SINGLES GOING STEADY: "HEY SCHOOLGIRL" BY TOM AND JERRY

The year was 1957.  A young Neil Sedaka was striking out on his own after having regional success with his band The Tokens.  Bill Haley was reminding us that there is no 13 o'clock after 12 o'clock with his band The Comets.  Buddy Holly was touring with a singing duo named The Everly Brothers and those Everly Brothers were inspiring two singing teenagers from New York City with their terrific harmonies.  One of those teens had an angelic voice.  The other could sing, too, but his real talent was in songwriting.

They were only 15, but their songs were becoming very popular among their classmates at Forest Hills High School in Queens.  One song in particular was all the buzz.  It was called "Hey Schoolgirl".  For  $25, the teens recorded a demo of "Hey Schoolgirl," hoping to impress the music men making hits at the nearby Brill Building.  In the next room was a producer named Sid Prosen who worked for a newish record label called Big Records.  He cut the record, gave them some clean-cut clothes to match the innocence of their age and gave them stage names, too.  The songwriter and guitarist would be called Jerry Landis and the angelic tenor would be called Tom Graph.  Together, they would be known as Tom and Jerry.

(L-R: Jerry Landis and Tom Graph)

Tom and Jerry managed to appear after Jerry Lee Lewis on Dick Clark's American Bandstand, where they premiered their single. The performance made "Hey Schoolgirl" somewhat of a hit song.  It reached Number 49 on the charts and eventually sold 100,000 copies.  They recorded some more songs, none of which did a damn thing—that probably broke their little hearts.  In 1959, Tom and Jerry turned 18 and they went off to college.  Their career was over.  

Or was it?

Subsequent bullshit happened for a few years and then Tom and Jerry decided to reunite.  This time they used their real names, which were Arthur and Paul, respectively.  The success Arthur and Paul had—and have continued to have— was enormous.  Together they became one of the biggest acts of the 60s, racking up hit songs, Grammys and critical acclaim along the way.  Of course, we know Arthur and Paul better as Art and Paul.  Perhaps their names are more familiar with when they are reversed as Paul and Art.  If you haven't figured it out by now, they are Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.  

Here's one of their songs called "The Only Living Boy In New York."  It should now surprise no one that the song's first line "Tom get your plane right on time" refers to Tom Graph aka Art Garfunkel.  Wild.  

"Hey Schoolgirl" by Tom and Jerry and "The Only Living Boy In New York" by Simon & Garfunkel

I wonder if there were any Tom and Jerry fans who are completely unaware that the singing duo later became Simon & Garfunkel.  Probably not.  

SINGLES GOING STEADY: "GO ALL THE WAY" AND "OVERNIGHT SENSATION (HIT RECORD)" BY THE RASPBERRIES

Cleveland Power Popstars: The Raspberries

The Raspberries should have been huge.  This has been acknowledged by everyone from John Lennon and Elton John to Kurt Cobain and Guns 'N Roses.

Bruce Springsteen once said in an interview with USA Today, "In the [recording "stretch" for 1980's The River] I had gotten into Woody Guthrie and country music and at the same time, I was listening to The Raspberries Greatest Hits.  It was one of my favorite records that summer.  They were great little pop records.  I loved the production, and when I went into the stuidio a lot of things we did were like that."

The Raspberries formed outside of Cleveland, OH in 1970.  It was a quartet led by a singer/songwriter named Eric Carmen.  And to be fair, while they weren't huge, they did have their 15 minutes of fame.   Their 1972 single "Go All The Way" managed to sell more than one million copies and broke the Top 5, in the process.  According to rock critic Mark Deming, the song "is without a doubt among the finest records ever made about one of the key subjects in rock 'n roll—convincing your girlfriend to have sex with you."  

While the irresitable melody and The Who influenced guitar riff made the song huge, the sexuality in the lyrics put a road block in the song's commercial potential.  The BBC were none too pleased by the sexiness and they banned it from the radio.  Kind of funny, if you ask me, because by today's standards, it would be the fucking tamest shit on the radio!—oops, I gotta wash my mouth out now.  

P.S.  Yes, the "come ons" in the lyrics were influenced by The Beatles' "Please Please Me."

"Go All The Way" by The Raspberries

The Raspberries had a few more minor singles but by the mid 70s they seemed to have gone "all the way" the public would let them.  It's not that listeners and critics disliked them, it's that they were filed more often under "guilty pleasures" and less under "classics." The band tried to remedy that in 1974 with a new-ish lineup and a record entitled Starting Over.  Ironically, Starting Over would be the The Raspberries' farewell album.

The album's opening track "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)" was an instant classic and a truly incredible epic power pop track.  Like "Go All The Way" it is written about one of rock and roll's most loved subjects—dying to make it big!  I'm sure this was a track Springsteen fell in love with.

The song features an incredible Phil Spector-ish, wall-of-sound production, a gorgeous piano interlude which leads into a perfect guitar solo and later into an unexpected bridge.  The arrangement isn't quite a suite, but it has at least three totally distinct hooks and two codas—one of which is appropriately taken from the recording of "Go All The Way."   The band sounds like they are singing and playing for their lives. Without a doubt, "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)" is an absolute masterpiece and should be studied by producers and songwriters everywhere.  

P.S. All you drummers out there should take notice, too. The drum fills are outstanding! 

"Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)" by The Raspberries

THE LOST FUNK OF THE MONTGOMERY EXPRESS

The Montgomery Movement by The Montgomery Express

I think we all like listening to "lost" music or music that never gained any traction when it was originally released.  When it finally becomes popular or finds appreciation, as in the case of the lost music of Rodriguez or Nick Drake, its a very humbling feeling.  It makes you feel like anything is possible.  

The following artist is lost and probably will never be found.  How did I stumble upon it? I can't even remember.  The band is a funk/soul outfit called The Montgomery Express from Florida and their 1974 album is The Montgomery Movement.  There are zero reviews of this album on amazon.   In my google search, I found a few blog posts by writers who probably stumbled upon the music by accident.  Now, should you look through your uncle's funk and soul vinyl collection and happen to find a copy of The Montgomery Movement, keep it safe! Used copies run around $450. 

It took seconds only of listening to the opening title track of their album The Montgomery Movement for me to pay attention.  A quick and simple jam, "The Montgomery Movement" is built upon a slightly dissonant, cry-baby wha, guitar riff.  It is a guitar players dream! Totally irresistable.  Track two, "Who" is a ballad and the first song with vocals.  It is just as effective.  The expectations are set pretty high for the rest of the album and unfortunately, the remaining six tracks never quite reach the grandeur of the opening quarter of the The Montgomery Movement.   Good not great, but still absolutely worth listening to.  Still, If funk and soul is your thang, then do whatchu wanna do.  Me? I think whatchu wanna do is put this album on soon.  Do it.  

Not like it matters, but the two singers Paul Montgomery and Charles Atkins are both blind.  I think blind people would probably find including such a fact superfluous.  Unless someone commissions printing this blog into a braille text,  I don't think they will read this article anyway.  

The Montgomery Movement by The Montgomery Express