Tag Archives: sound effects

♫ Cupid ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music

I was actually planning to play Africa by Toto tonight, but a couple of things changed my mind.  No worries, though … I’ll definitely be playing it soon, for it’s a song that … speaks to me, that I really like.  Instead, I figured some Sam Cooke would be just the thing to get me over the holiday weariness that seems to be stronger as we get older.  Nothin’ quite like Mr. Sam!

Who doesn’t love the voice of Sam Cooke?  Sam Cooke wrote this song, but the original intent wasn’t for him to sing it.  Cooke’s producers had asked him to write a song for a girl they had seen on a Perry Como TV show — but once they heard her sing, they kept “Cupid” for Cooke himself.  She must’ve really botched it!

It was Cooke’s idea to drop in the sound of an arrow being fired “straight to my lover’s heart.”  According to the folks over at SongFacts …

Sam Cooke’s producers had the idea for him to do a song for a girl they had seen on a Perry Como TV show. “She didn’t do anything but just look up at Perry Como in the most wistful-type manner,” said J.W. Alexander, Cooke’s business adviser. Cooke decided to drop in the sound of an arrow being fired “Straight to my lover’s heart” whenever the song called for it.

The arrow sounds were made by backing vocalists Kenneth Simms (leaving the bow) and Bobbie Simms (hitting the target). Kenneth and Bobbie were twins and it was the first time they ever recorded in a studio.

The song was covered by Johnny Nash, whose version topped Cooke’s in the UK, coming in at #6, Tony Orlando and Dawn, and the Spinners.  Cooke’s version charted at #7 in the UK and #17 in the U.S.

Cupid
Sam Cooke

Cupid, draw back your bow
And let your arrow go
Straight to my lover’s heart for me, for me
Cupid, please hear my cry
And let your arrow fly
Straight to my lover’s heart for me

Now, I don’t mean to bother you
But I’m in distress
There’s danger of me losing all of my happiness
For I love a girl who doesn’t know I exist
And this you can fix

So, Cupid, draw back your bow
And let your arrow go
Straight to my lover’s heart for me, nobody but me
Cupid, please hear my cry
And let your arrow fly
Straight to my lover’s heart for me

Now, Cupid, if your arrow make her love strong for me
I promise I wll love her until eternity
I know between the two of us her heart we can steal
Help me if you will

So, Cupid, draw back your bow
And let your arrow go
Straight to my lover’s heart for me, nobody but me
Cupid, please hear my cry
And let your arrow fly
Straight to my lover’s heart for me

Now, Cupid
Don’t you hear me
Calling you?
I need you
Cupid
Help me
I need you
Cupid
Don’t fail

Songwriters: Sam Cooke
Cupid lyrics © S.I.A.E. Direzione Generale, Abkco Music Inc., ABKCO MUSIC INC

♫ Monster Mash ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, Holidays, music

Well, it IS Hallowe’en, after all … what did you expect, a sappy love song?

Bobby “Boris” Pickett was a nightclub entertainer who performed with a group called The Cordials. He wrote Monster Mash with his friend Lenny Capizzi. They were both big horror movie fans, and Pickett would do an impression of the actor Boris Karloff (known for playing the monster in many Frankenstein movies) during the speaking part of Little Darlin’ that went over well in his act. As Capizzi played the piano, he and Pickett put together this song with his Karloff impression in mind. They came up with the plot about Frankenstein’s monster starting a dance craze.

The lyrics are based on the story of Frankenstein, which started as a 1818 novel by Mary Shelley and evolved into various film adaptations. In the story, Dr. Frankenstein creates a creature who comes to life, but what he created is a monster. The book is sober tale of regret and unexpected consequences, but the story is often played for comedy. In this song, the monster throws a big dance party, which is enthusiastically attended by many other creatures of lore (Dracula, Wolfman).

Pickett and Lenny Capizzi wrote this song in about two hours. They recorded a demo to tape and brought it to Gary Paxton, lead singer of The Hollywood Argyles (“Alley Oop”). They recorded the song with Paxton and studio musicians Leon Russell, Johnny McCrae and Rickie Page, who were credited as “The Cryptkickers.” Paxton, who is credited as the song’s producer, also added the sound effects.

Paxton put the song out on his Garpax label and distributed it to radio stations around southern California. Response was overwhelming, as the stations saw their phone banks lighting up with requests for the song. A deal was struck with London Records, who distributed the song worldwide.

Released in 1962, this went to #1 in both the U.S. and Canada, but did not chart in the UK until 1973 when it was re-releeased and hit the #3 spot in the UK.

Monster Mash

Bobby “Boris” Pickett

I was working in the lab, late one night
When my eyes beheld an eerie sight
For my monster from his slab, began to rise
And suddenly to my surprise

(He did the mash) he did the monster mash
(The monster mash) it was a graveyard smash
(He did the mash) it caught on in a flash
(He did the mash) he did the monster mash

(Wa-ooh) From my laboratory in the castle east
(Wa-ooh) To the master bedroom where the vampires feast
(Wa-wa-ooh) The ghouls all came from their humble abodes
(Wa-ooh) To get a jolt from my electrodes

(They did the mash) they did the monster mash
(The monster mash) it was a graveyard smash
(They did the mash) it caught on in a flash
(They did the mash) they did the monster mash

(Wa-ooh) The zombies were having fun
(Tennis shoe wa-ooh) The party had just begun
(Tennis shoe wa-ooh) The guests included Wolfman
(Tennis shoe wa-ooh) Dracula, and his son

(Wa-ooh) The scene was rockin’, all were digging the sounds
(Wa-ooh) Igor on chains, backed by his baying hounds
(Wa-wa-ooh) The coffin-bangers were about to arrive
(Wa-ooh) With their vocal group, The Crypt-Kicker Five

(They played the mash) they played the monster mash
(The monster mash) it was a graveyard smash
(They played the mash) it caught on in a flash
(They played the mash) they played the monster mash

(Wa-ooh) out from his coffin’, Drac’s voice did ring
(Wa-ooh) seems he was troubled by just one thing
(Wa-wa-ooh) opened the lid and shook his fist and said
(Wa-ooh) “Whatever happened to my Transylvania Twist?

(It’s now the mash) it’s now the monster mash
(The monster mash) and it’s a graveyard smash
(It’s now the mash) it’s caught on in a flash
(It’s now the mash) it’s now the monster mash

(Wa-ooh) Now everything’s cool, Drac’s a part of the band
(Wa-ooh) And my Monster Mash is the hit of the land
(Wa-wa-ooh) For you, the living this mash was meant to
(Wa-ooh) When you get to my door, tell them Boris sent you

(Then you can mash) then you can monster mash
(The monster mash) and do my graveyard smash
(Then you can mash) you’ll catch on in a flash
(Then you can mash) then you can monster mash

(Wa-ooh, monster mash)
“Mash good” (Wa-ooh, monster mash)
“Easy, Igor, you impetuous young boy” (Wa-ooh, monster mash)
“Mash good, grr” (Wa-ooh, monster mash)
(Wa-ooh, monster mash)
(Wa-ooh, monster mash)
(Wa-ooh)

Writer/s: Bob Pickett, Leonard Capizzi
Publisher: RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

♫ You May Be Right ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music

When I played Billy Joel’s It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me on Friday, at least two people mentioned this song as being their favourite Billy Joel song, so … how could I not play it here?  Annnnnndddd … I haven’t ever played this one before, so it’s not a redux!!!

According to SongFacts …

This is the opening track to Billy Joel’s album Glass Houses. Before the song starts, there is the sound of shattered glass to match the cover picture of Joel throwing a rock into the window of an all-glass house, a parody of the saying, “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.” This was Joel’s statement to his critics.

According to producer Phil Ramone, it took a lot of effort to achieve the shattered-glass effect. “We didn’t want a typical glass-break effect,” he explained in his 2007 book, Making Records: The Scenes Behind The Music. “We wanted the kind of sound that comes when a large plate glass window breaks, and there’s a split-second delay between the crack and the entire sheet crumbling to the ground.”

They placed sheets of glass on cinder blocks and smashed them with various types of hammers but none of them produced the right sound. Ramone was about to toss a few five-gallon jugs of drinking water down a stairwell – something he’d seen an engineer do to get a glass-breaking effect – when another engineer told him what the problem was: The glass was too thin. To achieve a bloodcurdling shatter, he needed to suspend panes of glass that were more than a quarter-inch thick.

“The following day I ordered the right glass,” Ramone recalled. “When it was delivered, I placed a piece over two wooden horses and smashed it from above. I miked the hell out of it; there were microphones all over the studio – above, below, to the right and left sides, far and near. It took nearly thirty sheets of glass, and the best-sounding take came on the last piece, with one crack of the hammer.

The time and expense was worth it: The harrowing glass-break we captured gave Glass Houses the pluperfect kickoff it deserves.”

The glass house featured on the cover was Joel’s own home in Cove Neck on Long Island. That explains why he didn’t actually throw the rock!

Joel tends to prefer his more obscure songs over his hits, but “You May Be Right” is one of his favorites. Speaking with Stephen Colbert in 2017, he listed it as one of his Top 5.

This song did well in Canada and the U.S., ranking #6 & #7 respectively, but doesn’t seem to have made a dent anywhere else.

You May Be Right

Billy Joel

Friday night I crashed your party
Saturday I said, “I’m sorry”
Sunday came and trashed me out again
I was only having fun
Wasn’t hurting anyone
And we all enjoyed the weekend for a change

I’ve been stranded in the combat zone
I walked through Bedford Stuy alone
Even rode my motorcycle in the rain
And you told me not to drive
But I made it home alive
So you said that only proves that I’m insane

You may be right
I may be crazy
Oh, but it just may be a lunatic you’re looking for
Turn out the light
Don’t try to save me
You may be wrong for all I know
But you may be right

Well, remember how I found you there
Alone in your electric chair
I told you dirty jokes until you smiled
You were lonely for a man
I said, “Take me as I am”
‘Cause you might enjoy some madness for a while

Now think of all the years you tried to
Find someone to satisfy you
I might be as crazy as you say
If I’m crazy then it’s true
That it’s all because of you
And you wouldn’t want me any other way

You may be right
I may be crazy
Oh, but it just may be a lunatic you’re looking for
It’s too late to fight
It’s too late to change me
You may be wrong for all I know
But you may be right

You may be right
I may be crazy
Hey, but It just may be a lunatic you’re looking for
Turn out the light
Oh, don’t try to save me
You may be wrong for all I know
You may be right

You may be wrong but you may be right
You may be wrong but you may be right
You may be wrong but you may be right
You may be wrong but you may be right
You may be wrong but you may be right
You may be wrong but you may be right
You may be wrong but you may be right
You may be wrong but you may be right

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Billy Joel

You May Be Right lyrics © Impulsive Music