Articles by John Twang

The Wellingtons performed the title songs for "Gilligan's Island" and "Davy Crockett." They also backed acts on "Shindig!!” The group started as a folk quartette with Kapp Records and were known as The Lincolns because they were from Illinois. They changed their name to The Wellingtons when signed by Disney and recorded the theme song for Wonderful World of Color. Fess Parker became an instant celebrity when "Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier" debuted in 1955. The first recording of…

Jim Lowe, singer-songwriter is best known for his 1956 hit "Green Door". He was also a radio personality in New York City. Jim composed "Gambler's Guitar", a hit for Rusty Draper in 1953. In 1957 he hit the top twenty with the original version of “Four Walls” (Marvin Moore, George Campbell). In 1982 he became the Program Director for WNEW-AM in New York City. Another radio personality, “Gentleman” Jim Reeves scored a little better with his version of “Four Walls” in the same year reaching bo…

Winchester Cathedral: a large Church of England cathedral in Winchester, Hampshire, England. This song won the 1966 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary (R&R) Recording. Don’t ask why, I don’t know, although it is a pleasing departure from the norm! "Winchester Cathedral" (Geoff Stephens: The Crying Game, There’s a King of Hush, Goodbye Sam, Hello Samantha, Daughter of Darkness) by The New Vaudeville Band hit the top spot in 1966. Recorded entirely by session musicians including the vocal lead…

In 1966 Yugoslavian Berta Ambroz entered the Eurovision Song Festival with “Brez Besed” (Without Words) composed by Mojmir Sepe and Elza Budau. In 1973 Mocedades came second in the Spanish Eurovision Song with “Eres Tu” composed by Juan Carlos Calderon. Plagiarism was suspected. The song hit the Billboard top ten. Mocedades recorded an English version of the tune as “Touch the Wind” (Calderon, Hawker).

Flaming Star is a 1960 Western film starring Elvis Presley, based on the book Flaming Lance (1958) by Clair Huffaker. Critics agreed that Presley gave one of his best acting performances as the mixed-blood "Pacer Burton", a dramatic role. The film was directed by Don Siegel, and had a working title of Black Star. The film rights for Flaming Star had been circulating around Hollywood since 1958 when 20th Century Fox finally decided to cast Presley in the lead role. Originally Frank Sinatra an…

"I Just Fall in Love Again" (Herbstritt, Dorff, Lloyd, and Sklerov) was recorded by The Carpenters in 1977 and covered in 1979 by Dusty Springfield, whose version inspired Anne Murray to record it the same year. Anne Murray's version hit Billboard's top twenty and became the number one country hit of the year.

Gary Usher co-wrote the Beach Boy classics "In my Room" and "409". It was Gary who composed "Don't Give in to Him" recorded by the British band Finders Keepers in 1967. Two years later it hit the top twenty for Gary Puckett and the Union Gap.

"If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)" composed by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays was written as a political statement in 1949. It was recorded first by The Weavers (Ronnie Gilbert, Lee Hays, Fred Hellerman, and Pete Seeger) but achieved little success. Then Peter, Paul and Mary (Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey and Mary Travers) had a top ten hit in 1962. The Trini Lopez (Trinidad López III) version hit the top five of Billboard's chart one year later.

"Those Were the Days" (Gene Raskin), is a Russian song called "Dorogoi dlinnoyu" (Boris Fomin, Konstantin Podrevskii). One of the first recordings from the twenties featured Alexander Vertinsky. Gene Raskin played the folk circuit in 1960s New York and there the Limeliters heard the tune. Raskin and his wife played London's "Blue Angel" every year, always closing their show with the song. Paul McCartney frequented the club and, after the formation of The Beatles' Apple Records label, rec…

Curly Putman has written or co-composed "The Green Green Grass of Home", "Elusive Dreams", "He Stopped Loving Her Today" and "D-I-V-O-R-C-E". The ex Mrs. George Jones, Tammy Wynette (Virginia Wynette Pugh) had the big hit of "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" in 1968. Scottish comedian Billy Connolly gives his take on this classic country tune.

Anne (Patricia Jacqueline Sibley) Shelton's recording career began in 1943. After the war she sang with the Glenn Miller orchestra during the band's tour of the UK. Anne Recorded "The Village of St. Bernadette" in 1959. She was awarded the OBE in 1990. Andy William hit the top ten with the song. "The Village of St. Bernadette" was the title of his album that contained inspirational music and was well received by music critics.

Composer and OBE recipient Albert Hammond is at least partially responsible for hits "99 MIles From L.A.", "It Never Rains in Southern California", "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now", "Moonlight Lady", "The Air That I Breathe", "One Moment in Time", "When I Need You" and "To All the Girls I've Loved Before". In 1984 the unusual team of Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias covered "To All the Girls I've Loved Before" and hit Billboard's top ten.

Louise Cordet (Louise Boisot) is the goddaughter of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. She toured with The Beatles, Paul & Paula and Gerry & The Pacemakers and Gerry Marsden initially wrote the song "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying" for Louise in 1963. Brian Epstein managed Gerry and the Pacemakers, the first act to reach number one in the UK Singles Chart with their first three single releases. In 1964 Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying was their biggest US hit.

Comments are appreciated. I have no idea who will, or won't, visit this site but welcome is the key word. One of my past-times is to find original versions to songs and post them (not in their entirety) along with the hit version. Click on "articles". Every Saturday at 10:00 a.m. I host an "oldies" program at www.cjlx.fm that may be of interest.