Here
are to two recordings of the same song by two singers I played when I was a radio disc jockey in a past life. First, the original sung by the then teenaged composer and balladeer Laura Nyro, who died early 20 years ago.
LAURA NYRO wedding bell blues - YouTube
LAURA NYRO wedding bell blues - YouTube
I'd play the second version on a different night, playing the songs just after a
station break. That was about as close as I could get to either singer in reality, sadness. I'd clamp on a forced baritone and
announce: "You are listening to fifty thousand watt K ... F ... B ... K. serving the far west from Sacramento,"
and immediately segue into the record.Then I'd
go back to emptying waste baskets, rewriting wire service copy,
keeping the transmitter legal, or running to the bathroom down the
hall and running back while zipping up before the record
ended.
Some of the songs Laura Nyro wrote became hits for other performers; Barbra Streisand, Chicago, The 5th Dimension among them.
She died in 1997 at age 50. So now she'll always be the beautiful Jewish-Italian girl whose talent blossomed from that of a teenaged piano banger to a millennium aged soul untainted by a show business scandal, a messy public divorce or two, or a stint in a drug and alcohol rehab.
But she did seem troubled in a quiet way, expressing her malaise in song, like a mourning dove, and was probably impossible to be around without wanting to open your wrists a paring knife or lying down in traffic. So what's not to love? I adored her. Didn't know her, but adored her. Or my imagined version of her. What else is adoration but an illusion, a self-induced insanity, but a pleasant one.
And here's the other version sung by Marilyn McCoo of the 5th Dimension. Her voice matched her beauty. I had a crunch on her too. I mean, what more or less straight male who still had a pulse could not help but be a little in love with Marilyn McCoo?
Some of the songs Laura Nyro wrote became hits for other performers; Barbra Streisand, Chicago, The 5th Dimension among them.
She died in 1997 at age 50. So now she'll always be the beautiful Jewish-Italian girl whose talent blossomed from that of a teenaged piano banger to a millennium aged soul untainted by a show business scandal, a messy public divorce or two, or a stint in a drug and alcohol rehab.
But she did seem troubled in a quiet way, expressing her malaise in song, like a mourning dove, and was probably impossible to be around without wanting to open your wrists a paring knife or lying down in traffic. So what's not to love? I adored her. Didn't know her, but adored her. Or my imagined version of her. What else is adoration but an illusion, a self-induced insanity, but a pleasant one.
And here's the other version sung by Marilyn McCoo of the 5th Dimension. Her voice matched her beauty. I had a crunch on her too. I mean, what more or less straight male who still had a pulse could not help but be a little in love with Marilyn McCoo?
"Wedding
Bell Blues" by The 5th Dimension - YouTube
Ahhh, radio. With the exception of NPR, radio dangles from the lower rungs of the entertainment monkey bars, down there with pole dancing and party clowns, where success is gauged by the size of the U-Haul van announcers drive from gig to gig in the middle of the night before the sheriff and the collection agents know they're leaving town.
I sometimes felt like the guy in the joke who followed circus elephants in parades with a shovel and a wheel barrow, one whose wife would say, "For God's sake get a decent job!" His response: "What? And leave show business?"
Actually, the then Mrs. Mike Browne was my most loyal listener and I did have a lot of fun. It was productive, too. Radio put me through college, a marriage, a divorce, a pilots license and an unsparing assessment of my own limitations, which are legion, as the former Mrs. Mike Browne could attest. So it was only natural that I go to work for the California state government.
Ahhh, radio. With the exception of NPR, radio dangles from the lower rungs of the entertainment monkey bars, down there with pole dancing and party clowns, where success is gauged by the size of the U-Haul van announcers drive from gig to gig in the middle of the night before the sheriff and the collection agents know they're leaving town.
I sometimes felt like the guy in the joke who followed circus elephants in parades with a shovel and a wheel barrow, one whose wife would say, "For God's sake get a decent job!" His response: "What? And leave show business?"
Actually, the then Mrs. Mike Browne was my most loyal listener and I did have a lot of fun. It was productive, too. Radio put me through college, a marriage, a divorce, a pilots license and an unsparing assessment of my own limitations, which are legion, as the former Mrs. Mike Browne could attest. So it was only natural that I go to work for the California state government.
As for the formerly honorable KFBK, which has been on the air continuously since 1922, it's become an all-talk blabfest, like many AM stations when FM radio's signal, better suited to music, began kicking AM radio's butt in the ratings. KFBK now cynically stars a fat draft-dodging OxyContin addicted gasbag named Rush Limbaugh as its main attraction. He and his imitators provide a forum for angry idiots to call in, vent their misinformed spleen, and achieve a few moments of the proverbial 15 minutes of fame.
As Limbaugh's spirit guide, Donald Trump, would Tweet: Sad.
-oOo-
Comments?
Corrections? Hate mail? Contact tomatomike@aol.com
When
as a kid I joined the Columbia Record Club and had to make the
choices of my initial bonanza of vinyl LPs, one that I chose was an
anthology that included some great stuff, including a track from
NRBQ, and a track from Laura Nyro, neither of whom had I heard of
before then. That was my introduction to this extraordinary talent
and beautiful lady, may she rest in peace. Her Wikipedia article is
quite informative. I also liked the Fifth Dimension and Marilyn
McCoo. – Trog
I
think I still owe the Columbia Record Club $3.95 from 1956. – MB
_____
_____
What a great contribution you've made as a radio DJ, and the freedom to select music on your own terms. Sadly, the oligarchs of our collapsing music industry still don't get (much less care), why more than $6 Billion was lost in this 'feast or famine' field about two years ago. But, Laura Nyro was a special artist. I remember her fondly as a little boy when she offered to take me on a horse and carriage ride around Central Park, to which my parents happily agreed. Carriage rides around the park helped stoke Nyro's creative energies, according to her, and it was usually around midnight that she preferred to take advantage of those rides. I was invited during a late afternoon in the early Spring in 1967. The memory of her is priceless to me. She treated me like a child prodigy and exalted king in one fell swoop. I will never forget it!
– Richard
Thank
you for the compliment and that incomparable reminiscence of yours
about Our Star. – MB
–
Beaty
Aw
shucks. Thank you. MB
_____
That
song is one of those that when you are reminded of it, it sort
of spreads out in your brain and is caught there, playing in
your head several times over the next few days. I know the words to that song; learned them long, long ago. Now
they and the melody will linger again for a while. I sure remember
Marilyn McCoo. She has a great voice. "One Less Bell
To Answer" is another one I remember well. Thanks for
the good piece of writing, Mike. Just like always. – Zoey
_____
Brian Papstein
Mover of Mountains
KINS FM, KEKA FM, KWSW FM (Destination Radio) & KURY AM, KURY FM
Brian, it's nice to see you didn't squander your third generation inheritance, and even expanded it. But Mover Of Mountains? Oh my. I don't think there's a Conspicuous Humility In Broadcasting Award. but I bet you'd qualify if there was. Anyway, I've complied with your directive, sir. – MB
