Motley Moose – Archive

I post a weekly diary of historical notes, arts & science items, foreign news (often receiving little notice in the US) and whimsical pieces from the outside world that I often feature in “Cheers & Jeers”. For example …..

SEPARATED at BIRTH – from the Korean peninsula: hip-hop singer Psy (with the hit “Gangnam Style” about a neighborhood in the south’s capital city of Seoul) and the (relatively new) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

   

OK, you’ve been warned – here is this week’s tomfoolery material that I posted.

ART NOTES – an exhibition (including many self-portraits) entitled The Penetrating Gaze is at the Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro, North Carolina through June 16th.

GLAD TO SEE that last week’s pan-European soccer championship match held in London between two German teams …. saw no anti-German sentiment (as there might have been ten years ago) but instead saw keen interest on the part of Brits ….. as Germany’s successful hosting of the 2006 World Cup appears to have turned a corner in public sentiment.

CHEERS to the noted photographer Annie Leibovitz, who has won the 2013 Prince of Asturias prize – the highest humanities award in Spain.

FRIDAY’s CHILD #1 is Dallas the Cat – reunited with his family after going missing for thirteen years …. due to his microchip.

THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with a look at A Great Day in Harlem – one of the most iconic music photos of the 20th Century, whose legacy of famous jazz musicians grows to this day.

BUSINESS NOTES – Italian businesses will now be able to sell Made in Italy pork products in the US – such as salami, pancetta, air-cured pork, and culatello Parma ham – after a decade-and-a-half of exclusion by US health authorities, following the swine flu outbreak.  

BRAIN TEASER – try this Quiz of the Week’s News from the BBC.

FRIDAY’s CHILD #2 is one of the many feral kittehs that the man who runs the steam plant at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn cares for – one of the Cats of Pratt – and thanks to support from students and faculty, there they will be able to remain.

……. and finally, for a song of the week ………………………………… in fact, a song that became famous with both (1) a revised title from its original release; and (2) one of the few songs to become big hits without any mention of the title in the lyrics. And the details of its provenance are uncertain enough to be intriguing. It was incubated in the band of Delaney & Bonnie (photos left and center) – the husband and wife bandleaders who were good performers in their own right but who had a knack in the late 60’s-early 70’s to attract heavyweight talent – and made musical history.

Mississippi native guitarist Delaney Bramlett made his way to Los Angeles where he was (briefly) a member of The Champs (who recorded “Tequila”) and the house band of the ABC show “Shindig”. He met Bonnie (who grew up in East St. Louis, Illinois) when she was an “Ikette” – the first white back-up singer for Ike & Tina Turner. They married soon after and were signed to the Stax label – but their debut album languished.

Next signed by Elektra, they assembled a stellar back-up band: guitarist/keyboardist Leon Russell, bassist Carl Radle and drummer Jim Keltner – who were joined by Eric Clapton briefly after the break-up of Blind Faith. Clapton sought a back-up role (wanting out of the spotlight, as he had trouble dealing with the notoriety of being in Cream and Blind Faith). As they were often joined by the likes of George Harrison and Dave Mason while on tour: the band became a hot ticket, since nobody knew who might show up.

In addition, Tennessee native Rita Coolidge (then-and-now photos below) performed with Delaney and Bonnie as a touring back-up singer.

   

Despite Clapton’s eagerness to fade into the background: he garnered much adoration as a rock star from female fans, which gave Rita Coolidge the notion of a song about dejected groupies. She spoke of it to Leon Russell (who proceeded to write the music for a song) and to Bonnie Bramlett (who then wrote the lyrics for the song). At least, this is how the story goes: and the song Groupie was released at the end of 1969 (without using that word in the lyrics) – to little fanfare. Still, Delaney & Bonnie went on to release successful albums into 1972.

But with notable personnel changes. In 1970, after Clapton left to begin his solo career: Delaney & Bonnie were dismayed to learn that Leon Russell recruited members Bobby Whitlock, Carl Radle and Jim Keltner to join Joe Cocker’s legendary Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour, and Rita Coolidge later joined as well. Delaney & Bonnie’s marriage ended with the band in 1972, as did their days in the limelight.

Delaney Bramlett spent many years dealing with alcoholism but eventually became sober, a born-again Christian, wrote commercial jingles and in the year 2000 returned to his roots with the album Sounds from Home before passing away in December, 2008 at age 69.

Bonnie Bramlett over the years also became a born-again Christian and began singing gospel music before turning to acting (in the television show “Roseanne” prominently). She, too, returned to roots music with her 2006 release Roots, Blues And Jazz and at age 68 doesn’t tour often … but did appear at last year’s New Orleans Jazz & Heritage festival. Lastly, their daughter Bekka is a singer herself (often a back-up to Faith Hill).

   

On the 1970 live album release of Mad Dogs & Englishmen (MD&E) one of the few non-cover songs was “Groupie” …

… except now it was re-named Superstar – a word which also does not appear in the lyrics – but the song was much more polished, and Rita Coolidge sang (what I consider to be) the definitive version of the tune.

But it did not become a mega-hit until two years later – and the middleman (or, in this case, woman) was Bette Midler, who sang a cover of Rita Coolidge’s version on the “Tonight Show”.

Richard Carpenter (yes, of “The Carpenters”) saw that performance (unaware of its origin) and had the presence-of-mind to see a hit song for Karen Carpenter in front of him. He was puzzled that – for one of the few times in their career – his sister didn’t care for the tune and sang it for him in the studio reading the lyrics off a cocktail napkin that he wrote them on.

It may seem lame now, but Richard Carpenter made one alteration in the lyrics. Knowing that a Top 40 song back in 1972 wouldn’t allow the original “sleep with you again”: he changed it to “be with you again” (* asterix below).

The song reached #2 in the charts – and the changes in song title/lyrics during that span expanded the song’s appeal. Instead of a limited focus (women pining for an unavailable male rock star) the song now can mean any sense of longing – male singers (such as Luther Vandross and Usher) have done notable cover versions since that time.

At this link is the original Delaney & Bonnie version of “Groupie” with Bonnie singing: a more up-tempo/soulful version.

Although the MD&E version isn’t posted on-line – drat! – at this link is a recent version of “Superstar” by Rita Coolidge: a slower, more intense rendition ……. which, after all, was the model that Bette Midler and Karen Carpenter emulated.