Articles by John Twang

In his relatively short life the driven Bert Russell (Berns) wrote and produced a ton of tunes including "Tell Her" in 1962 as recorded by Gil Hamilton aka Johnny Thunder. Please read Joel Selvin's "Here Comes the Night: The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues". The idolized team of Leiber and Stoller produced The Exciters (Herb Rooney and wife Brenda Reid, Carol Johnson and Lillian Walker) "Tell Him" which peaked at number four in early 1963.

From the 1969 album "The Sonny Curtis Style" the opening track is "The Straight Life" (Curtis). Sonny was a member of the famous Crickets. If and when you get to Nashville look at the outside wall of the Country Music Hall of Fame and his name is proudly displayed there as a major contributor. An accomplished painter, composer, television producer, entertainer and musician, Bobby Goldsboro's cover of "The Straight Life" is from his 1968 album "Word Pictures". The single hit the top ten in Ca…

"Marie" was featured in the 1928 motion picture "The Awakening" when it was sung off screen by an unnamed female vocalist. Singer, bandleader, musician, crooner, actor and one of the original teen idols, Rudy (Hubert) Vallee and his Connecticut Yankees recorded "Marie" (Irving Berlin) in 1929. The song's fame happened in 1937 when "The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra had their first big hit with "Marie". It spotlighted the vocals of Jack Leonard and a trumpet s…

Kevin Johnson hit the top ten in his native Australia with "Rock 'N' Roll (I Gave You the Best Years of My Life)" in 1973. It went to the top seventy in the U.S. The album of the same name was released in 1974. Terry Jacks issued "Rock 'N' Roll (I Gave You the Best Years of My Life)" in 1974. It made the Canadian top ten adult contemporary chart and the top twenty pop chart while barely cracking the top one hundred on Billboard. Terry was a member of the Poppy Family of "Which Way You Going B…

"El Condor Pasa" (Robles) first appeared on record when issued by Orquesta del Zoológico in 1917. This is from an original 78 rpm release. The tune is based on traditional Andean folk songs and is considered a national treasure in Peru. Simon and Garfunkel's 1970 "Bridge Over Troubled Water" album contains the track "El Condor Pasa (If I Could)" (Robles - Milchberg - Simon). The single featuring Los Incas (Jorge Milchberg, Olivier Milchberg, Rob Yaffe, Jorge Transate, Moises Arnaiz, Juan Dale…

Paul "The King of Jazz'" Whiteman's Concert Orchestra with Dana Suesse on piano recorded "Deep Purple" (Peter De Rose) in 1934. Peter De Rose also composed "Wagon Wheels", "Somebody Loves You", "Buena Sera" and "Have You Ever Been Lonely". This initial instrumental recording came five years prior to the massive hits by Larry Clinton and Guy Lombardo featuring the lyrics of Mitchell Parish. The brother and sister duo of Nino Tempo (LoTempio) and April Stevens (Carol LoTempio) topped the chart…

In 1948 Jacques Helian and his orchestra were first to record "C'est Si Bon" (Betti - Hornez) with vocalist Jean Marco. Yves Montand turned down the song. Louis Armstrong heard the song performed by Suzy Delair at the Nice Music Festival. In 1950 he and the Sy Oliver Orchestra recorded the English version with lyrics by Jerry Seelan. This cover received world-wide success. Stage, recording, movie and television star Eartha Kitt's (Keith) 1953 version of "C'est Si Bon" (It's So Good) is fr…

Founding member of the Ink Spots, Deek Watson and His Brown Dots (Joe King, Jimmy Gordon and Pat Best) recorded "Sentimental Reasons" (Watson - Best) in 1945. One of the smoothest voices ever, Nat "King" Cole recorded "(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons" and topped the chart in 1946. Over a decade later "(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons" hit the top twenty again along with top five R&B when it was recorded by Sam Cooke. While he was contracted to RCA this was on the album "Hit Kit" w…

Trumpeter and big band leader Charlie Spivak recorded "Mona Lisa" (Ray Evans - Jay Livingston) for the 1950 motion picture "Captain Carey, U.S.A." starring Alan Ladd. The movie was based on the novel "No Surrender" and filmed using the title "O.S.S." and then "After Midnight" before being released as "Captain Carey, U.S.A." The song won the Academy Award for Best Song. Pianist/singer Nat "King Cole" took the single to the top of the charts that same year. The arrangement was by Nelson Riddle…

The Mills Brothers "You Always Hurt the One You Love" (Allan Roberts - Doris Fisher) first reaching the top of the chart in 1944. Details on the group are elsewhere on this site. Accomplished pianist and trombonist, Clarence "Frogman" Henry's "You Always Hurt the One You Love" hit the top twenty in 1961. Frogman opened several concerts for The Beatles on the 1964 North American tour.

Fritz Schulz-Reichel recorded the original Crazy Otto Medley in 1953. The opening tune is "Ivory Rag", "In der Nacht ist der Mensch nicht gern alleine", "Das machen nur die Beine von Dolores", "Was macht der alte Seemann" and the closing tune is Irving Berlin's "Play a Simple Melody". The artist's nickname was "Crazy Otto". The Johnny Maddox and the Rhythmasters close to note for note cover peaked at number two in 1955. This ragtime pianist was the first successful Dot Records artist. Johnny'…

Frank Sinatra introduced "Time After Time" (Sammy Cahn - Jule Styne) with Kathryn Grayson (who sang it too, later in the film) in the movie "It Happened In Brooklyn" starring himself along with Kathryn Grayson, Peter Lawford and Jimmy Durante. This is how you sell a song, this is how you own a song! Having said that it made it into the Billboard top twenty that year. Chris Montez (Montanez) and "Time After Time" hit in 1966. That's Wes Montgomery on guitar. This was the hit from the album of…

Academy Award, Emmy, Tony, Golden Globe and Grammy winner Liza Minnelli sang "Theme From New York, New York" (Kander - Ebb) from the Martin Scorsese film "New York, New York" in 1977. Frank Sinatra owned the song when he recorded it in 1979 on the Sonny Burke produced album "Trilogy: Past Present Future". The single hit the top thirty.

Ray Stevens (Ragsdale) was first to record "Sunday Morning Coming Down" in 1969. This Monument single hit with small impact on both the country and pop charts. In chatting with Monument label owner Fred Foster, Fred was upset that Ray recorded this before Kris Kristofferson and thought Kris let Ray do it because the composer was somewhat naive about the music business at the time. This is my favourite version of the song. The 1970 Monument album "Kristofferson", his debut, featured gifted com…

Note the fact that there are now two posts for this song. Conflicting information exists and I am not certain which is correct so I leave that to the reader. The Peerless Quartet (John H. Meyer, Henry Burr, Frank Croxton and Albert Campbell) were first to record "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans" in 1922. They are known as one of the major influences on the development of barbershop vocal harmony and were inducted into Pennsylvania's Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2003. Recorded by Fred…

Once upon a time there was a Los Angeles teen club called "The Cinnamon Cinder". Located in Studio City it was started by a local DJ from KRLA, Bob Eubanks. Bob went on to host "The Newlywed Game" while the club went on to become a small chain. This spawned the television show of the same name also known as "Bob Eubanks' Hollywood Dance Time". Apparently the idea of producer Marty Cooper using unknown pick-up musicians, "Cinnamon Cinder" (Russ Regan) by The Cinders was released on Warner Brothe…

"Danke Shoen" was originally recorded by the multi-talented orchestra leader, composer, arranger and producer Bert Kaempfert (Kampfert) in 1962 as "Candelight Cafe" (Kaempfert - Schwabach). Bert was the man to hire The Beatles as backup for Tony Sheridan on his album called "My Bonnie". Milt Gabler put the English lyric to the tune and in 1963 Nelson Riddle arranged the Wayne Newton cover of "Danke Shoen" when Wayne was only twenty-one. The song was intended for singer Bobby Darin as a follow…

John D. Loudermilk is one of many composers that I have a great respect for and "Tobacco Road" is just one reason why this is so. He recorded the original in 1960. Mickie Most produced The Nashville Teens (Art Sharp, Ray Phillips, John Hawken, Terry Crowe, John Allen, Pete Shannon and Barry Jenkins) from Surrey, England. They hit the top fifteen with their debut single, the cover of "Tobacco Road" in 1964.