married?
Bob Wiley: I'm divorced. 
Dr. Leo Marvin: Would you like to talk about that?
Bob Wiley: There are two types of people in this world: Those who like Neil Diamond, and those who don't. My ex-wife loves him. 
Dr. Leo Marvin: [pause] I see. So, what you're saying is that even though you are an almost-paralyzed, multiphobic personality who is in a constant state of panic, your wife did not leave you, you left her because she... liked Neil Diamond?

This is a very small scene from a very, very funny, very, very dark movie called What About Bob, starring Bill Murrayand Richard Dreyfuss, directed by Frank Oz. Personally, I’m with Bob’s ex-wife—I love Neil Diamond. 

Diamond began writing songs in high school, finally ending up, as so many songwriters of the era did, at the Brill building, churning out the hits for others. The Monkees recorded a number of Diamond’s songs, including “I’m a Believer,” which became the most popular song of 1966.

The story goes that Diamond had been writing for others until he heard Bob Dylan singing. He thought, If he can get recorded with that voice, then I have a chance. (I could not find documentation for this. So, it’s probably apocryphal.) 

As the years passed, Diamond’s music lost some of its roughness and its energy. Thus, came “September Morn.” I do love this song, but I can also see how reviewers would be able to say, “On September Morn, Neil Diamond began to push the borders of easy listening, concentrating more on immaculately polished studiocraft than songcraft.” (I mean, the song even has a Barry Manilow key change.)

Stay for just a while
Stay and let me look at you
It's been so long, I hardly knew you
Standing in the door
 
Stay with me a while
I only wanna talk to you
We've traveled halfway 'round the world
To find ourselves again
 
September morn
We danced until the night
Became a brand new day
Two lovers playing scenes
From some romantic play
September morning
Still can make me feel that way
 
Look at what you've done
Why, you've become a grown-up girl
I still can hear you crying
In a corner of your room

And look how far we've come
So far from where we used to be
But not so far that we've forgotten
How it was before
 
September morn
Do you remember
How we danced that night away
Two lovers playing scenes
From some romantic play
September morning
Still can make me feel that way
September morn
We danced until the night
Became a brand new day
Two lovers playing scenes
From some romantic play
September morning
Still can make me feel that way
 
September morn
We danced until the night
Became a brand new day
Two lovers playing scenes
From some romantic play
September morning
Still can make me feel that way
September morning
Still can make me feel that way
​

My husband says that Diamond songs are always filled with angst, and this one is no different. A song about two lovers who have grown apart, but perhaps, have come full circle and found one another again. 

An interesting bit of trivia: this song is from 1979. In 2011, a nursing student named Holly Bobo vanished from her home in Tennessee. Psychics called in to the police with clues as to her whereabouts. One of them claimed that the location of Holly was imbedded in this song. They gave no indication as to what these clues were. Sadly, Bobo’s remains were found in 2014. The song, naturally, had nothing to do with it.

Are you one of those people who like Neil Diamond or one who doesn’t? Do you have a favorite Neil Diamond song? Let me know in the comments below. I’ll be posting some on my favorites on my Minnich Music Facebook page, so be sure to check them out.

Until next time!

What should I write?
What can I say?
​

Those are the opening lyrics of Carole King’s first hit as a singer/songwriter. Born and raised in Manhattan, she was surrounded by musicians. Her mother taught her piano and music theory starting at the very young age of four. She sang demos with Paul Simon. She dated Neil Sedaka in high school. With her songwriting partner and, later, husband, Gerry Goffin, she wrote some of the biggest hits of the late 1950s through the 1960s, until their divorce in 1968. Among their hits: “Chains” (Everly Brothers and The Beatles), “Loco-Motion” (Little Eva), “One Fine Day” (The Chiffons), “Up on the Roof” (The Drifters), “Pleasant Valley Sunday” (The Monkees), and “You Make Me Feel like a Natural Woman” (Aretha Franklin) to name only a very, very few.

But then Carole started writing with other people and recording more and more of her songs herself. Her distinctive voice was a part of the tapestry of my young life. I remember seeing her singing and playing the piano. She was a huge influence on my life. 

Her first solo recording, “It Might as Well Rain until September,” was not intended to be a record. It was written in 1962 for the singer Bobby Vee. (You might remember Bobby Vee from my blog on “The Day the Music Died.” He was the singer who filled in for the newly deceased Buddy Holly the night after the deaths of Holly, Richie Valensand the Big Bopper.) King and Goffin had already written the immensely popular “Take Good Care of my Baby” for Vee. But he was not thrilled with the demo for “It Might as Well Rain until September.” He agreed to record it but would not release it as a single. 

However, producer Don Kirshner liked what he heard in the demo and released it as a single. Carole was a young mother with two kids, a successful career as a songwriter, and no interest in touring to promote the single. She did appear on American Bandstand where she gave a lack-luster performance lip-syncing her song. (Everybody lip-synced on Bandstand.) She just was not comfortable standing there and singing. She needed her piano, I guess.

She went on to write so many great songs. But this is where her story as a singer/songwriter started:

What is your favorite Carole King song? Do you have any stories about her or any of the other singers I’ve mentioned? Let me know in the comments below. I’ll be playing some more songs by Carole King on my Minnich Music Facebook page, so check them out.

Until next time!

 “See You in September” is the name of a soupy song by Sid Wayne and Sherman Edwards. It is also the name of a movie. I’ve never seen the movie, and have no intention of ever seeing the movie, but I cannot help but wonder if the song is in the movie’s soundtrack somewhere. The song is about two young lovers who are being parted over the summer. Kind of the opposite of Grease, where the romcom is based on the summer fling, this song is all about the planned reunion come September. 

In the movie, things take a darker turn. It’s about a young woman who is afraid of commitment. She is seeing a therapist, played by Whoopie Goldberg, who is going out of town for the entire month of August. Our lead plans a group therapy, which is infiltrated by two thieves who tie everybody up and leave them. With literally nowhere else to go, everyone works through their problems. (Or that’s basically what IMDb told me. There was also a review that said this movie was as bad as Twilight. Bill just made me sit through Twilight, so I know just how bad that is. 

Anyway, back to our song. It was written between 11AM and 2PM on a Friday afternoon in 1959. By 8PM that evening, they had sold it. That Monday, it was recorded by The Tempos, and that Friday, just one week after it was written, it hit the radio waves.

Sherman Edwards, you may remember from my blog a few months back, stood up one day at his songwriting piano, announced he was leaving the Brill building and the writing of pop songs, and was going to go write a Broadway musical. 1776 was the result. 

Personally, I think this song is icky:

I'll be alone each and every night
While you're away, don't forget to write
 
Bye-bye, so long, farewell
Bye-bye, so long
 
See you in September
See you when the summer's through
Here we are (bye, baby, goodbye)
Saying goodbye at the station (bye, baby, goodbye)
Summer vacation (bye, baby   bye, baby)
Is taking you away (bye, baby, goodbye)
 
Have a good time but remember
There is danger in the summer moon above
Will I see you in September
Or lose you to a summer love
(Counting the days 'till I'll be with you)
(Counting the hours and the minutes, too)
 
Bye, baby, goodbye
Bye, baby, goodbye
Bye, baby, goodbye  (bye-bye, so long, farewell)
Bye, baby, goodbye  (bye-bye, so long)
 
Have a good time but remember
There is danger in the summer moon above
Will I see you in September
Or lose you to a summer love
(I'll be alone each and every night)
(While you're away, don't forget to write)
 
See you (bye-bye, so long, farewell)
In September (bye-bye, so long, farewell)
I'm hopin' I'll
See you (bye-bye, so long, farewell)
In September (bye-bye, so long, farewell)
Well, maybe I'll
See you (bye-bye, so long, farewell)
In September (bye-bye, so long, farewell)
​

Maybe I’ve gotten too old for teen romance songs. But I disliked this even when I was a teen. Of course, as a teen, I’d never had a romance, either during the school year or during the summer, so what did I know?

Anyway, let me know what you think of See You in September. Do you have a teen romance song that meant a great deal to you? Tell me about it in the comments below. I’ll be playing this song as well as a bunch of others on my Minnich Music Facebook page, so check them out.

Until next time!

You know, occasionally, I start writing a blog on a specific song with a pretty good idea of what I’m going to say. This is not one of those times. I chose “Summer Nights” for a blog because, with school starting up, it seemed like a good song for looking back at the summer just past. Wow. The things I found out.

“Summer Nights” is from the musical Grease. Briefly, Grease is a romcom about two high school students in 1958. They meet during the summer, have a short fling, and are set to go on with their lives. But they end up attending the same high school. Turns out that he (Danny) is a member of a small gang, and she (Sandy) is a goody-two-shoes. By the end of the movie, and presumably the play as well, each has changed to attract the other. He has lettered in track, and she is now a femme fatale/bad girl. The school year is over, and they live happily ever after. (Yeah, right.) The song “Summer Nights” is from the beginning of the musical when we are introduced to the characters and hear about their summer affair in the “He said/She said” format. The T-Birds are his friends, while the Pink Ladiesnare hers.

[Verse 1: Danny + Sandy]
Summer lovin', had me a blast
Summer lovin', happened so fast
I met a girl crazy for me
Met a boy cute as can be

[Both]
Summer days drifting away
To, uh oh, those summer nights

[Chorus]
[T-Birds]
Well-a, well-a, well-a, uh!
Tell me more, tell me more
[Doody]
Did you get very far?
[Pink Ladies]
Tell me more, tell me more
[Marty]
Like does he have a car?

[Verse 2: Danny + Sandy]
She swam by me, she got a cramp
He ran by me, got my suit damp
I saved her life, she nearly drowned
He showed off splashing around

[Both]
Summer sun, something's begun
But, uh oh, those summer nights

[Chorus]
[T-Birds and Pink Ladies]
Well-a, well-a, well-a, uh!
[Pink Ladies]
Tell me more, tell me more
[Frenchy]
Was it love at first sight?
[T-Birds]
Tell me more, tell me more
[Kenickie]
Did she put up a fight?

[Verse 3: Danny + Sandy]
Took her bowling in the arcade
We went strolling, drank lemonade
We made out under the dock
We stayed out till ten o’clock

[Both]
Summer fling don't mean a thing
But, uh oh, those summer nights

[Chorus]
[T-Birds and Pink Ladies]
Woah, woah, woah
[T-Birds]
Tell me more, tell me more
[Sonny]
But you don't gotta brag
[Pink Ladies]
Tell me more, tell me more
[Rizzo]
Cause he sounds like a drag

[All]
Shooda-bop bop
Shooda-bop bop
Shooda-bop bop
Shooda-bop bop
Shooda-bop bop
Shooda-bop bop
Shooda-bop bop
Yeah

[Verse 4: Danny + Sandy]
He got friendly holding my hand
Well, she got friendly down in the sand
He was sweet, just turned eighteen
Well, she was good, you know what I mean


[Both]
Summer heat, boy and girl meet
But, uh oh, those summer nights

[Chorus]
[T-Birds and Pink Ladies]
Woah, woah, woah
[Pink Ladies]
Tell me more, tell me more
[Jan]
How much dough did he spend?
[T-Birds]
Tell me more, tell me more
[Sonny]
Could she get me a friend?

[Bridge: Danny + Sandy]
It turned colder, that's where it ends
So I told her we'd still be friends
Then we made our true love vow
Wonder what she's doin' now

[Both (T-Birds and Pink Ladies)]
Summer dreams ripped at the seams
But, oh, those summer nights
(Tell me more, tell me more)

Maybe it’s just me and my unexciting teen-aged years, but I never had a summer fling. The closest I came was on a trip to Virginia Beach, as I was riding the waves in on an inflatable raft, there was a guy doing the same thing nearby. By the end of the day we were side by side and having a lot of fun. Just the one day. I’m not sure we even exchanged names.

Problematic Themes 

Grease is considered to be a fun movie. Almost a cult classic. And I enjoy watching it when it comes my way. But there are a few problems with the movie and with this song. First of all, since this takes place in 1958, when segregation was still a thing all over the US, the cast is extremely white. I’m trying to think of a single non-white person in the cast and am coming up empty. Oh, there is Cha Cha, a Latina who shows up in the dance scene. But her name is Cha Cha. Great character.

There was a sequel, because, of course there was, unimaginatively named Grease 2. it starred Michelle Pfeiffer and bombed. Sadly, there is now a prequel in the works. No cast yet. The title for this is taken from our song: Summer Nights. We kind of know how it’s going to end.

Anyway, let’s look at this song and why I think it has problems. Ok, it has one problem: there is one line that I really dislike. Kenickie, Danny’s best friend, sings: Did she put up a fight. That one line bothers me a lot. I know that this song is from another time, 1978, and is about another time, 1958, 20 years earlier. But we have a big problem with rape in this country, and I object to anything that romanticizes rape as I feel this line does. When Greasewas recorded live in 2015 there were lines from the song “Greased Lightning” that were changed. However, this line was allowed to stay. 

Conspiracy Theories 
​
There is a fan theory about the movie that begins with this song. At the end of the movie, Sandy and Danny drive/fly off in a red car that takes them over the heads of their friends into the sky. The theory starts with verse two of our song:

 [Verse 2: Danny + Sandy]
She swam by me, she got a cramp
He ran by me, got my suit damp
I saved her life, she nearly drowned
He showed off splashing around
​

In this idea, Sandy really does drown. This makes the entire musical her hallucination as her brain runs out of oxygen. The car that flies then becomes her soul flying to heaven. In some versions of the theory, Danny drowns too.
​
When asked about this theory, John Travolta said in an interview with USA Today: "I love it; imaginations are awesome," he told the publication. "These things are bound to happen to something timeless like this. It's so fun." Travolta added that Danny was exaggerating when it came to telling the story of saving Sandy's life: 

I always figured the car flying off was a nod to the popular movie, The Absent-Minded Professor, which is a movie from 1961. In it, Fred MacMurray plays a scientist who invents Flubber, a substance which allows things to ignore the laws of gravity and fly. (Here’s a recipe for Flubber. Doesn’t look like it’ll fly, though.) He ends up putting it on his car and it can fly. And, I know, Greaseis set three years before The Absent-Minded Professorcame out, but that’s the only explanation that I can come up with. At least no one is dead in my version.

Fall officially starts in a few days, so, go and have fun with those summer nights while they last.
Was I the only one who never had a summer fling? Tell me your summer lovin’ stories. Or commiserate with me. What is your favorite song from Grease? Let me know in the comments below. I’ll be playing some of the songs from Greaseon my Minnich Music Facebook page, so check them out.

Until next time!

Another day older and deeper in debt. That is a line from the song: “Sixteen Tons.” I remember loving the single that my parents had of this song. I must have sounded more than a little bit silly singing this at the age of 4 or 5, trying to achieve the smooth bass sound of Tennessee Ernie Ford. 

What kind of a name is Tennessee Ernie Ford? Well, long time ago, radio DJs often made up personas to hook audiences into their shows. I remember Wolfman Jack, for instance. The Big Bopper was the radio persona of Jiles Perry (J.P.) Richardson. Tennessee Ernie was born Ernest Jennings Ford. He happened to be born in Tennessee. Apparently, his persona was of an exaggerated hillbilly. However, this hillbilly had received classical vocal training at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, conveniently in Cincinnati, Ohio. You can hear his training in the smoothness of his voice and the pitch-perfect intonation.

“Sixteen Tons” was written in 1946 by Merle Travis who also did the first recording of the song. Travis is best known for a style of guitar playing that is still called Travis picking. It’s a distinctive style that originates in Travis’s native Kentucky, with some added ragtime touches. If you listen to much of Peter, Paul and Mary’s songs, you will hear this style of finger picking.

While “Sixteen Tons” went on to become a gold record for Travis, it seems to have gone away for a few years, coming out of the mothballs in 1955. Since that time, it has been recorded almost every year by singers from all styles of music: country, rock, pop, jazz and even punk. But the definitive recording goes to Tennessee Ernie Ford. 

Like many a hit, “Sixteen Tons” was the B-side to a song called “You Don’t Have to be a Baby to Cry.” However, it was “Sixteen Tons” that got the airplay and has been a hit since 1956. It quickly rose to number one in both the US and the UK, selling over two million copies in just two months. It has been estimated that eventually the song sold over twenty million copies worldwide.

Some people say a man is made outta mud
A poor man's made outta muscle and blood
Muscle and blood and skin and bones
A mind that's a-weak and a back that's strong

You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine
I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine
I loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal
And the straw boss said "Well, a-bless my soul"

You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

I was born one mornin', it was drizzlin' rain
Fightin' and trouble are my middle name
I was raised in the canebrake by an ol' mama lion
Can't no-a high-toned woman make me walk the line

You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

If you see me comin', better step aside
A lotta men didn't, a lotta men died
One fist of iron, the other of steel
If the right one don't a-get you, then the left one will

You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store
​

You can hear fingers snapping at the start of the song. The small band that was recording with Ford asked for the tempo. He gave it to them by snapping his fingers. The record producer liked it and kept the snapping in the song.

A few points about the lyrics. First the reference to “number nine coal.” I couldn’t find anything definitive, but it sounds like coal seams get numbers. So, number nine could just be the number of that particular seam and that particular mine. I also read that it could refer to the quality of the coal, with number nine being the highest grade. Does anyone have a definite answer?

The line “I owe my soul to the company store” refers to the form of serfdom that coal mines used with their miners. In order to work the mine, you had to live in the company town. All the houses were owned by the mine owners. The rent for those houses was taken out of your pay. But to make things even worse, you were paid not with money, but with scrip. This scrip was only usable at the company store. Once you started working at the mines, there was no way out. You could never save up money because you had none. You only had these otherwise worthless pieces of paper. 

Happy Labor Day, indeed!

What’s your favorite version of “Sixteen Tons?” Johnny Cash does a great version. I understand that Elvis used to sing it in concert, but there are no recordings of it. Let me know what you think in the comments below. I’ll be posting versions of this song and maybe some other songs by Tennessee Ernie Ford this week on my Minnich Music Facebook page, so check them out.
Until next time!