Rock ‘n’ Roll Trivia
The Beatles’ music included several instrumentals
by John Robinson
Q: OK, settle an argument: Did the Beatles ever record any instrumentals?
A: Yup. The first Beatle instrumental was “Cry For A Shadow,” composed by John Lennon and George Harrison in the early ’60s. The instrumental “Flying,” composed by all four Beatles, is found on the 1967 “Magical Mystery Tour” soundtrack; its original title was “Aerial Tour Instrumental.” The Beatles recorded a nice handful of unreleased instrumentals that are available on bootlegs and even on their “Anthology” CDs. Other songs that came close to being instrumentals are “Wild Honey Pie” and “Revolution 9” (from “The White Album”) and “The End” (from “Abbey Road”). After the band split up, the solo Beatles released instrumentals on their releases, the best being George Harrison’s extended jams on his “All Things Must Pass” album.
Q: There was a remake of Neil Diamond’s song “Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon” in the ’90s and would like to know who the artist is.
A: Neil Diamond’s original 1967 version (about a girl losing her virginity) went Top 10; the 1994 remake was by Urge Overkill. The song gained a whole new popularity when it appeared in Quentin Tarantino’s film “Pulp Fiction.” Diamond wrote the song based on his concert audience; he couldn’t believe all those teenage girls in the audience were actually screaming for him and ended up writing this song for them.
Q: The Cowsills were always one of my favorites. For a long time I’ve been interested in the connection between them and the Partridge Family. Is there any more inside stuff you can tell about the Cowsills?
A: In the late ’50s, the group got its roots when their dad, Bud, was a Navy recruiter in Ohio. He and wife Barbara suggested (made) sons Bill and Bob take guitar lessons. Once they were good enough, they performed at church dances and eventually made an appearance on “The Gene Carroll Show” in Cleveland. In the mid ’60s, Bill and Bob were joined by brothers Barry and John; by now, Bud left the Navy to manage his sons’ career. They were making appearances in their home state of Rhode Island when someone from the “Today Show” spotted them, leading to an appearance on the program. This led to a record contract with Mercury Records and then to MGM Records, where their hits started coming. After eight chart songs (from 1967-1969) they broke up in 1971. In the mid ’70s, Barry, Bill and brother Paul formed the band Bridey Murphy; and in 1978, Paul, John and Barry recorded an album titled “Cocaine Drain,” which remains unreleased, due to family members objecting to its content. To this day, they don’t even like to talk about it! And finally, the late Bill Cowsill became a country solo singer and later formed the group Blue Shadows, who recorded two albums. Barry died after becoming a victim of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Q: How come I never hear The Doors’ song “The Unknown Soldier” on the radio?
A: Hmm. The song just grazed the Top 40 in 1968 but all we ever hear are their other hits. “The Unknown Soldier” was taken from their 1968 album “Waiting for the Sun” and also was made into one of The Doors’ extremely rare music videos. Jim Morrison wrote the song based on his reaction to the Vietnam War and the way American TV news programs portrayed it; proven in lyrics like “breakfast where the news is read / television children fed” about children seeing these bloody events during TV newscasts (along with other political statements). In the middle of the song the instruments make the sounds of gunfire. When The Doors performed the song live, Robby Krieger would point his guitar at Morrison, the gunshot sounds were made and Morrison would fall screaming on the ground. It’s possible Oldies stations don’t play this song because it reminds us of the horrors of war. In reality, the song only made it to No. 39, so clueless radio programmers probably just ignore it.
Q: Are there any early recordings of The Turtles available?
A: There sure are. The best place to find their early hits, like “It Ain’t Me, Babe,” “Let Me Be,” “You Baby” and many others are at sundazed.com or at Rhino Records. Also, before they became The Turtles, they were a surf band called The Crossfires; you can find those recordings at the afore-mentioned Sundazed website. In 1965, The Crossfires changed their name to the “Tyrtles,” using the letter “y” as a tribute to The Byrds. They changed the spelling to “Turtles” not long afterward. In 1966, the band appeared in a little-known film, “Out Of Sight” and went on to have a total of 17 Hot 100 singles until 1970 when the band split up. Kaylan and Volman joined Frank Zappa’s Mothers Of Invention and later performed as a duo, Flo & Eddie.
Q: What’s the name of the guy who did the instrumental “Classical Gas”?
A: That’s Mason Williams, who took the tune to No. 2 in 1968. At the time he wrote and recorded this instrumental, Williams was a gag writer for the CBS-TV program “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.” Larry Knechtel, who would later become a member of Bread, plays piano on the record. According to BMI (the performing rights organization that represents songwriters, composers and music publishers), “Classical Gas” has been played over the radio more times than any other instrumental.
John Robinson grew up in Stockbridge and graduated from Stockbridge High School in 1969.
He’s been an author, TV host, columnist, actor, producer, emcee and radio broadcaster. Robinson’s favorite music of all time includes surf, psychedelia, garage bands, Motown and just plain ol’ good-time rock ‘n’ roll. To read more rock ‘n’ roll trivia, “Paranormal Michigan” stories, and lots more, check out Robinson’s books on his author page at facebook.com/johnrobinsonauthor.
