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MY SONG OF THE DAY
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79 Replies
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Third day of the heatwave (31C) where I am. This song resonates with me today.
“I’m on my way to….sunny Californ I A”
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All MLT songs, some Glass Tiger tunes, some Marla Gibbs, some oldcschool country classics for this rainy Sunday….you know a healthy balance of music genres?????
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Mona and Lisa,
You did a wonderful take on Good Day Sunshine. It was a nice duet and your voices complemented each others. As usual the rhythm and lead guitars where on the money. Once again a great job Ladies.
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Hey Joe, do you realise we are only allowed one “Song of the Day”?
That’s a great punk song from the Ramones and an excellent video to go with it. Don’t tell anyone, but I probably dance like Lurch!
How’s this one, just for fun.
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Music Machine version of Neil Diamond Cherry Cherry
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Nice videos Joe! Wasn’t familiar with these songs, but it’s always great to get exposure to new music. Enjoyed them.
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Hey Jung,
I am assuming you are talking about The Music Machine. They were a band from California in the early 60’s., I liked that they dressed in black and wore one black glove. Maybe Michael Jackson got the one glove idea from them. Just Kidding.
The Dave Clark 5 – I’m sure you are aware of. They were a good band. For a while they knocked the Beatles out of the number 1 spot. I tried to post more. But you tube all of a sudden will let you do some and others you can’t. Might be protection rights.
Glad you enjoyed them.
Joe
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Hey Joe, yeah both the Music Machine and Dave Clark 5. I’ve heard of The Dave Clark 5, but not too familiar with these songs. I was only two in 1965. 🙂
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I don’t think you were missing too much with the DC5 as a two year old, Jung. Like most adolescents at the time, I got into their loud, brashy style too, but over time came to realise they were all show and little depth. I’ve posted elsewhere on what I think of Dave Clark. He was a business man, not a true musician in my view and as band manager and producer, he was almost as bad as the American manager that Badfinger adopted when they unfortunately left Apple.
He was the worst drummer in the business and it wasn’t until much later that I found out just how badly he treated the members of his band. Clark forced them to sign contracts that gave him a music credit for anything they wrote and eventually meant him getting most of the royalty payments.
This post is rather long, but the various quotes I have taken from the web are quite illuminating.
“The Dave Clark Five came roaring out of Tottenham in the early ‘60s with an eye on The Beatles’ beat-group crown. Their speciality was thuggishly simple R&B-inspired pop with extra emphasis on the rhythm—so much so that they named the band after their drummer.”
“The DC5 was promoted as the vanguard of a “Tottenham Sound”, a response to Liverpool’s Mersey Beat sound. Dave Clark struck business deals that allowed him to produce the band’s recordings and gave him control of the master recordings. Songwriting credits went to Clark, Clark and Smith, Clark and Davidson, and Clark and Payton although Ron Ryan actually wrote many of the songs. Session drummer Bobby Graham played, sometimes alongside Clark, on most of the band’s hits. Dave Clark was also the band’s manager and producer of their recordings.”
“Between 1978 and 1993, none of their music was available to be purchased in any commercial format due to rights-holder Clark declining to licence the band’s recordings. Apart from a couple of deals in 1993, No DC5 material was then legally available until 2008, when the 28-track Hits compilation was released by Universal Music in the UK.”
“Dave Clark in particular—had complete control and sat on the catalog hoping for the biggest pay-off they could get. But Clark apparently waited too long. You couldn’t purchase the music of The Dave Clark Five on any format from 1975 to 1993!”
“From what I understand Dave Clark’s keeping the masters off the market was only the tip of the iceberg of his machinations. Often described as a “shrewd businessman” (which he must have been to retain the master rights, when even the Beatles couldn’t accomplish that), he apparently also treated the rest of the band as day laborers, taking (stealing) songwriting credit, paying the band wages as opposed to participation, and summarily sacking them all circa 1970. He even threatened to sue Mike Smith if he referenced “Dave Clark Five” in his latter day tours. Although that business mind-set may be a way to sell a lot of records, it is no way to foster creativity, and the records for the most part betray that.”
“He went into stage production of musicals in London’s West End and made a TON of money. But his ego always overshadowed the rest of the band, many fans thought that HE was the vocalist!! Which must have peeved the very talented and sadly missed Mike Smith.”
“And then of course there’s that little thing about using Bobby Graham as a drummer on all of their hits, which Dave Clark denies. You’d think he’d be happy with the fact that they made some great music (in the studio), but Dave seems to not only be a control freak, but insists that he was drumming on all of those great singles.”
“It’s hard to say how much of a thumper Dave Clark was on the drums, seeing as he never played on any of their recordings – that was mostly a session ace named Bobby Graham.”
“B&P has that wild stomping beat;, It’s basically 1 note all the way thru; the words are shouted rather than sung and the lyrics are all dark despair.”
Worst of all, when lead singer Mike Smith had a bad accident when he was sixty and broke three vertebrea in his spine and lost all feeling from the waist down and in his right arm, Dave Clark never visited him in hospital and never helped him out. It took other musicians, like Bruce Springsteen to support him. Mike died four years later, a virtual pauper. Think about that next time you watch a DC5 video, which these days, I refuse to do.
I’m glad Joe wasn’t able to post anymore videos and it is not surprising when businessman Dave Clark is in control.
Personally I don’t think the MLT will ever touch them and if they ever record “Because”, it will be the Beatles’ “Because”.
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