Under copyright laws, a tune that had not been written down and registered with the copyright office could be appropriated by any musician with a good ear.
All I wanted to do was post a link to a familiar version of In the Mood, then add one you might not have heard.
But the facts got in the way:
“In the Mood” was an arrangement by Joe Garland based on a pre-existing melody… The main theme, featuring repeated arpeggios rhythmically displaced, previously appeared under the title of “Tar Paper Stomp” credited to jazz trumpeter and bandleader Wingy Manone. Manone recorded “Tar Paper Stomp” on August 28, 1930…
Horace Henderson used the same riff in “Hot and Anxious”, recorded by his brother’s band, Fletcher Henderson and his Orchestra, on March 19, 1931…
Under copyright laws [at the time], a tune that had not been written down and registered with the copyright office could be appropriated by any musician with a good ear. Wingy Manone had brought up the issue of the similarity between “Tar Paper Stomp” and “In the Mood” to Joe Garland and to the publishing company of the song, Shapiro, Bernstein, and Company of New York… “Tar Paper Stomp” was copyrighted on November 6, 1941…
Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood” [1939] became the best selling swing instrumental.
But what I REALLY wanted to tell you about is my favorite version of In the Mood. I have it on the 1977 Warner/Reprise Loss Leader album Limo, compiled, as many were, by Doctor Demento. The song is credited to Henhouse Five Plus Too, the nom de poulet of Ray Stevens, who had hits as diverse as Gittarzan, The Streak, Everything Is Beautiful, Turn Your Radio On, and Mr. Businessman. This song went to #40 early in 1977 and proved to me that almost ANY song could be done in Chicken.
I associate Led Zeppelin I with a bicycle accident,
Here’s an ill person’s guide to blogging. You get some Facebook and blogging buddy to write, on the former platform:
Rules: Copy this and paste in your status update, list 12 albums that have stayed with you, but only 1 per band/artist. Don’t take too long and don’t think too hard… No compilations.
Well, the not thinking part was easy. Links to all songs listed.
3. Sticky Fingers – Rolling Stones. I always bounce between this album and Aftermath, the first Rolling Stones LP I think of as an album as opposed to hits and filler. Representative song: Sway
4. Sweet Baby James – James Taylor. Lived in every dorm room in the early ’70s. Representative song: Lo and Behold
5. Court and Spark – Joni Mitchell. Inextricably tied to a short-lived romance. Representative song: Free Man in Paris
6. Supremes Sing Holland-Dozier-Holland. I LOVED the cover, as well as the music therein. Representative song: Remove This Doubt
7. Puzzle People – Temptations. Barely beat out The Temptations with a Lot o’ Soul. This is part of the wah-wah sound of the group, as David Ruffin left and Dennis Edwards joined an album earlier. Representative song: Don’t Let The Joneses Get You Down
8. Still Crazy After All These Years – Paul Simon. Inextricably tied to the Okie in my mind. If I ever got it together to pick my favorite albums of the 1970s, this would be in the top five. Representative song: I Do It for Your Love
10. Talking Book – Stevie Wonder. He had a series of great albums this year (1972), and the next, and the next, and two years after that. Representative song: I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)
11. The Band (2nd album, brown cover). Like much of my early music, I was turned onto this album by good friend Karen. Representative song: King Harvest (Has Surely Come)
12. Led Zeppelin (1st album). Oddly enough, I associate this with a bicycle accident, which I wrote about here. Representative track: How Many More Times
David Ruffin and Motown sued each other, the settlement of which meant Ruffin stayed with Motown to finish out his initial contract.
The Ruffin brothers show up on a collection called Motown 20 Hard-to-Find Classics. One of them also appeared on records that were quite easy to find.
Jimmy and David Ruffin were born in rural Mississippi, to Eli, a sharecropper/factor worker/miner/Baptist minister, depending on the source, and Ophelia Ruffin. “As children, the brothers began singing with a gospel group, the Dixie Nightingales.”
Jimmy Ruffin (born Jimmie Lee Ruffin) (May 7, 1936 – November 17, 2014) became a singer for Motown in 1961, but soon was drafted into the Army. He returned to the label, but had difficulty getting a hit.
“In 1966, he heard a song about unrequited love written for The Spinners, and persuaded the writers that he should record it himself. His recording of ‘What Becomes of the Brokenhearted’ became a major success,” and remains his best-known song. Follow-ups in the US were successful, with “I’ve Passed This Way Before” and “Gonna Give Her All the Love I’ve Got” reaching the US charts in late 1966 and early 1967. He also teamed up with brother David to record the album I Am My Brother’s Keeper, a modestly successful 1970 album for Motown.
“Jimmy Ruffin concentrated on the British market, had three UK top ten songs, and “he was voted the world’s top singer in one British poll.” He had later success working with the likes of Robin Gibb and Paul Weller.
Davis Eli “David” Ruffin (January 18, 1941 – June 1, 1991) grew up in the music business. He met future Motown founder Berry Gordy in 1957, and for a time, packed records for Gordy’s Anna Records with Marvin Gaye. Eventually, he started recording at the label with a group called the Voice Masters, which included future Motown producer/songwriter Lamont Dozier, and the four members of The Originals.
“Ruffin became a member of the Temptations after founding member Elbridge ‘Al’ Bryant was fired from the group. Ruffin’s first recording session with the group was January 9, 1964. Though both David and Jimmy were considered, David was given the edge, thanks to his performance skills.”
Ruffin went from being a background singer, the lead singer after Smokey Robinson, the group’s primary producer/songwriter, created “My Girl”, which became the Temptations’ first #1 song in early 1965. “Ruffin’s most notable non-vocal contribution to the Temptations was the masterminding of their trademark four-headed microphone stand. This enabled the other members to sing and do their dances without having to crowd around one microphone while the lead singer would sing into a separate microphone.”
By 1967, however, difficulties with Ruffin became an issue for the group. He became addicted to cocaine and began missing rehearsals and performances… After the Supremes had their name changed to Diana Ross & the Supremes in early 1967, Ruffin felt that he should become the focal point of the Temptations, just as Diana Ross was for her group, and began demanding that the group name be changed to David Ruffin & the Temptations. This led to a number of disagreements between Ruffin and the group’s de facto leader, Otis Williams.
In addition to the group’s problems with Ruffin’s ego, he began inquiring into the Temptations’ financial records, demanding an accounting of the group’s money. This caused friction between Ruffin and Gordy.
He was fired on June 27, 1968 when he missed a show to watch his girlfriend perform, and was “replaced with Dennis Edwards, a former member of The Contours.” But then, “Ruffin began turning up unannounced at Temptations concerts during Edwards’ first few dates with the group,” which the audience loved but the group did not.
Ruffin and Motown sued each other, the settlement of which meant Ruffin stayed with Motown to finish out his initial contract. “Ruffin joined Motown as a solo artist and always had a separate contract from the other Temptations, which some felt caused a lot of the in-fighting within the group.”
His first solo single was a song originally intended for the Temptations, “My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)”. The single (from the album also entitled My Whole World Ended) was released in 1969. His final Top Ten hit was 1975’s “Walk Away from Love”, produced by Van McCoy. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in February 1976.
As I have mentioned, in 1982, Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks re-joined the Temptations for the recording of their album Reunion and toured to promote the album. I saw them perform at the Colonie Coliseum near Albany. My recollection is that it was one of the greatest pop musical performances I’ve ever seen.
Apparently, I caught them on a good day, because the reunion tour was short lived, “as Ruffin started to miss shows as a result of his cocaine addiction, leading the group to be fined thousands of dollars. Otis Williams fired Ruffin from the group for the second and final time (along with Kendricks, whose voice was weakened due to heavy smoking) by Christmas 1982.”
David Ruffin would die from that cocaine addiction, and his brother Jimmy would become an anti-drug advocate.
Links
What Becomes of the Broken Hearted — Jimmy Ruffin. Background vocals by the Originals and the Andantes 3:03. #7 Hot 100, #6 on the R&B Chart in 1966. It also initially reached #10 in the UK singles chart, rising to #4 when it was reissued in the UK in 1974. Listen HERE or HERE.
I’ve Passed This Way Before — Jimmy Ruffin. #17 pop, #10 soul in 1967. Listen HERE or HERE.
Walk Away From Love — David Ruffin. #1 US R&B, #9 pop in early 1976. Listen HERE. Extended version HERE or HERE.
My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me) — David Ruffin. #9 on the Billboard Hot 100, #2 on the Billboard R&B Singles chart. Listen HERE or HERE.
The first time I wore boots in the winter of 2015-2016: April 5, 2016.
The first time I SHOULD have worn boots in that period: April 4, 2016, which ended up generating four inches, about 10 cm. I should have worn them mostly because people seem to have forgotten how to shovel snow. This includes, BTW, the building I work in. With temperatures hitting 70F (21C) in the past couple of weeks, temperatures in the 20s F (just below zero C) are a shock to some.
But it was a non-event winter here, so I’m not complaining about a little April snow. It has snowed in Albany in April before, in 1982 and 2000, two times I specifically recalled. It snowed on May 18, 2002, the year The Wife graduated from grad school, and they had to bring the ceremony inside.
Invasion of the vote seekers
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, center, stands with Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., after speaking at a rally at Cohoes High School on Monday, April 4, 2016, in Cohoes, N.Y. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
I managed to have gotten invited to see Hillary Clinton when she stopped in Albany County on April 4. I opted against it, in part because The Wife had been home with a sick child all day, and I wasn’t that feeling great myself, certainly not well enough to wait out in the cold to get into the event.
Also, I wasn’t planning on voting for her in the primary. Still, she’s a former First Lady, former Secretary of State, and twice elected U.S. Senator from my state, when I DID vote for her.
Later that evening, I tuned into the CBS Evening News, which I had recorded, and discovered WRGB Channel 6 had pre-empted it to show the intros by Tonko and Gillibrand, plus the first 13 minutes of HRC’s speech, then presumably cut away to a game show. I reckon the Time Warner news probably covered it more thoroughly.
Ted Cruz was in Scotia in nearby Schenectady County yesterday. John Kasich (rhymes with basic) and Bernie Sanders may be in the area soon as well.
Speaking of Bernie: I read about the Message Requests function on Facebook from Mark Evanier this week. Turns out I had five messages there. Four seemed spammy. The fifth, from February 9 asked me to promote a march for Bernie on February 27. I probably would have.
The cringeworthy Donald was looking for an Albany venue for a rally next week. I mentioned to my spouse that maybe I’d stop by, not to participate or to protest, but merely to observe. She, uncharacteristically, scowled, “Be careful. I MEAN it!”
Culcha
Last month, the family caught The Lion King at Proctors Theatre in Schenectady (near Albany) Maundy Thursday evening; there’s a story about the timing, but it involves someone else. The Wife and I had seen it before, maybe five years ago, but The Daughter had not.
Since then, she played young Nala at church, so we knew she’d enjoy the spectacle, and she did. She could sing along with several songs, notably Chow Down, which she never sang, but heard often as the hyenas practiced their threats to eat Simba and Nala.
Good Friday, our church choir performed Charles Gounod’s Seven Last Words, which was very moving. Even more so, Ah, Holy Jesus, an arrangement by Ferguson, featuring the viola.
I’ve been to the Massry Center at the College of Saint Rose twice in recent weeks, which is within walking distance of our house. Before Easter, I listened to the Mozart requiem, a piece of music I’ve sung thrice in my life and truly love.
This past Sunday, I attended the senior recital of Maria Rabbia, a CSR senior who has been singing at our church choir. There was a large First Presbyterian contingent in the audience.
She performed pieces by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, Prokofiev, and Chopin. Scanning the program beforehand, I wondered why she hadn’t put the Chopin before the Debussy, which would have put the music in both alphabetical and chronological order. But Chopin is a barn burner, and thus a more suitable ending.
Maria has been studying piano since she was five. the and organ – she played the postlude at church once, quite well – since she was 12. Mark my words: Maria Rabbia will be a notable musician someday.
Ode To Billie Joe did better on the soul charts than the country charts?
In the back of the book Across the Charts, Joel Whitburn lists the 48 songs that were musical crossovers, which charted in the Top 10 in three of the four Billboard music charts (US) between 1960 and 1969: Hot 100 (HT), rhythm & blues (RB), country (CW), and adult contemporary (AC).
Three of them hit #1 on three charts: I Can’t Stop Lovin’ You by Ray Charles (RB for 10 weeks, HT for 5 weeks, AC for 5 weeks in 1962) Big Bad John by Jimmy Dean (AC for 9 weeks, HT for 5 weeks, CW for 2 weeks in 1961) *the treacly Honey by Bobby Goldsboro (HT for 5 weeks, CW for 3 weeks, AC for 2 weeks in 1968).
Only one song made the Top 10 in all FOUR charts, The End of the World by Skeeter Davis, which was #1 AC for 4 weeks, #2 CW for 3 weeks, #2 HT, and #4 RB in early 1963.
Of the four dozen songs that made it on three charts, three each are by Ray Charles, Roger Miller, and Dionne Warwick; two each by Jimmy Dean, Glen Campbell, and Stevie Wonder.
LISTEN to a sampling:
The End of the World by Skeeter Davis HERE or HERE
I Can’t Stop Loving You by Ray Charles HERE or HERE
A Boy Named Sue by Johnny Cash (#1 CW for 5 weeks, #1 AC for 2 weeks, #2 HT for 3 weeks in 1969) HERE or HERE
Wichita Lineman by Glen Campbell (#1 AC for 6 weeks, #1 CW for 2 weeks, #3 HT in 1968/9) HERE or HERE
Walk Right In by the Rooftop Singers (#1 AC for 5 weeks, #1 HT for 2 weeks, #4 RB in 1963; also #23 CW) HERE or HERE
Harper Valley P.T.A. by Jeannie C. Riley (#1 CW for 3 weeks, #1 HT, #4 AC in 1968) HERE or HERE
Roses Are Red by Bobby Vinton (#1 HT for 4 weeks, #1 AC for 4 weeks, #5 RB in 1962) HERE or HERE
Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In by the 5th Dimension (#1 HT for 6 weeks, #1 AC for 2 weeks, #6 RB in 1969) HERE or HERE
Make the World Go Away by Eddy Arnold (#1 AC for 4 weeks, #1 CW for 2 weeks, #6 HT in 1965) HERE or HERE
I’m Leaving It Up To You by Dale & Grace (#1 HT for 2 weeks, #1 AC for 2 weeks, #5 RB in 1963) HERE or HERE
Ramblin’ Rose by Nat King Cole (#1 AC for 5 weeks, #2 HT for 2 weeks, #7 RB in 1962) HERE or HERE
Can’t Get Used to Losing You by Andy Williams (#1 AC for 4 weeks, #2 HT for 4 weeks, #7 RB in 1963) HERE or HERE
Puff (the Magic Dragon) by Peter, Paul, and Mary (#1 AC for 2 weeks, #2 HT, #10 RB in 1963) HERE or HERE
England Swings by Roger Miller (#1 AC, #3 CW, #8 HT in 1965/6) HERE or HERE
Walk On By by Dionne Warwick (#1 RB for 3 weeks, 6 HT, #7 AC in 1964) HERE or HERE
Ode To Billie Joe by Bobbie Gentry (#1 HT for 4 weeks, #7 AC, #8 RB in 1967; also #17 CW) HERE or HERE (This did better on the soul charts than the country charts?)
All I wanted to do was post a link to a familiar version of In the Mood, then add one you might not have heard. 
