Tracey Ullman/Irma Thomas/Tomomi with Wface/The Milkees -- Breakaway

 

Here I was thinking that I had already put up a ROY article on British-American entertainer Tracey Ullman whose "The Tracey Ullman Show" on FOX in the late 1980s would beget "The Simpsons". But nope, I have yet to post "They Don't Know" which is her most famous song during her brief singing career in the Eighties.

Well, I can put that up during the next major holiday weekend here which is Labour Day. But in the meantime, let's go with her very first single in the United Kingdom in 1983, "Breakaway", although that song actually followed "They Don't Know" in its release history in the United States. I remember the video quite well since it was getting some heavy rotation on Canada's Muchmusic video station and despite Tracey and company having the time of their lives in 1960s fashion singing the decade's girl pop, I had assumed that "Breakaway" was a 1980s tribute to the 1960s because of the then-current rockabilly revival.

But the truth is that "Breakaway" was indeed a 1960s song; part of a 1964 single, to be specific. According to Wikipedia, it was the B-side to Irma Thomas' "Wish Someone Would Care" which ended up becoming her biggest hit. The songwriters were Jackie DeShannon and Sharon Sheeley with DeShannon already getting coverage on KKP a couple of times including for her "What the World Needs Now Is Love" in 1965.

Now, for a brief change of scenery for Reminiscings of Youth this week, instead of the usual comparisons of the song of my youth with what was coming out or ranking in over in Japan, I have opted to introduce a couple of covers of "Breakaway" by Japanese bands. One band was wface, a rockabilly duo, who collaborated with vocalist Tomomi Yoshikawa（吉川朋美）on a mini-album titled "early times" in April 2004. wface consists of Takashi Kamisawatsu（上澤津孝）and Kenichi Yamaguchi（山口憲一）; the two had actually worked together before as Magic between 1988 and 1999 playing their rockabilly and college rock before breaking up and then getting back together again in 2001 as wface. In the 2000s, they released five full albums.

The Milkees are a four-piece band from Kobe that got its start in 2004 with sisters Berry and PECO being joined by another pair of sisters, Petra and Lily. According to their website, they're into rock n' roll, pop, jazz and blues. They've released four albums including the one that contains their Japanese-language version of "Breakaway", "Lover Soul" from November 2007.

Jackie DeShannon -- What the World Needs Now Is Love

 

I was talking with Scott of "Holly Jolly X'masu" recently and we happened to get onto a topic concerning one of my old personal signs that the summer holidays were about to end and school was once again going to cast a long ugly shadow on my life. Mind you, "The Jerry Lewis Labour Day Telethon" was always something that was fun to watch for me back in the 1970s, and as I would realize later on in life, the telethon was one of the very few opportunities that I got to see a lot of the Rat Pack in their heyday. Back then, it was fun to watch Jerry, Ed McMahon and Sammy Davis Jr. among other stars entertaining viewers for hours on end.

However, it was the tote board hourly showing how much money was being raised to battle muscular dystrophy that got my excitement. I guess that it was due to all of the pomp and circumstance leading up to the announcement and then Jerry and Ed doing all of those Hollywood yells ("HAOOOOOOH!") when the new total came out.

The other thing is the song that the telethon orchestra played each time the total came out and it just seemed to be the theme for the entire show. I would find out that it was "What the World Needs Now Is Love" and to echo my feelings on it, I remember seeing a commercial advertising the telethon one year in which animated caricatures of Jerry and a lot of the Hollywood hoi polloi sang the song. 

When I looked up the song on Wikipedia, I was surprised by a couple of things. I'd assumed that the original song from April 1965 was recorded by someone like Dionne Warwick, but it was actually Jackie DeShannon. Crazily enough, DeShannon already has recognition on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" for being the first singer to record "Bette Davis Eyes", which would become popularized by becoming a New Wave anthem by Kim Carnes in 1981 (and another subject for a ROY article). The other surprise was that "What the World Needs Now Is Love" has been categorized as a folk rock tune as well as a jazz/soul number. Jazz and soul are in full supply here in what I've deemed to be an absolute wistful standard but I can't really hear the original as either folk or rock. What isn't a surprise is who was behind the song: the legendary duo Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

"What the World Needs Now Is Love" hit No. 1 on Canada's RPM singles chart while it became the 7th-ranked single on America's Billboard. Incidentally, according to the Wikipedia article on the song, Warwick had been offered first dibs to sing it but she turned it down for being too "country" (!), but I guess that she finally did acquiesce to the request since she did record it in 1966 for her "Here Where There Is Love" album.

Although I couldn't find out in which month the first two Japanese tunes had been released in 1965, the final one was indeed an April 1965 single, just like DeShannon's magnum opus.

Joji Ai & Chinami Shima -- Akai Glass （赤いグラス）

Yukari Ito -- Suna ni Kieta Namida （砂に消えた涙）

Saburo Kitajima -- Kaero ka na（帰ろかな）

As a PS, since we are still mourning the loss of musician and songwriter Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）this month, here's his version of "What the World Needs Now Is Love" from his 1990 album "Broadcast from Heaven".

Kim Carnes -- Bette Davis Eyes

 

On this week's Reminiscings of Youth, I return to the first blossoming of my interest in music on both sides of the Pacific Ocean...in the year of 1981. And once again, I have to begin this article in the same way that I began the article for Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun": ahhh, the more you learn.

Last night, I was reading up and listening to what has remained one of the iconic New Wave hits and a personal aural touchstone for me, Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes" when, just as was the case with "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", I found out that Carnes' biggest hit was actually a cover tune of a song that had first been recorded by singer-songwriter Jackie DeShannon with Donna Weiss for release all the way back in September 1975 on DeShannon's album "New Arrangement".

This original "Bette Davis Eyes" walloped me even harder than listening to Robert Hazard's 1979 original "Girls Just Want to Have Fun". For one thing, DeShannon's song isn't even in the same genre; this is more of a happy-go-lucky country swing number that I would often hear on the radio back in elementary school. Just wow!

Perhaps the singer's "New Arrangement" title was rather prophetic. As one commenter put it under one of the many videos of Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes", whoever did the arrangement for this March 1981 megahit was an absolute genius. I mentioned before that the song was an aural touchstone...well, that was because that Prophet 5 synthesizer riff has remained in my head for years and whenever I hear it there, I automatically envisage skinny ties, shiny gray suits and New Romantic fashion. That friendly country-swing tune down at the local saloon was transformed into a sexy and mysterious New Wave anthem in some downtown angular dance club, thanks to Carnes' raspy vocals.

"Bette Davis Eyes" hit No. 1 in several countries including Canada and the United States, with its stay at the top in the latter nation lasting a few months. By the end of 1981, the song became the No. 2 single of the year on Canada's RPM chart and the year's No. 1 single on America's Billboard Hot 100. It didn't hurt either that "Bette Davis Eyes" won Grammys for Song of the Year and Record of the Year.

However, the biggest pleasant surprise for everyone involved, including myself was Hollywood star Bette Davis' reaction. I first got to know Davis when she was already quite elderly and from what I had seen of her on talk shows and other interviews, she gave the impression of being a snappy and suffer-no-fools-period person. So, all these years, I had assumed that at best, Davis gave a very sniffy backhanded compliment that could have been included in the script of one of her most famous movies "All About Eve". Instead, via the Wikipedia article for the song, Fred Bronson through his 1992 "Billboard Book of Number One Hits" gave the following revelation: 

Actress Bette Davis was 73 years old when Kim Carnes's version became a hit. She wrote letters to Carnes, Weiss, and DeShannon to thank all three of them for making her "a part of modern times" and stated that her grandson now looked up to her. After their Grammy wins, Davis sent them roses as well.

So, what were Nos. 7, 8 and 9 on the Oricon chart for March 1981 in Japan?

7. Hiroaki Igarashi -- Pegasus no Asa (ペガサスの朝）

8. Yoshitaka Minami -- Slow na Boogie ni Shite Kure （スローなブギにしてくれ）

9. Masahiko Kondo -- Yokohama Cheek （ヨコハマ・チーク）