3.3 WORKSHEET 3

We will now look at the final 2 subjects of Worksheet 3, Phil Spector and folk music.

Phil Spector

There are few real geniuses in any particular field. Phil Spector was one of them, but he was also very eccentric.

Phil Spector was born in New York. His father committed suicide when he was 9, and that indirectly had an effect on his career. His family moved to Los Angeles, where he attended high school and learned the guitar. While still in school, he wrote his first hit, "To Know Him Is To Love Him," recorded it with 3 classmates, and the record went to #1, selling 1.5 million copies. That title was taken from his father's gravestone, which read "To Know Him WAS To Love Him." Phil then moved back to NY, became involved in the Brill Building, and hung out with Leiber and Stoller, picking up the way they produced records. After scoring 3 hits there, he moved back to LA, developed his "wall of sound" technique, and scored 20 hits in just 3 years! This approach to production involved a process of overdubbing scores of musicians to make a full sound. The effect created a "roar," which Spector described as the "Wagnerian approach to rock 'n' roll."  He also called his records "little symphonies for the kids." This style served to make Spector even more famous in the music industry, and many artists would begin imitating this technique in future years. Phil Spector was called the "First Tycoon of Teen" by writer Tom Wolfe.  Watch the following 3 videos on Phil Spector and his wall of sound:

PHIL SPECTOR INTRO Links to an external site.

WALL OF SOUND - MUSIC SCHOOL Links to an external site.

PHIL SPECTOR AND THE WALL OF SOUND Links to an external site.

Let's go to our music journal and enter Phil Spector's first hit (In the video, Phil is on the right, playing the guitar):

JOURNAL:

20. TO KNOW HIM IS TO LOVE HIM - THE TEDDY BEARS Links to an external site.

This next entry for our journal has a unique sound and arrangement: "Spanish Harlem," by Ben E. King. The song begins with just bass, triangle, and marimba. Those few instruments continue on behind the singer during the first two verses. All of a sudden, there is an instrumental section, and and you hear Spanish guitar, strings, trumpet, and soprano saxophone. Think about it: the instrumentation has more than doubled. When the instrumental section is done, the song reverts back to just the first 3 instruments, which takes the song out.  The song is listed at #358 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Hits of All Time.

JOURNAL:

21. SPANISH HARLEM - BEN E. KING Links to an external site.

Check this out. Many times a composer will make a cheap recording, just as a demonstration of the song's basic structure and lyrics,  so the producer can build upon that These are called "demos." Here is Phil Spector doing a demo of "Spanish Harlem," with just him and the guitar. It is interesting to hear this against the final product:

SPANISH HARLEM - DEMO Links to an external site.

Our next entry has a hilarious backstory to it, and illustrates the quirkiness and eccentricity of Phil Spector. The song was written by Gene Pitney (a great singer as well), who pitched it to the Shirelles, who turned it down. Spector heard that Liberty Records was going to let Vicki Carr record it. Spector wanted to beat them to it, raced back to LA, and had everyone ready to record. The group he wanted to sing it, The Crystals, were touring on the road, so he enlisted another group, the Blossoms, with lead singer Darlene Love, to sing it. The song easily beat out the Vicky Carr version, and went to #1. Here's where it gets funny. Spector had the Crystals credited on the record, even though they had nothing to do with it! The Crystals were out on the road, touring, when they heard the song on the radio. The DJ came on, saying, "That was the new hit by the Crystals," which drew a total blank from the group. "We didn't record that!" The writer, Gene Pitney, had to go out where the girls were, and teach them the song!

JOURNAL:

22. HE'S A REBEL - THE CRYSTALS Links to an external site.

Our last Phil Spector entry is a historic song of great significance. Besides being considered Phil Spector's masterpiece, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" has the amazing statistic of being the most played song of the 20th century! It is listed at #34 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. Personally, I would list it even higher. Tip: Listen to this with headphones, to get the full "wall of sound" effect.

JOURNAL:

23. YOU'VE LOST THAT LOVIN' FEELIN' - RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS Links to an external site.

Snapshot #1. Look at the record label. It has all the pertinent information there; The artist(s) the producer, the name of the song, the writer(s) the record company label, etc.

Radio stations at the time did not like to play records that went too much over the 3:00 minute mark. "Lovin' Feelin'" was long, going towards 4:00 minutes. Look to the center right of the label. The record length is listed as 3:05. He lied! And guess what. No one checked! Why would they?!

Snapshot #2. I read the autobiography of the drummer who was on the record. He went into detail about how Spector would do go over something over and over, driving the musicians crazy. On "Lovin' Feelin'" between verses, at the 0:53 mark, there is a 2 bar break with the bass guitar, leading into the second verse. Spector's direction was that he wanted to tempo to feel like it was slowing down, but not actually. The drummer said they went over that for 8 hours!

Snapshot 3. 45 rpm records had two sides, obviously, an "A" side and a "B" side. Do you remember Bill Medley's story about him and Elvis? Well, Bill Medley was the low voice of the Righteous Brothers. Watch this short but hilarious clip about how they, with Spector, handled the "B" side.

"THERE'S A WOMAN" -  AWFUL SONG Links to an external site.

He told them to write and record the worst song they could!

Snapshot #4. Phil Spector's behavior was sometimes bizarre and outlandish. Listen to Jerry Cole, one of Phil's musicians, tell this crazy story!

CRAZY PHIL SPECTOR STORY BY JERRY COLE Links to an external site.

Folk Music

Folk music is the music that is sung by the people, not music recorded in a studio or performed on a stage. People learn these songs by singing them with others. The songs are passed down from generation to generation, and are often changed as they are passed down. Therefore, folk music is easily adaptable to new places and new circumstances. Folk music is also traditionally acoustic, with instruments that are often homemade. Watch this short documentary on the origins of American folk music:

AMERICAN FOLK MUSIC HISTORY Links to an external site.

Folk music, by definition, is music as old as the country it is sung in. Every country has its own folk music. In the United States there has always been a folk following, but not enough to end up on the mainstream pop charts. That changed in 1959, when a folk song called "Tom Dooley," recorded by the Kingston Trio, made it to the top of the pop charts, sparking a folk music revival. More folk songs made it on the charts, folk groups became popular, and there were even television shows (Hootenanny was one) that featured folk groups. The song was based on a real murder in 1886, in North Carolina. For our music journal:

JOURNAL:

24. TOM DOOLEY - KINGSTON TRIO Links to an external site.

Out of all the folk groups that became popular during this time, the most successful folk-pop group of the 1960s was Peter, Paul, & Mary.  Our last music journal entry is "Blowin' In The Wind," a Bob Dylan song that they covered.

JOURNAL:

25. BLOWIN' IN THE WIND - PETER, PAUL, & MARY Links to an external site.

That's it. See you next week!