Songs by Sid Jacobson

With Louis Stallman

Sid JacobsonHere are some songs by Sid Jacobson. Jacobson, as you might know, was, per Wikipedia, “managing editor and editor in chief for Harvey Comics.

“Jacobson was also known for his late-career collaborations with artist Ernie Colón, including such nonfiction graphic novels as The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation and Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography.” Here’s a piece by Mark Evanier after he died recently at the age of 92.

I knew of Jacobson from The Black Comic Book, done with Colón, which I wrote about here and here and here and here.

Evanier listed songs purportedly written or co-written by Sid Jacobson. I double-checked and discovered that the first one listed, Put A Ring On My Finger by Les Paul and Mary Ford, #32 pop (Columbia), was listed as written by Joe Meek. It must be a pseudonym, though, for The Top Pop Singles book put out by the late, lamented Joel Whitman lists Louis Stallman (LS) and Sid Jacobson (SJ) as songwriters.

Indeed most of Sid’s songs were LS/SJ. Jacobson appears to be the lyricist. The two were the co-founders of Shell Records. At least a couple of songs on the label, written by the duo, charted.
The Yen Yet Song – Gary Cane and His Friends (LS, SJ), #99 pop in 1960
Yogi -The Ivy Three (LS, SJ, Charles Koppelman), #8 pop, #22 RB in 1960. A member of The Ivy Three co-wrote the song. I mentioned it here since the song was part of my father’s 45s collection when I was growing up.

More songs

I’ve Come Of Age – Billy Storm (LS, SJ), #26 pop in 1959 (Columbia). The melody is from Tchaikowsky’s 5th symphony, 2nd movement
Wonderful You – Jimmie Rodgers (LS, SJ), #40 pop in 1959 (Roulette). B-side of Ring-A-Ling-A-Lario (#32 pop); researching this, I came across info re: an Italian EP containing this song which has to be one of the most provocative covers of 1960

You Don’t Know Girls – Kathy Linden with Joe Leahy’s Orchestra (LS, SJ), #92 pop in 1959 (Felsted)
Anniversary Of Love – The Caslons (LS, SJ), #89 pop in 1961 (Seeco)
A Boy Without A Girl – Frankie Avalon (Ruth Sexter or Ruth Sexton, SJ), #10 pop in 1959 (Chancellor)

(At) The End (of a Rainbow) – Earl Grant featuring the orchestra of Charles “Bud” Dant (Jimmy Krondes, SJ), #7 pop, #16 RB in 1958 (Decca); great vocal
Don’t Pity Me – Dion and the Belmonts (LS, SJ), #40 pop in 1959 (Laurie)
Oh Annie Oh – Gene Pitney (LS, SJ) apparently did not chart
You Took My Love – Clarence “Bad Boy” Palmer and The Jive Bombers (LS, SJ), #36 pop, #7 RB in 1957

1972 #1 hits: Watergate break-in

“I headed for the ditch”

I’ve been writing a lot about 1972 in 2022. 1972 was the year that Richard Nixon went to China, in February. The Watergate break-in was in June. Yet, in November, Nixon was overwhelmingly re-elected, much to my distress at the time.

I have the vast majority of these hits of 1972, on vinyl or compact discs. But I was not a singles buyer. All of these songs were gold records except the ones marked *. I suspect the lack of the designation is a function of the record companies not submitting the paperwork.

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face – Roberta Flack, six weeks at #1 – one of the best covers ever, especially if you’ve heard the Ewan MacColl version
Alone Again (Naturally) – Gilbert O’Sullivan, six weeks at #1

American Pie, Parts I and II – Don McLean, four weeks at #1. We sang this at my high school reunion last year
Without You – Nilsson, four weeks at #1. Despite my basic cynicism of romance songs at the time, I was a sucker for this one
I Can See Clearly Now – Johnny Nash. four weeks at #1. there are two songs that made me feel hopeful during the pandemic, and both are on this list

Group named after Vespucci

A Horse With No Name – America, three weeks at #1. Before this became a hit, this group played at SUNY New Paltz for fifty cents admission. I didn’t go, alas.
Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me – Mac Davis, three weeks at #1
Me and Mrs. Jones – Billy Paul, three weeks at #1. A great early Philadelphia International/Gamble and Huff track
The Candy Man – Sammy Davis Jr. with the Mike Curb Congregation, three weeks at #1. NOT my favorite song
Lean On Me – Bill Withers. This is the other inspirational song. Unfortunately, both Nash and Withers died in 2020.

My Ding-A-Ling – Chuck Berry, two weeks at #1. His ONLY #1 hit, and one of the WORST #1 songs ever.

One week at #1

Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl) – Looking Glass
Let’s Stay Together  – Al Green. Ah, cousin Al. (He’s not really my cousin, but I used to say that a lot. He was actually born Albert Greene, but sensibly dropped the last letter.)
I Am Woman – Helen Reddy. ANTHEM
*I’ll Take You ThereStaple Singers. I SO love this song and this group
Heart Of Gold – Neil Young. In the liner notes from the compilation album Decade: “This song put me in the middle of the road. Traveling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch. A rougher ride but I saw more interesting people there.”

Oh Girl – Chi-Lites
Ben – Michael Jackson. If you don’t think about the song being about a pet rat…
*Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone – the Temptations. Read the intro to this post
Song Sung Blue – Neil Diamond
Black and White – Three Dog Night. I wrote about the history of this song here

 

What I’m good at

Fillmore, Coolidge, LBJ, Ford

One of my chief failings is that I’m aware, possibly overly so, of my failings. I was challenged to write a post about what I’m good at. Ick. It seems a tad boastful, but maybe as self-aware as my ability to identify my shortcomings.

I am observant. Often, I will watch people. From the choir loft at church, I spot people I don’t recognize and will make an attempt to say hello afterward.

Back in the day, when I would attend many parties, I would note the persons who didn’t seem to have anyone to talk with and try to be available for conversation without forcing the issue.

I give great directions. Yes, with GPS, you’d think no one would need to ask a passerby how to get somewhere, but it still happens. Occasionally, I overhear someone giving less than precise directions, and I sigh.

Oddly, and my wife brings this up frequently, I’m quite good at anticipating what cars and pedestrians will do in traffic. Last month, there was a truck driving in the left lane while my wife was driving in the right, a couple of car lengths back. I told her that the truck was turning right, and it did.  There was something in the truck’s… body language (?)

I know the idiosyncrasies of walk lights in my neighborhood. For instance, for some, one has to push to get a WALK, while others do automatically. 

I understand my daughter’s unspoken messaging about 70% of the time. This is not bad dealing with a teenager.

Math is everywhere

I remember numbers exceedingly well. Once, someone gave me a phone number to call, but I had nothing to write it on, and my phone was unavailable. I still knew the number when I got home.

I can identify the geography for most of the “old-fashioned” area codes, the ones with a zero or one in the middle. Likewise, I have a broad understanding of ZIP Codes. Working mail order at FantaCo in the 1980s honed these skills.

I can identify not only the Presidents but their years in office. This isn’t as difficult as it sounds because it was rare (1850, 1923, 1963, 1974) when a Presidency didn’t start in a year divisible by 4, plus 1. 

Teachers were obsessed with dates in the olden days when they taught history. 1492, 1588, 1865, 1917, et al. I saw this clue on a recent JEOPARDY: “During this 1870-71 war, Napoleon III was captured & eventually deposed & Paris fell to a neighboring nation’s army.” I knew it was the Franco-Prussian War immediately from the years. (No one even rang in.) 

Sometimes, I play license plate math, where I try to find the lowest common denominator of each half of the license plate, treat the Roman numerals by their values, and change more as necessary. (B is 13, e.g., because it looks like 13 smushed together.)

Music

I can remember pieces of music and even specific details. The Canadian version of the Penny Lane single is exactly three minutes.

I can find the bass line and, often, other harmony parts for most songs.

Any song I know reasonably well, I can do in chicken. You can blame this on Ray Stevens, whose version of In The Mood, as Henhouse Five Plus Two, changed my life.

Julyish rambling: in search of meaning

That’s Life

HTETEOTW Chapter 3: Energy, Complexity, and Civilization

Inflation: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Pope apologizes for ‘catastrophic’ school policy in Canada

As Monkeypox Spreads, US Vaccine Access Is Pitifully Inadequate

How Much Household Income Is Required To Be Considered ‘Rich’ In These US Cities

Journalists Sense Turmoil in Their Industry Amid Continued Passion for Their Work

Five journalists covering the Internet in search of meaning, not viral trends

When Mixology Meets Medicine

LIVE: Around the World Cams / Beautiful Earth Webcam

The story we tell ourselves about today’s Stars and Stripes is a lie. The truth is much stranger.

John Green: Has this artist ever seen a baby?

Now I Know:  The Herd Mentality That’s Actually Rather Democratic, and  Maybe Monday Should Still Be the Weekend and The World Record That Will Definitely Stick and Hungry Hungry Hero Dog?

Defending democracy

Trump doesn’t have a side of the 1-6 story; there is no ambiguity 

The Jan. 6 Hearings Utterly Embarrassed Trump and All Involved. The final January 6 hearing of the summer spotlighted Trump and allies like Kevin McCarthy and fist-pumper to fleeing coward Josh Hawley. It should serve as a reminder of their humiliating but dangerous thirst for power.

Mark Leibovich’s new book, Thank You For Your Servitude, pillories a party whose leaders remain (at least publicly) in the 45th president’s thrall. e.g.,  Elise Stefanik Attacks NYS Department of Education

The Secret Service Has Managed to Locate Only One Coup-Related Text Message

If Trump Wins in 2024, Christian Nationalism – which MTG has suggested for the GOP – Could Reign Supreme in Government. Also,
Authoritarianism 101: Trump Plot to Purge Civil Servants If Reelected Draws Alarm – “Do not underestimate the destruction this will cause”

Roberts’s Attempt to Keep “Roe” Intact Fell Apart After Alito’s Draft Leaked 

Matt Birk (R-MN) Warns Abortion Leads to Women Having Careers and Claims Pro-choice Advocates Are Always Playing “the Rape Card” 

“Pro-Life” Idaho Republicans Declare Women Should Be Left to Die to Save  Fetuses

Primala Jayapal Shares Her Own Abortion Story — and Why Abortion Rights Are Vital

Why did Republicans vote against legal condom use?

Screenshot_of_Tweet_January_6_Audio_Clip

 

That’s Entertainment

Comic-Con 2022 Trailers

Marvel’s Movie Math: Comic Creators Claim It’s “Bait and Switch” On Payments 

Kennedy Center Honors Will Fete George Clooney, Gladys Knight, and U2

 Whatever happened to Sandy Duncan?

Discover the late Peg Lynch, a woman who, in the early days of television, wrote 11,000 scripts and starred in her own TV network hit sitcom for six years

Emma Allen, the New Yorker cartoon editor, makes history as the youngest and first woman in the role

Permanent JEOPARDY hosts and second chance contestants

How I Became the Fake Tom Cruise

There was a CBS-TV series called That’s Life (2000-2002)  about “Lydia DeLucca, a 30-something, a blue-collar underdog who turns her life upside down when she ditches the guy she’s about to marry and goes back to college. Now, Lydia must juggle her classes, work, family, and friends, all the while trying to make ends meet.” I watched it because of Ellen Burstyn and Paul Sorvino, who played Lydia’s parents. Sorvino died at the age of 83.

Burt Metcalfe, Producer on Every Season of ‘MAS*H,’ Dies at 87

Mary Alice, Actress in ‘A Different World, I’ll Fly Away, Sparkle, and much more, dies at 85

Alan Grant, Legendary Batman, Lobo, Judge Dredd Writer, Has Died

Actor David Warner has died

Aaron Latham, Screenwriter, Journalist Dies at 78. Husband of CBS News’s Lesley Stahl

Taurean Blacque, Det. Neal Washington on Hill Street Blues, Dies at 82

MUSIC

There’s a guy named Maxwell Frost (D-FL) running for Congress. Every time I see his name, I think of this song by Mann and Weil

Coverville 1407: Cover Stories for Imagine Dragons and Joan Osborne and a Fast Times Tribute and Coverville 1408: The Don Henley Cover Story

Jan A.P. Kaczmarek’s score to Finding Neverland

Audra McDonald sings Climb Ev’ry Mountain from the 2013 televised version of The Sound of Music

Playing for Change: King Clave featuring Mickey Hart

All That Jazz – Bob Fosse Tribute, with scenes from Chicago, Cabaret, and Sweet Charity

Celluloid Heroes – Blackmore’s Night

We Both Reached For The Gun from the show Chicago in Korean

The Music Man with a partially deaf cast

Joni Mitchell Surprises Fans With Her First Full Concert In Nearly 20 Years

National Youth Festival Chorus

Carnegie Hall

Robyn Lana
conductor Robyn Lana

The first performers for the concert at Carnegie Hall on Monday, June 13, 2022, were the National Youth Festival Chorus, a mass choir. It was conducted by Robyn Reeves Lana, the director of the Cincinnati Youth Choir, except for one song. Here are the selections.

Vidi Aquam by Kevin T. Padworski. The recording here is by the Cincinnati Youth Choir. CYO was one of the choirs at Carnegie Hall. And the video is from 2021, so it’s quite possible that some of the kids in the video I saw on stage. indeed, I believe I recognize a few.

The next song is The Persistence of Song by Alex Gartner, with the text by the late Howard Moss, the poetry editor of the New Yorker for almost forty years. I could not find a recording because I saw its world premiere. Gartner is the director of the Pensacola Children’s Chorus and directs the Festival Chorus for this song. Here’s him interviewed before he and the group headed to NYC.

Children Will Listen is by Stephen Sondheim from Into The Woods. It’s often covered by adults. This version is the Craighead Chorale part of The Big Sing 2015 in Wellington, New Zealand.

Common Threads by Andrea Ramsey. The 2019 recording is by the Allegro Choirs of Kansas City, another participating group at Carnegie Hall.

When Dreams Take Flight, music by Rollo Dillworth and based on a poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar. This is College of the Holy Cross, St. Joseph’s Chapel, Worcester, MA.

We Will Do Miracles by Dominick DiOrio. This seems to be the Sunday rehearsal in NYC before the Monday performance!

Also

The other choirs participating in the National Youth Festival Chorus were the British International School NY Choir from NYC; Greenville [SC] Youth Chorale; Marin Girls Chorus from San Rafael, CA; and the Young Naperville [IL] Singers.

Next, the Masterworks Festival Chorus and New York City Chamber Orchestra performed the Mozart Requiem. The participating ensembles were The Celebration Singers, Cranford, NJ; Columbus [OH] International Children’s Choir; FUMC Allen [TX]; Gainsville [GA] Festival Singers; Scotch Plains [NJ] – Fanwood High School Chamber Choir; Trinity University Chamber Singers and Alumni, San Antonio, TX; and the Villanova [PA] Singers and Villanova Voices.

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