Comments on: Dawn and 11 Other Great Songs

By: stubbleyou

stubbleyou — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 05:40:57 +0000

Another version of “Do You Want To Dance” that I really liked was the one by The Mamas and the Papas, who truly made it their own. If you liked them, you are sure to like it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3yYMMSG5f0

By: NoahVale

NoahVale — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:38:35 +0000

Thanks for the feedback, Ted. I will have to disagree with your Cher and Midler analogy, though. Until his untimely death, Cher hadn’t worked through all her anger issues with Sonny. That’s what it took to put things into persepctive for her. I believe Cher was truly, truly despondent about Sonny’s unexpected death and meant every word of her eulogy.

On the other hand, Midler’s personal relationship with Karen consisted of contempt and put downs. To me, her “apology” was for PR and perception reasons only. Just one guy’s opinion.

By: Ted Hammond

Ted Hammond — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 16:39:08 +0000

NoahVale, there’s a lot of confusion as to who released song versions first, and it often takes fan research and a bunch of Whitburn and Goldmine publications to discover the truth. There are a lot of Carpenters fans who post here, judging by my research as to the song and album with the question about the mystery Golden Goodies Group on the “Now and Then” Carpenters album, where “the Four Seasons” was not the correct answer.

Another example is that when Smash Mouth recorded “Can’t Get Enough Of You Baby” in 1998, most thought that Question Mark and the Mysterians, or the UK band Colour Field recorded it first. Actually, the Toys and the Four Seasons recorded it first in 1965. Denny Randell says the Toys were first in the recording studio by a matter of days, with the Charles Calello arranged song. However, research shows that the Four Seasons had the first charting TRACK of the song on the “Working My Way Back To You” LP, beating the Toys LP track by one week, and the uncharted single by a few months.

And it is sad that eulogies are often where sincerely felt apologies finally occur. For all of the bad things that were said about Sonny Bono by Cher and others, her touching eulogy of Sonny cleared a lot of that up. Better that Bette apologized late than never.

By: NoahVale

NoahVale — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 05:12:00 +0000

@ Howard Tucker – August 5, 2007

Please get your facts straight about Carpenters version of “Superstar.” They included the Russell/Bramlett penned ballad on their 3rd album, CARPENTERS, which was released on 5/14/71. Midler’s version was included on her first album which released on 11/7/72. Also, the date Midler performed the song on The Tonight Show was 10/7/71 – five months AFTER the release of the Carpenters album.

As for the “feud,” it was all Midler. She had an extreme dislike of Karen’s cleancut, girl-next-door image, and hounded her constantly. Karen, the class act she was, just let it roll – at least publicly. It took Karen’s untimely death for Midler to ever make any attempt of apology.

By: Howard Tucker

Howard Tucker — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 20:04:07 +0000

Ted, Bette’s version is far different from the Bobby Freeman hit version too. I was a big Bette fan in college and was disappointed that she chose that as her first single…I would have much preferred “Chapel of Love” (which she does in a fast tempo like the Dixie Cups), “Hello in There, “Superstar” or “Friends.”

It might just be me, but I almost always prefer the faster versions of those old songs..like Neil Sedaka’s faster version of “Breaking Up is Hard to Do” and Esther Phillips “What a Dif’rence a Day Makes” to Dinah Washington’s.

Interestingly, not many people know Bette’s career was rejuvenated by a remake…Lou Rawls hit #65 in 1983 with “Wind Beneath My Wings” but it was Bette who hit #1 and took home the Grammy in 1989.

On the other hand, Bette was the first to record “Superstar”, which Karen Carpenter rode up the charts, supposedly beginning the feud between Karen and Bette.