Last month, we sadly lost three iconic voices of the 1960s. On April 30th, American soul and R&B singer Ben E. King passed away at the age of 76. Growing up in Harlem, New York, King is best known as the singer and co-composer of "Stand By Me" (with Leiber and Stoller), which was a US Top-10 hit in 1961 and again in 1986. Just this year, King's original version was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant," just under five weeks before King's death. Who doesn't love this timeless classic?
In 1958, King became one of the principal lead singers of the R&B vocal group The Drifters. He sang lead on a succession of hits including "There Goes My Baby," "Save the Last Dance," and "I Count the Tears." Although he only recorded 13 songs with The Drifters, this is the sound I know so well and have loved from childhood. Seriously, this sound really drew me in as a kid, and I love these tunes so much, especially "Up On the Roof" (featured here), and "This Magic Moment," a Top-20 hit in 1960.
RIP, Mr. King! Your smooth voice is unforgettable.
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Jack Ely was an American guitarist and singer, best known for singing The Kingsmen's version of "Louie Louie" (featured here). From Portland, Oregon, Ely was classically trained in piano and began playing guitar after seeing Elvis Presley on television. In 1959, he co-founded The Kingsmen and with them
recorded "Louie Louie" in 1963; Ely's famously incoherent vocals were
partly the result of his braces and the rudimentary recording method.
Before the record became a hit, Ely was forced out of the group and began
playing with his new band, The Courtmen. Ely passed away on April 28, 2015 at age 71. Often lip-synced by another band member, here's the original recording with Jack Ely's voice.
Farewell to the voice of The Kingsmen.
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On April 14th, R&B and soul singer Percy Sledge passed away at the age of 74. He was best known for the song "When a Man Loves a Woman," a #1 hit on both the Billboard chart and R&B singles charts in 1966. It was awarded a million-selling, Gold-certified disc from the RIAA.
Having previously worked as a hospital orderly in the early 1960s,
Sledge achieved his strongest success in the late 1960s and early 1970s
with a series of emotional soul songs. In later years, Sledge received
the Rhythm and Blues Foundation's Career Achievement Award, and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. Previously mentioned in this post here, it's worth acknowledging again Sledge's impressive songwriting skills as he improvised the lyrics during the recording of this song with minimal planning. Here's a great live performance of Sledge's signature song (looks like an introduction by Otis Redding to boot).
And here's his second biggest US hit, "Take Time to Know Her," which reached #11 in the 1968.
Banned Songs: Part 1
So how about a three-part segment of songs that were either banned or edited for the radio due to questionable lyrics?!
For anyone that knows a little about The Beatles, they probably can guess a few of their tunes were banned including "A Day in the Life" (for lyrics about a graphic car accident) and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (which was thought to be a drug reference, however, it was based upon drawing by John Lennon's son). "I Am the Walrus" was another of those banned songs, although it's quite clear what substance contributed to some of these lyrics. Released in November 1967 as the B-side to "Hello, Goodbye," Lennon composed this psychedelic rock song by combining three songs he had been working on. He also added a verse of nonsensical words when he had a learned that a teacher at his old primary school was having students analyze his lyrics. The walrus is a reference to Lewis Carroll's "Walrus and the Carpenter" (from the sequel to Alice In Wonderland), however, Lennon was 'bummed' when he later learned that the walrus was the 'bad guy.' From their 1967 TV film Magical Mystery Tour, here's a Beatles tune banned by the BCC for a couple of inappropriate lines.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ And here's Peter, Paul, and Mary, the beloved folk group just discussed a few posts ago. Although they were often politically outspoken in their lyrics, their only song to actually be banned was "Puff, the Magic Dragon," a simple song about the loss of childhood innocence. Based upon a 1959 poem written by 19-year-old Cornell student Leonard Lipton, an acquaintance of Peter Yarrow (of the trio), Lipton was given half of the songwriting credits along with Yarrow after the song's release in 1963. Throughout the sixties, there was lots of speculation about the lyrics referring drugs leading to its ban in several countries, but the authors consistently deny this rumor. Since, this song is considered a popular children's classic, and has become a part of American and British pop culture.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From Portland, Oregon, The Kingsmen were a garage rock band best known for their 1963 recording of Richard Berry's "Louie Louie." It held the #2 spot on the Billboard chart for six weeks and is still well-known today. However, because of lead singer/rhythm guitarist Jack Ely's indistinguishable enunciation of the lyrics (try saying that ten times fast!), the song became immediately controversial, with millions of teenagers and their parents thinking it was "dirty." As a result, the governor of Illinois banned it, and the FBI even got involved investigating the lyrics, but found nothing. The words are, in fact, innocent, which you can actually hear a bit clearer in this video footage from Shindig! compared to the garbled vocals on the original recording.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Finally, we all know that The Rolling Stones were the 'bad boys' of the British Invasion as their music was often quite suggestive. Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, "Let's Spend the Night Together" was released as a double A-sided single with "Ruby Tuesday" in January 1967, and was definitely controversial at the time. On the Ed Sullivan Show, the band was initially not allowed to perform this song, but a compromise was met by changing the lyrics to "let's spend some time together." However, during the live performance, Jagger clearly rolled his eyes at the TV camera every time he sang that line (seen in this footage below). This, combined with their antics backstage (something about wearing Nazi uniforms), Ed Sullivan announced the band was banned for performing on the show again.
In 1958, King became one of the principal lead singers of the R&B vocal group The Drifters. He sang lead on a succession of hits including "There Goes My Baby," "Save the Last Dance," and "I Count the Tears." Although he only recorded 13 songs with The Drifters, this is the sound I know so well and have loved from childhood. Seriously, this sound really drew me in as a kid, and I love these tunes so much, especially "Up On the Roof" (featured here), and "This Magic Moment," a Top-20 hit in 1960.
