Sunday, April 17, 2016
You Don't Own Me! Grace and Leslie Gore
I am just starting to hear the song, "You Don't Own Me" on the local Top 40 Hits radio station. I am familiar with this tune and I wonder how many others know that it is a remake of a hit song originally released over 50 years ago! Here is the story of "You Don't Own Me!"
Almost 70 years ago to the day, Lesley Sue Goldstein was born in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. When she was just a junior in High School, using the stage name of Leslie Gore, she reached the top spot of the music charts with her first song, "It's My Party." After a few more hits, Leslie Gore was offered a proto-femenist song called, "You Don't Own Me." Leslie recorded the song when she was 17. In February 1964, the song shot to the top of the pops, stalling at number 2, being blocked from the #1 spot by The Beatles song, "I Wanna Hold Your Hand."
"Don't tell me what to do! Don't tell me what to say! And please, when I go out with you, don't put me on display!"
"'Cause you don't own me; don't try to change me in any way! You don't own me; don't tie me down 'cause I'd never stay!"
"I'm young, and I love to be young; I'm free and I love to be free! To live my life the way that I want; to say and do whatever I please!"
The music is in 3/4 time, a waltz basically. Instrumentation is strings with bass and drums, with lots of reverb. Leslie Gore's vocals float above the music. She has a wistful singing style in parts of this song, but she sounds strong, determined and self confident in other parts.
The producer of this record was none other than the well known music man, Quincy Jones! Quincy Jones is known for having worked with many famous musical names, from Frank Sinatra to Michael Jackson. Quincy Jones must have had this song in his mind for many many years, because last year, he worked with another young female singer to remake it! But first, here is the original song, You Don't Own Me, by Leslie Gore.
If you were not familiar with the original version, having only heard the new remake that is out today, you may be surprised to hear how closely the remake tracks the original. One possible reason for that is... Both songs were recorded and produced under the musical supervision of Quincy Jones! Leslie Gore passed away last year, and when Quincy Jones heard Australian singer Grace's voice, he felt that she should record a new version of "You Don't Own Me" as a tribute to Leslie Gore.
Grace Sewell is a young Australian singer who grew up listening to music from the 1960s. In 2015, at the age of 17, she began to record tracks with Quincy Jones. One was this remake of "You Don't Own Me," and it was released in March and the video came out in June. The song immediately shot to the top of the Australian charts. But it only began to hit in America after Grace began to promote her upcoming EP in early 2016, including an appearance in January 2016 on Live with Kelly and Michael, where she sang You Don't Own Me, almost identical to the original, without the rap parts in the radio version.
Currently, the official video for the Grace cover of You Don't Own Me has 30 MILLION views! The song is in the top 30 on the American charts, surely destined to become a major hit, and a great debut for Grace! Here now, is the new cover of You Don't Own Me, originally by Leslie Gore, now by Grace, featuring G-Eazy.
Almost 70 years ago to the day, Lesley Sue Goldstein was born in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. When she was just a junior in High School, using the stage name of Leslie Gore, she reached the top spot of the music charts with her first song, "It's My Party." After a few more hits, Leslie Gore was offered a proto-femenist song called, "You Don't Own Me." Leslie recorded the song when she was 17. In February 1964, the song shot to the top of the pops, stalling at number 2, being blocked from the #1 spot by The Beatles song, "I Wanna Hold Your Hand."
"Don't tell me what to do! Don't tell me what to say! And please, when I go out with you, don't put me on display!"
"'Cause you don't own me; don't try to change me in any way! You don't own me; don't tie me down 'cause I'd never stay!"
"I'm young, and I love to be young; I'm free and I love to be free! To live my life the way that I want; to say and do whatever I please!"
The music is in 3/4 time, a waltz basically. Instrumentation is strings with bass and drums, with lots of reverb. Leslie Gore's vocals float above the music. She has a wistful singing style in parts of this song, but she sounds strong, determined and self confident in other parts.
The producer of this record was none other than the well known music man, Quincy Jones! Quincy Jones is known for having worked with many famous musical names, from Frank Sinatra to Michael Jackson. Quincy Jones must have had this song in his mind for many many years, because last year, he worked with another young female singer to remake it! But first, here is the original song, You Don't Own Me, by Leslie Gore.
If you were not familiar with the original version, having only heard the new remake that is out today, you may be surprised to hear how closely the remake tracks the original. One possible reason for that is... Both songs were recorded and produced under the musical supervision of Quincy Jones! Leslie Gore passed away last year, and when Quincy Jones heard Australian singer Grace's voice, he felt that she should record a new version of "You Don't Own Me" as a tribute to Leslie Gore.
Grace Sewell is a young Australian singer who grew up listening to music from the 1960s. In 2015, at the age of 17, she began to record tracks with Quincy Jones. One was this remake of "You Don't Own Me," and it was released in March and the video came out in June. The song immediately shot to the top of the Australian charts. But it only began to hit in America after Grace began to promote her upcoming EP in early 2016, including an appearance in January 2016 on Live with Kelly and Michael, where she sang You Don't Own Me, almost identical to the original, without the rap parts in the radio version.
Currently, the official video for the Grace cover of You Don't Own Me has 30 MILLION views! The song is in the top 30 on the American charts, surely destined to become a major hit, and a great debut for Grace! Here now, is the new cover of You Don't Own Me, originally by Leslie Gore, now by Grace, featuring G-Eazy.
Labels: 1960s, Grace, Grace Sewell, Leslie Gore, music, music video, oldies, pop, Quincy Jones, rap, remake, You Don't Own Me
posted by KennyCrane at
4/17/2016 06:16:00 AM
1 Comments
Monday, March 14, 2016
Just Call Me, by Chrisy D
File this one under "song that is stuck in my head!" I've listened a hundred times; I bought the track from CD Baby but you can grab it on iTunes as well. This song just never gets old! Well, maybe because it has an old classic timeless vibe to it!
"Just Call Me" is an original song composed and sung by Chrisy D. Written and recorded when she was just a young teen, the song sticks in your head because it is based on a classic chord progression used in many songs, especially during the 50's. As the song's description on CD Baby says, "'Just Call Me' starts off slow and easy ....with a 50's type approach to the soda shoppe boy/girl crush, adding a twist of Reggae making it a happy, fun song." I agree! So rather than try to describe it further, I'll just let you listen and watch as it is recorded Live in the Studio!
Now that you've heard it, I'll tell you more about why I love it! Starting out with a variation on that timeless "Heart And Soul" chord progression that you may remember from the Giant Piano scene in the 80s movie "Big" Starring Tom Hanks, the song starts slow and sweet. Soon the driving accompaniment kicks in, the speed doubles, and you'll feel the urge to get up and dance!
If things are not fast enough for you yet, Chrisy kicks it up by a factor of 4 as she pops out these lyrics at machine gun speed!
"I-I-I've got what you're lookin' for, I'm headin' out that door, you better start dialing!
You'll be the biggest fool I've ever seen before, just make my phone ring-a-ling!"
So it's the tempo changes, the sweet lyrics, the timeless chords, the driving rhythm, the pleasing vocals including the delightful and surprising pitch sliding vocal parts -- all put together by a young and talented songstress that keeps this song stuck in my head! Even the last few notes, sailing an octave higher than before, are flawlessly performed by Chrisy, a person who I believe will go far in the music world!
So won't you stay, and listen to more music by Chrisy D? Her YouTube channel has over 50 videos including this Killer Live cover of House Of The Rising Sun! Chrisy D has almost 900 subscribers. Subscribe if you like her music as much as I do! Also read about her on Nashville Universe! OK, now Stay, just a little bit longer, and listen to Maurice Williams and The Zodiaks sing a related song...
Labels: "Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs", 50s, Christina Dant, Chrisy D, Heart and Soul, Just Call Me, oldies, original, Stay
posted by KennyCrane at
3/14/2016 03:15:00 AM
0 Comments
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Lyn reviews 50s and 60s Sights and Sounds
Guest blogger Lyn Price is back with her second YouTubeStars post! Lyn is a talented singer who is here to review a Garage Rock Music Video from the 1960s, a movie about the 60s and a TV show from the 50s! Read what Lyn says about the Garage Rock song Stop And Listen, the Dirty Dancing movie and the Honeymooners TV show.
Classic Sights and Sounds!
THE SHAG - Stop And Listen - 60s Garage Rock song!
This is a powerhouse of a garage track written and performed by a band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin called at first Shags, then Shag.
The band consisted of 4 musicians. They began performing folk and blues music. However, they became eager to move on when they heard the music of the Rolling Stones and other rock bands of that era. Shag performed their own material and were known for wearing outlandish costumes. They also used special effects After playing parties, schools and small clubs, they moved on and in 1967 they were signed by Capitol Records. They recorded "Stop and Listen" on Capitol.
This track is one of the fist anti-drug rock songs to be recorded. In 1969 they appeared at the Midwest Rock Festival in Milwaukee which featured a number of known musicians.
Shag split up in 1971. But in the 1990's and later, "Stop and Listen" was included on several CD compilations of 60's Garage Band Recordings. On "Boulders" they are featured in Volume I and "Highs in the Mid-Sixties volume 10.
Becoming more current, in 2005, the bands 1969 recordings were released on Gear Fab Records. It's no surprise that the track called "Stop and Listen" has made many rock music lovers do just that.
1960's inspired movie DIRTY DANCING achieves spectacular success
The soundtrack to this film gave a 1960's flair since it is supposed to take place in the Summer of 1963, where the summer wind, the carefree days of ice pops and rock n roll bring people to the hotel for family and friends and activities. One such activity offered is dancing lessons (like Mambo). One of the guests (Jennifer Grey) falls for the dancing instructor (Patrick Swayze) and they begin a relationship.
The film was made in 1987 with a limited 5 million dollar budget. So here was this low budget film with no major stars except Broadway legend/TV star Jerry Orbach in a supportive role. It's the Summer of 1963 and the scene is a Catskill Mountain hotel. Actually it was filmed in Lake Lure, North Carolina and Mountain Lake. The weather turned out to be very hot and sticky and a portion of the cast passed out after 20 minutes of filming. Then the weather became very cold. Conditions were not that great and to complicate matters, the film was on a tight schedule - two weeks for rehearsals and 44 days for filming.
Dirty Dancing was based on the childhood/teen years of one of the screenwriters. The next step was finding backing, financial and promotion. They did their rounds and after hearing "no" finally found the company that liked the idea.
The soundtrack really moves this film - "Be My BAby" by the Ronettes, "Big Girls Don't Cry" by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, "Do You Love Me" by the Contours, "In the Still of the Night" by the Five Satins, "Hey Baby by Bruce Channel, "Hungry Eyes" by Eric Carmen and more. In the "final dance" scene, the song (I've had) The Time of My Life, a great dance number that became very popular and won both the Golden Globe and an Academy Award for best original song. Also, a Grammy was won for best duet. The "Dirty Dancing" soundtrack generated two multi platinum albums and multiple singles. This was the first film to sell more than a million copies on home video.
On YouTube, "Dirty Dancing" has well over 250 million hits. The music carries the story with the drama that takes place at the mountain hotel. The two stars of the movie, Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swazye, had worked together on other films and had trouble relating to each other. The screenwriter had a brilliant idea. She suggested "parties" that go on after the daily filming, this way the actors began to "feel their roles". Everything fell into place. After the movie was released, a stage version was popular in Australia, Europe and North America.
I think the dancing AND the music brought this film it's great everlasting success. Many who watch the film once, will watch it again and again.
Mama Loves Mambo - The Honeymooners
I always loved this show. It opens with a theme song and a beautiful picture of Brooklyn nights, complete with nostalgic brownstones, stars and a full moon. The show is meant to be funny - Jackie Gleason plays a NYC bus driver. He & his wife Alice Kramden live in a run down Brooklyn apartment house but have many friends, a few live in the same building. Alice occasionally works but basically is a stay at home wife. Despite the financially squeezed characters, there is glamour and artistic beauty in the basic story, the episodes and the background. There is jazz music, a new tenant gives the neighbors Mombo lessons in the Kramden apartment, and there is mention of the "Hong Kong Gardens" where Alice likes to go dancing and have Chinese food. The Kramden's apartment faces the back of a Chinese restaurant. The comedy was and still is loved by many. People who weren't born when the show was airing have found it to be interesting in a lot of different ways.
To keep the show going, Jackie Gleason sometimes did hour long specials or sketches until 1978. At one point, CBS network worked with the Honeymooners & Jackie Gleason. Though there were some changes, the show remains strong in the USA. Viewers find it refreshingly humorous and nostalgic.
Labels: "Lyn Price", 1950s, 1960s, 50s, 60s, classic rock, dance, dirty dancing, Garage Rock, honeymooners, Lyn, oldies, sexy, shag
posted by KennyCrane at
5/20/2014 02:20:00 AM
0 Comments
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