Andy 60s Music - Long Songs Of Long Ago - Ballads.

When I first heard El Paso by Marty Robbins, and this was in the late 50's, I thought it was one of the longest songs I have listened to, because, comparatively, pop songs of yesteryear were only two to three minutes in duration, and another minute would be mighty trying. But checking the statistics today, I found it was only four and a half minutes, a fraction of the length of some songs today.

El Paso was a ballad [slow song, themes of love, loss, etc.], in this instance, a gunfighter's tale to tell but definitely a bit lengthy for me. Today, it's a different mouse tale. Imagine the longest song in the Guinness Book of Records called Devil Glitch to be 69 minutes in length. But even then, there are many songs that are longer, as current rock and rap lyrics can be.

Donna Summer's Love To Love You Baby, a 70's disco number is something else. With up to 10 million views, there's something special to it but then, it's just disco muse with the title repeated... Oh. Nearly 17 minutes.

The very short list below are songs I am familiar with and very much on the top 10 before. They are pretty lengthy for me. 

If you know any 60's or 70's popular songs with more interesting vital statistics, just send in the details.

El Paso - A ballad by Marty Robbins.

YouTube video - V.A. HOSS

Songs From the 60s and 70s With Duration

1   Like A Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan - [6 minutes, 9 seconds]

2  Hey Jude - Beatles - 7.11

3   McArthur Park - Richard Harris - 7.21

4   American Pie Don McClean - 8.37 [featured in 2021 movie, 'Black Widow']

5   El Paso - Marty Robbins - 4.38 [for comparison]

6   November Rain - Guns n Roses - 8.37

7   Stairway To Heaven - Led Zeppelin - 8.03

8   Love To Love You Baby -Donna Summer - 16.53

9   Chariots Of Fire - 20.41 [instrumental]

10  The Boxer - Simon n Garfunkel [5.08]'''

11  Don't Cry For Me Argentina - Madonna [5.30]'''

10 Devil Glitch - Chris Butler - 69.00

Richard Harris - McArthur Park

YouTube by gb

Don McClean's, American Pie was featured in 

Disney's Black Widow starring Scarlet Johannsson.

Image Credit - Marvel Studios.

Connect to American Pie stories

https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2017/02/american-pie-day-music-died.html

://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2010/12/killing-me-softly-with-american-pie-don.html

'''Contributed by suituapui.

Images Google.

Did Our Singapore Bands Cover Bob Dylan In 60s?

Bob Dylan: Yesterday and Today

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This posting 15 July 2011

A note from anonymous:

Did any Singaporean artists of the 60s and 70s cover Dylan songs at the time? Either in English or any other language? I'm collecting covers of Dylan in languages other than English, and Asian-language ones are hard to find. Love your blog. What a lively and attractive scene you had back then and very well detailed by your good self - July 13, 2011, 11:04 PM.

My reply:

Hi, anon,

To specifically target particular groups or singers who play or sing Dylan can be daunting, so do give me a bit of time as it may take a while. Thanks for visiting and the lovely pat on the back. Andy.

Reply From Vernon Cornelius:

Hi Andy,

I don't think anyone here covered Dylan in 60s and 70s. I know bands like The Quests (1966-67) performed Don't think twice it's alright, recorded, All my Sorrows, traditional by BD as All My Trials. Myself from 1969, singing All Along The Watchtower, Lay Lady Lay and much more!

In the 70s Fried Ice, Pests Infested, Stray dogs, Heritage, Mogan etc. performed BD, but I'm quite sure none ever recorded such material. In 1989 I recorded Mr Bojangles but not a BD song. 

In Chinese (Mandarin) there is great probability only the simple, Blowing in the Wind was recorded. Maybe too by Foo Soo Yin. The structure of Dylan English and music craft would've made it impossible to cover such songs unless lyrics were changed to flow better.

Bob Dylan. Lay Lady Lay: Video from Post Productions. October 2008.

I became heavily BD from 1969 and played him on Rediffusion 69-75, and from 1989 with my band Overheads performed numerous BD songs. After my Rediffusion stint I became a musicologist, and in 1972 to 1973 gave lengthy serious talks at the National Library on the History and Development of modern pop music.

Regret I didn't give you much, but this confirms much of what you already know. Sending you warmest wishes.

Vernon.

Thanks to Vernon for the answer. 

Images from Google.

Labour Day: Work Hard For The Money Folks!

A few songs come to mind when Labour Day strikes. Here's a few personal selection for the many found on the internet:

Nine To Five (Dolly Parton)

Yes, it's a 1980 song but the song became something of an anthem for office workers in the U.S., and owe its title to an organization founded in 1973 with the aim of bringing about better treatment for women in the workplace:

Nine to five, what a way to make a living;
Barely getting by, it's all taking and no giving.
They just use your mind, and they never give you credit.

Nine to five, for service and devotion;
you would think that I would deserve a fair promotion;
want to move ahead, but the boss won't seem to let me.

Chain Gang (Sam Cooke)

Inspired with an actual chain-gang of prisoners Sam Cooke saw on a highway while on tour. He felt sorry for the men and gave them cartons of cigarettes.

Well don't you know
That's the sound of the men                                                 
Workin' on the chain gangAll day long they work so hard
'Till the sun is going down, down
Workin' on the highways and byways and wearing
Wearing a frown
You hear them moaning

She Works Hard For The Money (Donna Summer)

It was based on an actual encounter that Donna Summer had with an exhausted bathroom attendant:

It's a sacrifice working day to day
For little money just tips for pay
But it's worth it all
Just to hear them say that they care

She works hard for the money
So hard for it honey
She works hard for the money

Maggie's Farm:

This theme of capitalist exploitation came to be seen by some as the major theme of the song. Lots of interpretation this song has:

Well, he hands you a nickel
He hands you a dime
He asks you with a grin
If you're havin' a good time
Then he fines you every time you slam the door
I ain't gonna work for Maggie's brother more.

There are 22 more songs if you can be bothered. But here's the twist at the end. Written by: Rob O'Connor | List Of The Day – Thu, Aug 28, 2008 8:15 PM EDT titled, The 25 Best Work Songs For Labor Day, he said:

"But we here at List Of The Day never stop working. We're always thinking of new lists that need to be compiled. When we saw Labour Day coming up on the calendar, we knew it was time to wheel out the work songs. Not the old, smelly work songs that musicologists once discovered in the hands of the workingman, but the ones written and performed by rich rock stars who've never done any real work. Rich rock stars, you see, complain better than anyone. So who better to give voice to than the oppressed?"

Hey wait a minute, I thought pop singers work hard too?  Happy Labour Day holiday folks. I retired long ago...
Images: Google

Info: http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/list-of-the-day/the-25-best-work-songs-for-labor-day.html

Don't Criticise What You Can't Understand: Dylan

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Latest News: October 2016

Bob Dylan has won the 2016 Nobel prize in literature, Announcing the award on Thursday 13th October, Dylan had: "created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition." He is the first songwriter to win the accolade and the first American to win since Toni Morrison in 1993.

*****************************

This posting on 21 April 2011

Bob Dylan was in Singapore recently. A truly great 60s artiste with an independent mind, some of his songs are interesting reads. So looking from a different perspective and unless you are familiar with this particular song, please READ the extract of, The Times They Are A Changin' (January, 1964, Columbia Records) below. Apologies to Bob Dylan. Bracketed remarks are mine:

Bob Dylan:

"Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'
(Orchard Road floods?)

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'
(New roulette wheel at Casino?)

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
There's a (contest) outside ragin'
It'll soon (clear) your windows
And (strengthen) your walls
For the times they are a-changin'
(Perhaps a tsunami?)

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agein'
For the times they are a-changin'
(Seniors Realisation Week?)

The line it is drawn
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
For the times they are a-changin'..."
(Formula One Night Race?)

Just wondering. If there's a need for change, is it for the better? That's important.

Image: Google

Singapore Floods: Dylan: Early Morning Rain

Orchard Road 1960's

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8.1.18 (8 January 2018) News Flash:

This morning there was a deluge and a few areas in Singapore was flooded. Bedok, Eunos and Paya Lebar were some of the affected areas.

But it's an auspicious day, so I thought I would just sound a paragraph about what had happened this morning. What's a little rain and being a little wet if you get that 4D number 8118 (fart yart yart fart) as it's read in Cantonese dialect and means, Good Luck, Everyday Good Luck?

I never buy 4D lotteries but this rare combination of early morning rain, heavy flooding, stalled vehicles and water in buses is definitely unique. No need to go looking for vehicle number plates. Good luck readers; spare me some if you win...
😊 Showers of blessings!

Peter Chan, 70s music man and current businessman, sent me some pictures of floods in Singapore. Here's one (image above) that occurred at Orchard Road in the 60's. No, it wasn't the first time the recent flood devastation happened at glamorous Orchard because since recorded statistics there had been floods on our island since the 1950's onwards.

So why is a 60's music blog discussing floods you ask. While looking at Peter's photographs and reading the papers about the recent deluge, I remember a late 50's song about "rising waters" by Johnny Cash and managed to retrieve it from a website called, starcasm.net It's got that unique Cash beat that our Man In Black specialized in.

Johnny Cash Sleeve Cover

The singer who had never feared "death, darkness and such apocalyptic things as floods" had put on vinyl, Five Feet High and Rising for his 1959 concept album Songs of Our Soil. Much like his gallows countdown 25 Minutes To Go, this song is an "hourglass ballad, measuring time with the rising waters of the Mississippi River flood of 1937." From historical data, waters from the massive river rose 15 feet above flood stage after 21 consecutive days of rain.

There are many C/W songs about floods and the more popular ones are When It Rains It Pours by Merle Haggard, High Water by Bob Dylan, Rainy Day Blues by Willie Nelson and Steady As The Rain by Dolly Parton.

 A flooded street in Singapore 2010.

So to all Singapore music lyricists today, writing ditties about our achievements on this beautiful, sunny island can be a little cliched, so why not write about our recent floods at our most celebrated shopping street? Might make it to the Top 10 Singapore Song Chart, if there's any.

Image 1: Peter Chan Collections.
Image 2: Johnny Cash from Google.

Songs about Rain and Floods:

Singing in the Rain - Gene Kelly
After the Rain - John Coltrain
All I Needed Was The Rain - Elvis Presley
Ain't No Sunshine - Jose Feliciano

Black Summer Rain - Eric Clapton
Coloured Rain - Eric Burdon n The Animals
Early Morning Rain - Bob Dylan
Fool In The Rain - Led Zeppelin

8th January 2018 (from Straits Times, Singapore)

Riders On The Storm - The Doors
Money for Floods - Joan Baez
Down in The Floods - Blood, Sweat and Tears
Texas Flood - Willie Nelson

High Water - Bob Dylan
Have you ever seen the rain? - CCR
Here Comes The Flood - Peter Gabriel.
When the Levee Breaks - Led Zeppelin

Just a taste of the floods. Carry on to contribute if you can.

8th January 2018 Bus Stop.

Disclaimer:

There is no intention of making fun of the people involved in the rain and floods that have affected these areas in Singapore. Water-logged vehicles, wet commuters, pedestrians and hospitalised individuals suffer much during these inclement weather conditions. It's always looking for the silver lining that's important.

Original article: Andy Lim.
Images: Google and The Straits Times Press.

60 years later today - 10 of November 2021.

Image: https://www.edf.org/climate/why-fighting-climate-change-so-urgent

Peter Paul Mary: Blowin' In The Wind: Gone At 72 Mary Travers

She was at career peak.

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Mary Travers, 72, the female third of the popular 60s folk trio Peter, Paul, and Mary, had passed away after battling leukemia for several years.

Travers and her music mates, Peter Yarrow and Noel Stookey, best known for their hit, *Puff The Magic Dragon, was in the American folk music scene in the early 60s with their influential style and civil rights cause.

Blowin' In The Wind by Bob Dylan was recorded by hundreds of artistes because it was the anthem of the civil rights movement. But it was Peter, Paul, and Mary who made it an international hit.

Led by Mary Travers, they had already put protest songs into the music hit parade with their version of Pete Seeger's If I Had A Hammer, but they were able to balance commercial success with their espousal of worthy causes.

In later years

In August 1963, they performed Blowin' In The Wind to a large group of black freedom marchers in Washington who had just heard Martin Luther King's famous 'I have a dream' speech.

After many hits on record that included *Lemon Tree, *Where Have All the Flowers Gone, and Leaving On A Jet Plane, the group disbanded in 1970.

*Puff The Magic Dragon was banned in Singapore in 1963 for drug connotation. Was there one?

Lemon Tree was also covered by The Crescendos, a Singapore 60s group, with Susan Lim doing the lead vocals.

By Pete Seeger.

Other pop songs banned in Singapore not too long ago and during those crucial times when we were still vulnerable (we still are) included:

Yellow Submarine by The Beatles
Rainbow by A-Mei (Chinese Song)
I Kissed A Girl by Kate Perry
Would You Mind by Janet Jackson

Images: Google.

James Brown, Bob Dylan, Cher, Peggy Sue, American Pie, Purple Rain, Stand By Me?

It's interesting to read snippets of "over a century of the greatest artists, albums, songs, performances and events that rocked the music world."

James Brown (image) playing at The Apollo is under 'Key Performance' in the book, "Working up his soulful screams before opting for a velvety growl, he continually took his audience to the edge and back again, women exploding with screams and hollered responses... (Page: 286)"

The Little Black Book Of MUSIC (General Editor: Sean Egan, 2007) is also worthwhile buying as it's a reference guide, so if the reader is that keen on pop music, the book costs about 17 pounds on Amazon ( about S$40.00++?).

The content consists of music from 1890 up to the present day. That's a long history and a detailed and interesting one too. This blogger is learning a lot from this book and as usual, it's available in our libraries.

With nearly 800 pages, the book is small, square and thick. But worth the amount paid for!

Image: amazon.com.uk

Original article: Andy Lim

U.S. 60s Influence - Groups - Kingston Trio'

KingstoneThe youths growing up in Singapore 60s could sing, hum or whistle, "Tom Dooley". The Kingston Trio was formed in 1957 and by the following year had this very successful single at the top the pop charts. The trio, though certainly more commercially viable than some of the more authentic folkies of the late '50s, had a lot to do with the success of the folk revival in that era; folk music rang out from college campuses everywhere in the late '50s and 60s.

Whether or not they knew their music was paving the way for artists more deeply involved in these changes (Bob Dylan, Joan Baez), it did sell plenty of records. The Kingston Trio began in San Francisco.

Their first album, THE KINGSTON TRIO, included "Tom Dooley" and it was played extensively by DJs that Capitol released it as a single that eventually sold nearly 3 million records. The song was taken from a 19th century mountain ballad about Tom Dula, who was hanged for murdering his sweetheart.

Several albums ensued for the trio, all doing well commercially but, while it had 10 singles charted by 1963, only "Reverend Mr. Black" got into the Top 10. However, the Kingston Trio is remembered for other tunes like "M.T.A.," "The Tijuana Jail," "A Worried Man", "Greenback Dollar" and Pete Seegar's, "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" Like "Tom Dooley", it's another pop hit turned classic.

As the more intensive folk-rock grew, making songs like the Kingston Trio's became outdated and the trio broke up in 1968. A TV reunion in 1981 had all six members together for the first time.

Whether duos, trios, quartets or quintets, the influence of vocal groups like THE EVERLY BROTHERS (2), THE KINGSTON TRIO (3), THE BROTHERS FOUR (4), THE PLATTERS (5), certainly made an impact on our local music scene. Carbon copies or otherwise our 60s musicians certainly learnt a lot from their US counterparts.

(From: Kingston Trio Website).

- U.S. 60's Music Influence - BROTHERS FOUR -

"Twas so good to be young then,/ In the season of plenty,/When the catfish was jumping as high as the sky.../To be close to the earth,/And to stand by your wife at the moment of birth," (The Green Leaves Of Summer) are lyrics that can only come from four singers who called themselves, THE BROTHERS FOUR.

This vocal foursome is one of the sources of inspiration for many of our Singapore vocal groups. The Brothers Four is a pioneering and long-running folk/pop quartet formed in 1957 by the University of Washington fraternity brothers Bob Flick (upright bass, vocals), Mike Kirkland (guitar, banjo, vocals), John Paine (guitar, vocals) and Richard Foley (guitar, vocals).

They were spotted when playing in San Francisco in 1959 and secured a contract with Columbia Records. Their second release, "Greenfields", shot to number 2 in the US charts. This beautiful and haunting song came from the pen of Terry Gilkyson of the Easy Riders, who had written major 50s hits such as "Memories Are Made Of This" and "Marianne".

The folk-based foursome, who were voted America's "Most Promising Group Of 1960', were quickly established as one of the leading folk revival scene alongside the Kingston Trio and the Limeliters. Their first two albums, The Brothers Four and B.M.O.C. (Best Music On/Off Campus), reach the US Top 20. They had eight more lower placed albums and half-a-dozen smaller US hit singles, and reached a peak when they recorded the theme tune to the ABC network folk music series Hootenanny.

The emergence of Bob Dylan and a highly politicized folk movement, coupled with the British beat group invasion of the mid-60s made the Brothers Four" brand of easy listening folk instantly passé.

The original line-up carried on until 1969 and after a number of replacements the quartet survived the 70s and 80s through extensive touring, and resumed recording the following decade.

And my favourite songs? Greenfields, Green Leaves Of Summer, Yellow Bird.

(Edited and extracted from: 'The Encyclopaedia of Popular Music' by Colin Larkin)