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Jun 27 2021

TO WHERE I AM NOW

I was playing a Dusty Springfield record today, I always loved her voice and have most of her records. There’s a lot to the Dusty Springfield story which you can catch up on online, but today I was thinking about her name. Apparently, they called her Dusty because she was a tomboy and played football with the boys, Springfield came from the folk trio she joined with her brother Tom (born Dionysius P. A. O’Brien) and Tim Feild (check the spelling). They were called The Springfields because they rehearsed in a field in Somerset – in spring. They might have been called The Summer Set and when she went solo, Dusty Summer might have been born. Her real name is almost as far away from her stage name as her brother’s – Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien. She had lots of hits, classics like I Only Want To Be With You, I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself and Wishin’ and Hopin’ written by Bacharach & David and You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me (originally a 1965 Italian song, Io che non vivo (senza te), written by Pino Donaggio and Vito Pallavicini) and the soulful Son Of A Preacher Man written by John Hurley and Ronnie Wilkins (with Aretha Franklin in mind). Dusty recorded it and had a hit with it first but Aretha covered it the same year on her album This Girl’s In Love With You (1969). This album also included the first commercially released version of Let It Be, not available by the Beatles on the album of the same name till March of the following year. Tom Springfield went on to write The Seekers hits Georgy Girl (lyrics by the actor Jim Dale who was a regular in the Carry On films), I’ll Never Find Another You, A World Of Our Own and The Carnival is Over from an old Russian folk song (like Those Were The Days). As I said the story of Dusty is long, culminating in a new popularity when she became involved with the Pet Shop Boys in the eighties. But my favourites are her versions of Jacques Brel’s If You Go Away (Ne Me Quitte Pas) and Bacharach and David’s The Look Of Love.

Although Dusty is considered the queen of the blue-eyed soul sixties female singers, other pop girls appeared in the mid-sixties. Lulu hit the charts with her debut single Shout in 1964 and that raspy voice made her a star. Like Dusty, she had her own TV show which famously had Jimi Hendrix singing Voodoo Chile and Hey Joe, when halfway through the second song he stopped and said, “We’re going to stop playing this rubbish” and burst into Sunshine Of Your Love whilst giving a shout out to The Cream. Lulu’s real name was Marie MacDonald McLaughlin Lawrie. She acted in the film To Sir With Love with Sidney Poitier and sang the theme tune, one of my favourite songs of the sixties. Then there is her seventies version of The Man Who Sold The World, produced by Bowie and Mick Ronson with Bowie on the sax part. Lulu was married to Maurice Gibb and covered Bee Gees classics To Love Somebody and I Started A Joke as well as many other contemporary pop songs of the day like Spencer Davis’ Gimme Some Lovin’ and a rousing version of The Beatles’ Day Tripper.

One of my absolute favourite sixties singers was Sandie Shaw whose real name was Sandra Ann Goodrich. Both Sandie Shaw and Lulu won the Eurovision Song Contest although Lulu was part of an unprecedented four-way tie in 1969 with Spain, The Netherlands and France, co-winning with the song Boom Bang-A-Bang. Sandie Shaw won in 1967 with the Phil Coulter and Bill Martin song Puppet On A String. Shaw said of the song “I hated it from the very first oompah to the final bang on the big bass drum. I was instinctively repelled by its sexist drivel and cuckoo-clock tune”. She also recorded it in French (“Un tout petit pantin”), Italian (“La danza delle note”), Spanish (“Marionetas en la cuerda”), and German (“Wiedehopf im Mai”). There are over 200 versions in over 30 languages and it is said to be the biggest selling song by a British female artist ever. Although she will be remembered by Puppet On A String and Bacharach and David’s (There’s) Always Something There To Remind Me and Chris Andrews‘ Long Live Love, my favourite song by Sandie was Girl Don’t Come, also written by Chris Andrews. Into the seventies, Sandie did covers albums with songs by The Stones and Dylan before retiring to family life. Then, like Dusty, something happened in the eighties and in Sandie’s case it was The Smiths. I’ll leave it there because everything is a very long story and that’s why we have the internet.

Music/Documentary Of The Daze

Written by Marty Willson-Piper · Categorized: Blog

Missing

This is my stolen 1965 Rickenbacker 12-string, serial number EB157. If there's any chance of this guitar coming back to me before I go to meet my maker, then that would be wonderful. Please contact me if you have any information.

11209512_1669022976719710_7288437867089763325_n

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Redeyed lad of the lowlands 🎵 📷 @oliviaelek Redeyed lad of the lowlands 🎵

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You usually don’t spend the day in the studio an You usually don’t spend the day in the studio and the night at a gig but if you put the studio next to the gig then there’s a greater chance. So @salimnourallah did just that, he put the gig and the studio next to each other and made it possible for me to spend the day recording and the evening playing live 🎵

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TO WHERE I AM NOW A visit in the studio today fro TO WHERE I AM NOW

A visit in the studio today from old mate Mark Burgess from The Chameleons who has been hanging in Texas recently. I was thinking about the two of us growing up in the northwest of England and all these years later finding ourselves in such an unlikely spot together. We fixed a few issues in the universe and I carried on recording some guitars until Mark had to leave. Mark had played at the Galactic Headquarters next to the studio this year as Olivia and I had four years ago and this reminded me to remind myself to remind everyone to remind their friends that we will be playing there with Salim on Saturday, New Year’s Eve, for the ultimate in intimate performance. You can get tickets here (follow link below).

CONTINUE READING: https://martywillson-piper.com/2022/12/to-where-i-am-now-1045

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TO WHERE I AM NOW Sadness manifested in a buildin TO WHERE I AM NOW

Sadness manifested in a building, today we went to visit Paisley Park. Prince built Paisley Park in Chanhassen, about twenty minutes southwest of Minneapolis. It opened in 1987 and he recorded his later albums there. Apart from Prince, REM also recorded and mixed Out Of Time there, recording Kate Pearson’s vocal on Shiny Happy People vocal. Madonna had Prince play guitar on three songs from Like A Prayer and the two co-wrote Love Song, finishing it remotely due to Madonna not being able to stand the cold weather and the rather desolate location of the studio. Of course, there are things around but it’s not in the city and it’s not in the countryside, it’s in a suburb, no distractions, just what Prince wanted.

CONTINUE READING: https://martywillson-piper.com/2022/12/to-where-i-am-now-1032

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📷 @argirgirl 

#paisleypark #prince
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At last, a proper door stop. 📷 @judgeschamber At last, a proper door stop.

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🌵 Texas Acoustic Dates 🌵 31 December - DALL 🌵 Texas Acoustic Dates 🌵

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"These are awesome sessions that I highly recommend for guitar players of all levels. Very informative, frank discussions on everything related to guitar and music in general. Definitely a must for anyone pursuing songwriting."
(Stephen G., VA, USA)

"Marty knows how to bypass scales and get to the heart of feel and timing. His musical knowledge spans multiple cultures and genres. Perhaps most importantly, Marty is a cool dude. I highly recommend his guitar guidance." (Jed B., MN, USA)

"Ok, so you’re sitting in your home and Marty is across the world but is actually right here teaching you how to play guitar and write songs. He is a delight to talk to and he is your teacher, meaning he wants to see you get something out of his lessons. You know he’s paying attention and wants to steer you in the right direction. I am so grateful and humbled that he offers his time in this manner. This is an amazing opportunity for anyone who admires anything from his enormous body of work. How often do you get to learn from somebody that inspired you in the first place? Amazing." (Ann S., CA, USA)

Missing

This is my stolen 1965 Rickenbacker 12-string, serial number EB157. If there’s any chance of this guitar coming back to me before I go to meet my maker, then that would be wonderful. Please contact me if you have any information.

11209512_1669022976719710_7288437867089763325_n

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