Sony/ATV’s "Musical Notes" #37 - Rapper’s Anniversary, Hollywood Treasures & Lionel Hampton
Sony/ATV’s “Musical Notes” #37
A fortnightly newsletter highlighting some of the many classic songs in the Sony/ATV Music Publishing catalog.
From Alan Warner, Creative Consultant
Anniversaries & New Releases!
This year marks the 30th Anniversary of The Sugarhill Gang’s landmark record: RAPPER’S DELIGHT. It was the very first rap single to break out nationally (#4 on Billboard’s R&B chart and #36 on the Hot 100 both in ‘79) and was built on the rhythm track from Chic’s disco anthem GOOD TIMES written by Nile Rodgers & the late Bernard Edwards.
Check out these other recordings of
RAPPER’S DELIGHT:
By Antoine Clamaran (Inside: 2008)
By Def Squad (Redman, Erick Sermon & Keith Murray (Priority: 1997)
By Old School Players (DM: 2000)
By Keller Williams (SCI Fidelity: 2004)
...And by
Run DMC in a Budweiser commercial.
There was also a parody released on MCA in 1992 by
CB4 (Hi-C, Daddy-O & Kool Moe Dee).
BBC’s Radio 1 have already begun marking the Sugarhill Gang Anniversary and this provides an opportunity to get not only airplay of the various versions of RAPPER’S DELIGHT but also to encourage re-releases of them.
Scandalous Hollywood is back!
In 1934, the movie industry was rocked by a strict, government-enforced moral code of ethics which prevented filmmakers from putting on the screen whatever they wanted. But before ’34, adultery, nudity, sex and immorality were openly used in screenplays, hence the late 20’s & early 30’s being known as the ‘pre-code’ era.
Last week, Universal released 6 early Paramount movies in a special “Pre-Code Hollywood Collection” and one of these is MURDER AT THE VANITIES, released originally in 1934 and featuring classic Sony/ATV songs written by Sam Coslow & Arthur Johnston.
One of the songs is COCKTAILS FOR TWO which was a straightforward ballad until Spike Jones injected his zany sense of humor into it in 1945.
Listen to the versions on the accompanying
playlist which includes a vocal version by Danish-born actor Carl Brisson who sings it in the movie itself plus an instrumental recording by Duke Ellington & His Orchestra which was the best-selling version of this tune in 1934.
Carl Brisson teamed with Kitty Carlisle to perform
EBONY RHAPSODY in
“Murder At The Vanities” and another tune in the same picture is
LIVE AND LOVE TONIGHT which you can sample via the 1939 version by Basie’s Bad Boys featuring Count Basie on organ.
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A further film in the
“Pre-Code Hollywood Collection” is Paramount’s 1933 production TORCH SINGER starring Claudette Colbert. Standout song in this picture is GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME LOVE (Leo Robin/Ralph Rainger); our playlist features the 1933 Sony-owned Brunswick version by Mildred Bailey & The Dorsey Brothers Orchestra.
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A song worth hearing again:
JUST SAY SO (Majeski/Sherrill)
Above is the incredibly talented R&B singer Bettye LaVette – you probably saw her performing The Who’s song “Love Reign O’er Me” on the Kennedy Center Honors show or duetting Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” with Bon Jovi at President Obama’s Inaurgural Concert at the Lincoln Memorial. In 2005, she cut an album with producer Joe Henry under the title “I’ve Got My Own Hell To Raise”. One of the songs on that set is
JUST SAY SO written by Cathy Majeski (who co-wrote Reba McEntire’s massive 1997 country hit “How Was I To Know”) along with John Scott Sherrill. You may have to listen to Bettye’s version a couple of times before it resonates but when it hits you, you’ll realize why this track has hypnotized me for quite a while! Her profoundly intense, pleading vocal is wrapped in an emotional outpouring that achingly spells out every word with stunning clarity.
I recommend that somebody pitches this song – and particularly Bettye’s version – to Adele.
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Sony/ATV Dateline
This Sunday (April 12) marked what would have been jazz legend LIONEL HAMPTON’s 100th Birthday. He played piano & drums but was most famous for being one of the major exponents of the vibraphone. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, he died in 2002.
Following is a group of SATV tunes that he recorded:
DRUM STOMP (Higginbotham)
By Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra (Victor/Sony: 1937)
IT DON’T MEAN A THING (IF IT AIN’T GOT THAT SWING (Ellington/Mills)
By Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra (Victor/Sony: 1939)
By Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra (Atlantic/WMG: 1985)
LOUISE (Robin/Whiting)
By Lionel Hampton & Stan Getz (Norgran/Universal: 1955)
THE MOOD THAT I’M IN (Sherman/Silver)
By Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra (Victor/Sony: 1937)
*THE NEARNESS OF YOU (Carmichael/Washington)
By The Lionel Hampton Quartet (Clef/Universal: 1953)
PINK CHAMPAGNE (Liggins)
By Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra (Decca/Universal: 1950)
SATIN DOLL (Ellington/Mercer/Strayhorn)
By Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra (Columbia/Sony: 1958)
THAT OLD BLACK MAGIC (Mercer/Arlen)
By The Lionel Hampton Quartet (Clef/Universal: 1954)
*The 1953 studio version of
THE NEARNESS OF YOU featured
Oscar Peterson on piano, Ray Brown on bass and Buddy Rich on drums. Lionel revisited this tune during his 50th Anniversary Concert at Carnegie Hall in 1978; that version, released on an album on Buddah’s Sutra label and included in our accompanying playlist, featured a standout performance from tenor sax legend,
Arnett Cobb.
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R.I.P.: MAURICE JARRE (1924-2009)
French-born movie composer Maurice Jarre passed away on March 29. Among his works are the following Sony/ATV-controlled scores:
FATAL ATTRACTION (Paramount: 1987)
GHOST (Paramount: 1980)
IS PARIS BURNING (Paramount: 1966)
THE LAST TYCOON (Paramount: 1976)
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JUDGE ROY BEAN (Paramount: 1972)
SHOGUN (Paramount Television: 1980)
Click Here for Associated Playlist
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US chart positions courtesy of Joel Whitburn & Billboard Magazine
http://www.sonyatv.com/index.php/news/483
