Would it kill you to do a little research once in a while?
This is not a happy story, be warned.
Would it kill you to do a little research once in a while?
This is not a happy story, be warned.
Well, whoever owns the publishing rights owns the rights. But if you're a young and impressionable musician who doesn't understand how the industry works, and you make the mistake of trusting someone that you shouldn't, you tend to lose such rights. It's one of the reasons band managers and record company executives are stereotyped as being (Hanover Fiste mode) "low down, double dealing, back stabbing, larcenous, perverted worms" (Hanover Fiste mode off)
What surprised me when I found out it was an old song, was that the composer -Ed Cobb- was also the producer of legendary garage bands like The Standells and The Chocolate Watchband, for whom he also wrote several songs, including Dirty Water and No Way Out. In fact, is surprising that he didn't have one or the other record Tainted Love, as I think it would've sounded great in a garage band version.
Badfinger is probably the most tragic band in rock history because their manager fucked them over. He signed the band onto things that they were unaware of and it went horribly wrong for them. I don't even think they had the rights to any of their songs. Peter Hamm eventually committed suicide. When Tom Evans and Snake Molland tried to make a go again, everything resurfaced and Molland this time screwed over Evans, who committed suicide shortly after an argument. To add to it all, the original drummer died of cancer about a decade or so ago.
"Alienated-so alien I go!"
Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...
Last edited by Rune Blackwings; 02-21-2016 at 08:45 PM. Reason: that and the fact the rat bastard manager suffered nothing
"Alienated-so alien I go!"
Here's the original release of this song:
"And your little sister's immaculate virginity wings away on the bony shoulders of a young horse named George who stole surreptitiously into her geography revision."
Occasional musical musings on https://darkelffile.blogspot.com/
I would say maybe Patto is right behind them, in second place: Mike Patto died of cancer, guitarist Ollie Halsall is also gone and bassist Clive Griffith doesn't remember anything about his past after suffering an accident years ago. Meanwhile, drummer John Halsey can still do interviews about the band, although he also has had problems walking after being involved in the same road accident.
Even though I have the J&V album somewhere, it did so little for me that when I heard them play it last year on the Anderson / Ponty tour, I wasn't even familiar with the tune. I went back and tried to listen to the Mr. Cairo album again, but it still does nothing for me.
Sometimes the cover artists hear what's special about a song and get it across better than the composers. I think this is the case with "State of Independence." Jon and Vangelis were too focused on whatever process created the recording. Quincy Jones heard the song and got to its uplifting, celebratory core in the way that genius producers often do. Subsequent covers started from that point, not from the J&V version.
Johnny Cougar (Mellencamp): I Need A Lover:
There was a documentary on Badfinger here in Wales a couple of years ago...it's still extremely raw for those affected by what happened there, some of those interviewed were brought to tears. They had first-class songs, managed to make strong in-roads into the all-important US market and wrote a bona fide standard in 'Without You'. And still it all went horribly wrong.
re: I Need A Lover
It was also recorded by Pat Benatar (and possibly others) but it's the John Mellencamp version that I've heard again and again on the radio, to the point I'm sick to death of it. In particular, I'm sick of the endless intro, which would have been great if they had played the melodic theme once, then dropped into the vocal. Instead, they play the theme, then modulate down and play it again, then there's this other sort of fanfare thingie, then they drop into the vocal. Then they do the same arrangement stunt in the middle of the song. I think on the record, the song is something like 5 and a half minutes long, which is about 2 minutes longer than it really should be. (shrug)
Anyway, as far as I know, that is "the famous version". He even mimed to a truncated version on American Bandstand (with his bassist pretending to play an upright bass, but attempting to hold it as if it were a Fender bass).
BTW, I believe at the time, he was no longer Johnny Cougar, having finally succeeded in getting the record company to let him call himself "John Cougar" (he said once that nobody in his life had ever called him "Johnny"), which of course was his first step toward reverting to using his own name, which is what he wanted to do all along.
Moby made it an indie hit...
Mmm, well I guess this is true in the USA, but I don't believe anybody in Europe knew Cougar when Bennatar had a hit with that song.
The album A Biography was also very unknown. It was a couple of years later, when he changed his name, he got some success over here too.
Personally I really like the intro, but hé, I love (almost) the whole album, the only one I got from him.
For those who don't know Pat Benatar's version:
And this is the album the original was on:
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I never heard Pat Benatar's version, or any version by anybody other than Cougar/Mellencamp.
A bit of trivia: Mellencamp is one of several artists said to have been picked for success by Australian Countdown host "Molly" Meldrum before before they really hit the big time. Madonna is another. ABBA probably owe him a debt as well, because Australia was the first country outside Sweden to really embrace their music, and he had a big hand in that. He had an uncanny knack of picking talent - or at least the kind of talent that would appeal to the buying public.
OK, I see where my confusion lies about the name thing: A Biography, so Wikipedia says, wasn't given a Stateside release. I Need A Lover and one or two other songs were included on his next US album, which was the first where his name was given as "John Cougar". I guess if I was obsessive about Mellencamp as I am about The Who or Queen or Uriah Heep or a few other bands, I'd have known that. (shrug) Oh well, I stand corrected in any case.
And yeah, I forgot that the Benatar version was a hit in Europe, so I guess that's why in certain territories it might be regarded as being "the famous version" while the Mellencamp recording is perhaps lesser known.
I remember Madonna doing a TV special for MTV when her second album came out, and apparently she dictated they fly Molly Meldrum out to NYC to interview for this special (or maybe the special was done for Australian TV originally, hence his presence, and it just so happened that MTV also aired it, I don't remember now). Anyway, that's where I remember his name from, though I assume he must have been a pretty big figure in Australian media, probably something akin to John Peel in the UK or someone like Wolfman Jack or Murray The K in the US.
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