The first of a weekly Radio Stockton (Teesside UK) Community Internet Radio Station with Trev Teasdel playing some of the original artists, alternative takes and modern remixes.The show is archived on Mixcloud so you should be able to listen to it anywhere that has internet. You are welcome to send in feedback, suggestions, corrections and so forth and as it goes on I hope to promote the good work others are doing online in this area.http://www.radiostockton.co.uk/
Recorded February 15 / 1965 at Bell Sound Studios - New York. Line Up : Bill Haley [vocal]:Johnny Kay [Lead guitar]: Nick Masters [Steel Guitar]: Al Rappa [Bass]: Dave Francis [Drums]: Ernie Henry [Organ]: Rudy Pompilli [Tenor Sax]
The song was later recorded by Elvis for his movie
California Holiday - or Spinout 1966.
As played in the film
Although the song is credited to Joy Byers - there is a debate about how many of her credited songs were written by the legendary producer Bob Johnson - who discovered Bob Dylan. I don;t know the answer but you can read about it here http://theelvisforum-phoenix.com/viewtopic.php?t=2833
The Meanest Girl in Town, also known as Yeah, She's Evil! is a rock and roll song written by Joy Byers, which was recorded in June 1964 by both Elvis Presley, as The Meanest Girl in Town for the soundtrack to the 1965 film release Girl Happy, and by Bill Haley & His Comets as Yeah, She's Evil! for a Decca Records single release.
Haley's recording was released during the summer of 1964, predating Presley's release (on the soundtrack to Girl Happy in 1965), although Presley actually recorded his version several days before Haley: on June 10, 1964, versus June 16, 1964 for Bill Haley & His Comets.
Bill Haley's one off deal for Decca in 1964 resulted in Yeah! She's Evil / Green Door. Recorded 16th June in New York and released on the 27th July 1964 - Dave Martin was on piano & Abie Baker on bass. Another single was released in Stereo - THE GREEN DOOR - Coupled with Corrine Corrina which was used on the Bill Haley's Chicks album. Unfortunately the 64' session produced no hit records and Decca did not offer another recording contract. The disc in the video is the British Brunswick release.
The Presley track is speeded up by the sounds of it as the title track Girl Happy.
The film version fromGirl Happy 1965
Nashville Songwriter Joy Byers
Joy Byers died on May 10 2017 at the age of 82.
Byers had her first hit as a songwriter in 1962 with What's a Matter Baby (Is It Hurting You)
which Timi Yuro took to number 12 on the Hot 100 and 16 on the R&B charts.
A number of her songs were also recorded by Elvis Presley including It Hurts Me, Please Don't Stop Loving Me and Let Yourself Go.
She was married to producer Bob Johnston who worked with Bob Dylan (Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde), Johnny Cash (At Folsom Prison, At San Quentin), Simon & Garfunkel (Sounds of Silence, Parsley Sage Rosemary & Thyme) and Leonard Cohen (Songs From a Room, Songs of Love and Hate) among others. He died in 2015.
Songs written or co-written by Joy Byers:
What's a Matter Baby (Is It Hurting You) by Timi Yuro (1962 / #12 Pop / #16 R&B) It Hurts Me by Elvis Presley (1964 / #29 Pop) When You Loved Me by Brenda Lee (1964 / #47 Pop / #8 Adult Contemporary) Wishing It Was You by Connie Francis (1965 / #57 Pop / #14 AC) (No, No) I'm Losing You by Aretha Franklin (1965 / #34 AC) Ring Dang Doo by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs (1965 / #33 Pop) Gardenias In Her Hair by Marty Robbins (1967 / #9 Country) Here Comes Heaven by Eddy Arnold (1967 / #91 Pop / #15 AC / #2 Country) Let Yourself Go by Elvis Presley (1968 / #71 Pop / #15 U.K.)
From http://www.smokestacklightnin.com/bios/junior%20parker.htm " Junior Parker, also known as Little Junior Parker or "Mr Blues" (May 27, 1932–November 18, 1971) was a successful and influential Memphis blues singer and musician. He is best remembered for his unique voice which has been described as "honeyed," and "velvet-smooth. Junior Parker was born in either Clarksdale, Mississippi or West Memphis, Arkansas as Herman Parker, Jr. He sang in gospel groups as a child, and played on the various blues circuits beginning in his teenage years. His biggest influence as a harmonica player was Sonny Boy Williamson, with whom he worked before moving on to work for Howlin' Wolf in 1949. Around 1950 he was a member of Memphis's ad hoc group, the Beale Streeters, with Bobby 'Blue' Bland and B.B. King.
In 1951 he formed his own band, the Blue Flames, with guitarist Auburn 'Pat' Hare. Parker was discovered in 1952 by Ike Turner, who signed him to Modern Records. He put out one single on this record label, "You're My Angel."[ This brought him to the attention of Sam Phillips, and he and his band signed onto Sun Records in 1953. There they produced three successful songs: "Feelin' Good" (which reached # 5 on the Billboard R&B charts), "Love My Baby," and "Mystery Train" ,with Floyd Murphy (Matt "Guitar" Murphy's brother) on guitar, later covered by Elvis Presley.[ For Presley's version of "Mystery Train", Scotty Moore borrowed the guitar riff from Parker's "Love My Baby"
Later in 1953, Parker toured with Bobby Bland and Johnny Ace, and also joined Duke Records. Parker and Bland headed the highly successful Blues Consolidated Revue, which became a staple part of the southern blues circuit. He continued to have a string of hits on the R&B chart, including the smooth "Next Time You See Me" (1957); re-makes of Roosevelt Sykes' songs, "Sweet Home Chicago" (1958) and "Driving Wheel" (1961); Guitar Slim's "The Things That I Used to Do" (1963); Don Robey's "Mother-in-Law Blues" (1956); and his own "Stand by Me." (1961)
His success was limited after he left the Duke label in 1966. He recorded for various labels, including Mercury, Blue Rock, Minit, and Capitol.
"If I Can Dream" is a song written by Walter Earl Brown and notable for its direct quotations of Martin Luther King, Jr. It was recorded by Presley in June 1968, two months after King's assassination. The recording was first released to the public as the finale of Presley's '68 Comeback Special. Although the song is not technically gospel music, Presley performed the song with the intensity and intonations of southern gospel. Brown was asked to write a song to replace "I'll Be Home For Christmas" as the grand finale on NBC's "Elvis" (June 20–23, 1968). He wrote "If I Can Dream," and when Presley heard it he proclaimed "I'm never going to sing another song I don't believe in. I'm never going to make another picture I don't believe in." Steve Binder, who produced Presley’s 1968 television comeback special, recalled the origin of Presley’s hit “If I Can Dream.” Presley and Binder were looking for a way to end the show. The two had discussed Elvis’ dismay over the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy. Binder was struck by the conversation and ordered W. Earl Brown, a songwriter working on the show, to come up with a song incorporating Presley’s concern to use as the finale to the show. So even though Presley did not write the song, his viewpoint was expressed in its composition."http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_I_Can_Dream
"I Have a Dream" is a 17-minute public speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered on August 28, 1963, in which he called for racial equality and an end to discrimination. The speech, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement. Delivered to over 200,000 civil rights supporters, the speech was ranked the top American speech of the 20th century by a 1999 poll of scholars of public address.According to U.S. Representative John Lewis, who also spoke that day as the President of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, "Dr. King had the power, the ability, and the capacity to transform those steps on the Lincoln Memorial into a monumental area that will forever be recognized. By speaking the way he did, he educated, he inspired, he informed not just the people there, but people throughout America and unborn generations." At the end of the speech, King departed from his prepared text for a partly improvised peroration on the theme of "I have a dream", possibly prompted by Mahalia Jackson's cry, "Tell them about the dream, Martin!" He had first delivered a speech incorporating some of the same sections in Detroit in June 1963, when he marched on Woodward Avenue with Walter Reuther and the Reverend C. L. Franklin, and had rehearsed other parts.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_a_Dream The Full Text of Dr Martin Luther King's Speech "must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone." (Read the full text here - http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/martin-luther-kings-speech-dream-full-text/story?id=14358231&page=2#.T2evWcUaP30 The Writer - Walter Earl Brown "Walter Earl Brown was born in Salt Lake City, Utah on Christmas Day, 1928 to Walter Lincoln Brown, a descendant of the english royal family and Hattie Earl. Earl's father, Walter played in a "swing" big band so as a child Earl traveled with his parents.... Earl had a prolific and illustrious career in show business as a singer, composer, vocal arranger, and writer of special material. His work in television, films, revues, musical recordings and nightclubs began at an early age and continued until his passing. During the 40's and 50's Earl is remembered for having been the arranger and singer in the highly acclaimed vocal group "The Skylarks". He wrote a hit song for Elvis Presley in 1968 entitled "If I Can Dream", which has been re-recorded by Barry Manilow and others and which was recently performed on "American Idol" by Celine Dion as a duet, with Elvis resurrected on stage as a holographic image. Earl wrote songs for Dianne Reeves, including the Grammy winning "Who's Minding The Store?", as well as for Frank Sinatra, Mama Cass, Michael Feinstein, and numerous others. For many years he was the vocal director on many hit variety shows including "The Danny Kaye Show", "The Dinah Shore Show", "The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour", "The Osmonds Brothers Show", "The Andy Williams Show", "The Carol Burnett Show" and many other television programs and specials. Most recently Earl was the vocal arranger and writer of special material for "The Palm Springs Follies" for the last 13 seasons of the revue." More here http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=24119368
The Girl of My Best Friend " is a song written by Sam Bobrick and Beverly Ross and first released in 1959 by Charlie Blackwell as the B-side to his single "Choppin' Mountains". It was made famous as a cover by Elvis Presley with The Jordanaires in 1960. It has also been covered by Ral Donner in 1960 (#19 US), Johnny Burnette in 1962 and by Bryan Ferry for his 1993 covers album Taxi. A dance hall version was also released as a single in the 1990 by Tippa Irie and Peter Spence on GT's Records and Mango." From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_of_My_Best_Friend
While the Charlie Blackwell version is cited as the first version of The Girl of My Best Friend Colonel Snow tells us " Another version was recorded in Nov. 1959 by Marty Vine (Epic 9382).". But Colonel, other sources are saying the Marty Vine version came out April 1960 - same time as the Elvis version. However the Marty Vine version stands out because it's a lot more upbeat than either the Blackwell or Presley version - take a listen here - nice graphics too. This is one of the sources of dating the Vine song http://www.secondhandsongs.com/performance/194697
Check out further information of David Neale's site Elvis Presley - The Originals under the listing for this song regarding the songwriters and a link to more on Charles Blackwell https://davidneale.eu/elvis/originals/index.html According to this site "Listening to the “Elvis Is Back” FTD we can hear how this song evolved and in the end how Elvis is more comfortable with the slower tempo after trying various rhythms even snapping his fingers as he tries to ride with the faster tempo."http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=60770 Here's Elvis with take 2, 4, 5, 6, - where take 4 and 5 starts with a faster tempo but breaks down.
From whom the promotion copy graphic below was sourced. Charles Blackwell version 1959
Marty Vine Version
........ And the Elvis version...
And a later well known version 1961 by Ral Donner & The Starfires
Charlie Blackwell Marty Vine
The Songwriters - Sam Bobrick(born July 24, 1932) is an American author, playwright, television writer, and lyricist. "After a three year, nine months and twenty seven day stint in the U.S. Air Force, Bobrick attended the University of Illinois where he graduated with a degree in Journalism. He began his career writing for the popular children's show Captain Kangaroo. He also wrote for such shows as The Andy Griffith Show, Bewitched, The Flintstones, Get Smart, The Kraft Music Hall, and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. He created the short-lived syndicated TV series Good Morning, Miss Bliss, which was resurrected by NBC as the long-running hit show Saved By The Bell. He has won three Writers Guild of America Awards for his television work and was nominated for an Emmy. He has also written several movies and later quit writing for film and television in 1990." Read more about his plays here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Bobrick
"Bobrick co-wrote the song The Girl of My Best Friend with Beverly Ross which was recorded by Elvis Presley and many other recording artists throughout the years, including Bryan Ferry. Another song, It Will Never Be Over For Me was recorded by the iconic Los Lobos. He also wrote two satirical albums for MAD magazine, Mad Twists Rock n Roll and Fink Along With Mad. His most recent music endeavor is a CD entitled "Totally Twisted Country" that he co-wrote with his son Joey Bobrick for the band The Cow Pies." His website is http://www.sambobrick.com/
Beverly Ross "(born 1939) is an American songwriter and musician who co-wrote several successful pop songs in the 1950s and 1960s, including "Dim, Dim The Lights", "Lollipop" — which she also recorded, as one half of Ronald & Ruby — "The Girl of My Best Friend", "Remember Then", and "Judy's Turn to Cry".
She was born in Brooklyn, New York, and as a child moved with her family to Lakewood, New Jersey where she learned the piano. While at school, she began writing poetry and song lyrics.
While living in The Bronx as a teenager, she began canvassing writers at the Brill Building with some of her songs. The first to be recorded was "Dim, Dim The Lights (I Want Some Atmosphere)", co-written with black songwriter Julius Dixson (or Dixon), which was recorded by Bill Haley and His Comets in 1954 and became a crossover hit in both the pop chart and R&B chart the following year. The song was the first rock and roll song recorded by a white singer to reach the R&B chart, and was hailed by Alan Freed as "the grand daddy song of rock n’ roll". In 1958 she and Dixson wrote one of her most lasting songs, "Lollipop". When Dixson explained that he was late for a songwriting session because his daughter had gotten a lollipop stuck in her hair, Ross began writing the song, and later recorded a demo version with Dixson's neighbor, teenager Ronald Gumm (or Gumps). Dixson, who owned the master and had produced the demo, then agreed to let RCA Records release it as by "Ronald and Ruby". The pair's version rose up the chart reaching no.20, but when it was learned that Ronald and Ruby were an inter-racial duo, television appearances that had been previously booked got cancelled. Cover versions by The Chordettes (no.2 in the US) and The Mudlarks (no.2 in the UK) rose higher up the charts, and the song became an international hit.
While working at the Brill Building with Jeff Barry in the late 1950s, she was recruited by Jean Aberbach to
work for the publishing company Hill & Range. She co-wrote the song "Dixieland Rock" with Aaron Schroeder, using the pseudonym Rachel Frank. The song was recorded by Elvis Presley for his 1958 movie King Creole and released on the soundtrack album. She also wrote "The Girl of My Best Friend" with Sam Bobrick. The song was first released as the B-side of a single by Charlie Blackwell, before being covered in 1960 by Presley. At Hill & Range she met aspiring songwriter Phil Spector, and began collaborating with him on songs and demo recordings."
The Thrill of Your Love (featured on Elvis is Back 1960) was written by Stan Kesler who also wrote or co-wrote I Forgot to Remember to Forget / I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone / Playing for Keeps / If I'm a Fool for Loving You. Colonel Snow mentioned that this song was originally sang by Carl McVoy 1958 under the title A Woman's Love (The Thrill of Your Love) and here it is -
Carl McVoy (January 1931 – January 3, 1992) was an American pianist.
"McVoy was cousin to the younger Jerry Lee Lewis. He had been to New York with his father, who had been a minister there. McVoy got hooked on boogie-woogie while in New York, which he subsequently brought back to Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Jerry Lee Lewis would visit his older cousin and get him to show him things on the piano. Plucked from the construction industry by Ray Harris, McVoy recorded "You Are My Sunshine" at Sun Records, which was the single that launched Hi Records. McVoy recorded a number of other sides at Sun in 1957 and 1958, most which have remained unissued. He subsequently went back to Hi as pianist with The Bill Black Combo, but quit in the mid 1960s and returned to the construction industry forming his own company Carmack Construction. He died at the age of 61 early in 1992." Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_McVoy
Songwriter "Stan Kesler (11 August 1928 , Abbeville , Mississippi ) From 1954 he was a studio musician ( steel guitar and bass ) and composer at Sam Phillips record label Sun Records, and contributed to the emergence of the "Sun Sounds." Kesler (sometimes Kessler written) began his musical career in the Clyde Leoppard country band Snearly Ranch Boys, Buddy Holobaugh (guitar), Stan Kesler (steel guitar), Jan Ledbetter (bass), Smokey Joe Baugh (Piano / Vocal ) and William "Bill" Taylor (vocals) and Johnny Bernero passed (drums). Scotty Moore.
Stan Kesler's first recording session as a steel guitarist for Sun took place on 25 October 1954 for Maggie Sue WimberleysHow Long / Daydreams Come True (# 229) along with Quinton Claunch (guitar), Marcus Van Story (bass) and Bill Cantrell instead (fiddle). On 17 February 1955 was followed by the music of Charlie Feathers' song Peepin 'Eyes. Feathers again sought the services of Kesler, as on 1 November 1955 Defrost Your Heart / Wedding Gown of White (published in January 1956), was recorded. As Roy Orbison's support group The Teen Kings unlike Orbison got a record deal." Read More here http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Kesler Here's Elvis with Thrill of Your Love
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