Comments on: Music Urban Legends Revealed #22

By: Cody

Cody — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 14:03:43 +0000

I remember finding myself sixth grade choir and also we did some sort of disney medley of songs and yes it was the most fun I’d in choir. Arabian Night time, Be Our Guest, Hug the Girl, Within the Sea is the ones that come to memory from it. They need to bring some of the movies out of their damn Disney vault.

By: Christopher Stansfield

Christopher Stansfield — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 10:53:30 +0000

My intention was simply to correct the notion that these covers weren’t simply a matter of the “market” but were a response to genuinely racist practices by radio stations. If I offended you by saying that the majority of those stations that had issues with playing black artists were southern, I apologize. Yes, there were some southern stations that played black artists (and I NEVER said that black artists couldn’t be played ANYWHERE in the South) and some northern stations that didn’t. You are also correct about artists that “sounded black” (specifically Elvis) weren’t played…in the South. Which is, of course, still a demonstration of racism even though the actual victim was a white man.

By: mary warner

mary warner — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 05:23:11 +0000

I was going to mention the official Rock Song of Oklahoma, but Zac Horn beat me to it. I’ve read more than once that Fats Domino’s version was titled ‘Ain’t It A Shame’ even though he clearly sings ‘That’ in the lyrics. I’ve never been certain whether that’s true or not.
Christopher Stansfield should know that it wasn’t only Southern radio stations that refused to play Negro music. This was common throughout the country. And many Southern stations did play it. And many stations throughout the country, then and now, would play Black artists if they sounded White, but not if they sounded Black.

By: Christopher Stansfield

Christopher Stansfield — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 05:20:16 +0000

David, the reason why it was a disgrace was because there simply WAS no legitimate competition between competing versions of the songs. it had nothing to do with “putting out a product people wanted”- I think if you played the original “black” versions of songs alongside the Pat Boone versions for the teenagers of yesterday, they would pretty much all prefer the originals. These recordings were being made because racist (Southern) radio-station owners would not play negro music. Period. Whether their audience “preferred” it or not. So these whitened versions very directly led to a loss of revenue for the black singers of the originals, who could not get their music played and thus did not get any return on the royalties.

By: me

me — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:02:10 +0000

“but that was just a typo – the actual song say’s “that””

typo alert–”say’s” should be “says.”

“Sadly, her two shots at stardom was a failure”
“was” should be “were”

Just because you pointed out a typo, then made two.

By: Mike Blake

Mike Blake — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 01:44:39 +0000

Too bad the state next to me, Massachusetts, doesn’t name “Dirty Water” as their state rock song. It’s even more appropriate for it than “Sloopy” is for Ohio.

And a better song than “Please Come to Boston” — which I don’t consider Rock & Roll.

By: David Markham

David Markham — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:05:33 +0000

One of the more embarrassing facets of popular music history was the period in time when songs written and/or first performed by black artists were then re-recorded by white singers for the “white audience.”

I’ve never understoon why this was considered “embarrassing” at all. Record companies were simply producing a product that was more in line with what their audience wanted. There is no reason to assume that Boone’s sales somehow took away from Domino’s. Re-recording hits was done no matter who the original artist was if the record company felt another artist could have better sales. (see “Blue Suede Shoes”).

It’s not like they simply removed one artist’s voice and added another. These were usually dramtically different recordings for a different audience. Perfectly legitimate and no more shameful than the rap artists of the 90s pillaging classic rock riffs to support their work.

If the original writer was cheated out of credit and money (as *did* happen), then that’s a shame. Recording a cover ain’t.

By: OTL

OTL — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:13:34 +0000

That Sloopy legislation is awesome. At first glance, I thought it was a tremendous waste of time to use such dry legalese on an official rock song, but, actually reading it, it’s greatly amusing.

So, New Jersey doesn’t have an official song? I didn’t know that, and I’ve lived in Jersey all my life. Ah, well. Any truth to the story that they wanted to make “Born to Run” the official state song? (Robert Wuhl has a particularly amusing bit on that; the idea of having a state song that claims “We’ve got to get out while we’re young” is just so… Jersey…)

By: Da Fug

Da Fug — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:30:00 +0000

I live in Ohio and didn’t even know about the Sloopy thing. Go figure.

And psst… two shots were.

By: The Crazed Spruce

The Crazed Spruce — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:57:54 +0000

That has got to be the single most entertaining piece of legislation I’ve ever read.