Back in July I wondered about Nick Lampe, whose single Flower Garden charted in Melbourne in 1970. I could find out almost nothing about his career, and he'd apparently dropped off the musical radar screen sometime in the 70s, leaving one album and no clues for a whatever-happened-to.
After that post, Robert Thompson emailed from Melbourne to tell me about his long but unsuccessful attempts at researching the life and career of Nick Lampe.
I gave up the search, but Robert persevered, and a few days ago he phoned a surprised Nick Lampe at his workplace in New York.
I've found that artists' reactions are unpredictable when you contact them out of the blue: some are flattered and keen to reminisce about the old days, but others are just not interested.
Fortunately, Nick Lampe was delighted to hear from a fan in Australia. Not only that, but he had been unaware that his single of Flower Garden was known in Melbourne.
Since then, thanks to Robert, I've exchanged emails with Nick Lampe, and he has filled me in on his career and his life since leaving the music industry, so I'll post about that shortly. (Update: See At Last: The Nick Lampe Story.)
11 February 2006
05 February 2006
▶︎ A Kiss To Build A Dream On and... The Marx Brothers?
A Kiss To Build A Dream On was written by the notable Tin Pan Alley and Hollywood songwriting partners Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, along with lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II of Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals fame.It's probably better known nowadays since Louis Armstrong's recording from the 50s was used on the soundtrack of Sleepless In Seattle (1993) . That leisurely baritone, just rough enough around the edges, plays against the sweet melody in a wistful kind of way, and of course there's a trumpet solo that bursts onto the scene as a bonus at about 1 min. 30 secs. All in all, it's a satisfying result.
(It reminds me of the way John Lennon's delivery adds some edge to that sad, sweet love song Baby It's You, when compared with the original version by The Shirelles.)
I'd always assumed A Kiss To Build A Dream On was from the 30s (it sounds as if it's from the 30s), so I was surprised to find that its first appearance seemed to be in a 1951 film, The Strip, sung by Louis Armstrong. It does have a copyright date of 1935, but I could find no earlier versions.
But, as is often the case, Joop Jansen had an answer when I asked at The Originals forum.
It turns out that A Kiss To Build A Dream On was originally a song called Moonlight On The Meadow. It was written by Kalmar and Ruby for the Marx Brothers film A Night At The Opera (1935), but it was never used. Oscar Hammerstein took the song and wrote new lyrics for The Strip (1951), and that's when it became A Kiss To Build A Dream On.
04 February 2006
▶︎ Everybody's Gonna Say... We're Doing Fine
We're Doing Fine is a Dee Dee Warwick gem from 1965, written by Horace Ott. It had already been recorded in Britain by Billy J. Kramer (single, 1966) and by Chris Farlowe (The Art of Chris Farlowe, 1966).
It's hard not to notice that it's a fair bit like Everything's Gonna Be Alright by P.P. Arnold, a song I first heard briefly in the film A Room For Romeo Brass (1999). P.P. Arnold released it on a single in 1967, her first on the Immediate label, and it was on her album The First Lady Of Immediate (1968).
Everything's Gonna Be Alright (the line that gets stuck in your head goes Everybody's gonna say that it's all right) was written by Immediate founder and producer Andrew Loog Oldham with David Skinner, who was one half of another Immediate act, Twice As Much.
The opening verses are more or less identical, melodically and rhythmically, and the lyrics have a lot in common: Everybody wants to know if everything's all right (Dee Dee Warwick) cf Everybody's gonna say that everything is all right (P.P. Arnold). After that, the choruses take off in different directions.
It's hard to say whether Oldham and Skinner were writing a sequel, or a dip o' the lid to We're Doing Fine, or whether it was a borrowing, unintentional or deliberate. (We're Doing Fine wasn't unknown at Immediate: Chris Farlowe's 1966 version was on the same label.)
Whatever the answer, I like both songs a lot: Dee Dee Warwick's is a classic, seamless US soul production of the era, while P.P. Arnold's is a bit poppier, with a big chorus-and-orchestra build-up in the first 30 seconds.
P.P. Arnold was a UK-based soul singer (you may find her filed, inevitably and retrospectively, under 'Northern Soul') who came to Britain with Ike and Tina Turner and stayed to record such hits for Immediate as First Cut Is The Deepest, Angel Of The Morning and [If You Think You're] Groovy, this last written by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane of The Small Faces, who also provided the backing. Down here, Groovy charted in Melbourne at #8.
Dee Dee Warwick is Dionne Warwick's sister: or should that be Dionne Warwick is Dee Dee Warwick's sister? Dionne herself reportedly said, "Dee Dee is the real singer in this family," but she missed out on big commercial success. Not fair, really, when you hear her sing.
▶︎ The bigger the star, the clunkier the website?
My policy is to avoid bagging other people's websites (people in glass houses and all that) so I'm not about to give examples, but I can't help thinking rich and famous musicians are sitting ducks for expensive web designers who tell them that a big, important star has to have a big, important website with lots of stuff on it.Your expectations drop when you see the slow-loading Intro Page, with a "Loading - please wait" message and a progress meter for you to watch (isn't that so 1990s?). Of course there's a "Skip Intro" button: does anyone, ever, not skip the intro?
At some stage a song suddenly starts playing, right over the top of the music that's already playing on your computer, and you can't turn it off without quitting the site.
There's lots of flashy, 3-D graphic art that moves around and pops up, stuff that only a Big Star can afford. The site might be so full of Big Star Stuff that the whole thing freezes up and you have to restart your browser. (And of course, you're so impressed that you'll immediately return to the site and watch that lovely Intro load all over again, right?)
As to content, don't expect the Discography to waste space on those musty old 45s. There'll be a page of the latest compilation CDs (with links to The Store), and promos for that new album where all the old songs were recorded again properly, with new arrangements, in Nashville, with the artists' grown-up kids who are trying to break into the business...
Ah well, I guess my own site might go too far the other way: to some tastes, it's probably too text rich, and my discreet little black & white snapshots might not satisfy some people's urge for colour and spectacle.
So let's move on, get positive, and link to some artists' sites that, while they are sufficiently illustrated, are not overloaded with slow-loading eye candy, and have information that is to the point and easily accessed.
Some official musicians' sites I like. (Update 2025: a few have disappeared over the years)
The Monks
Emitt Rhodes
Pernice Brothers
And some good unofficial sites, by admirers or researchers:
The Peter Doyle Website
The Band
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