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News

The Making Of A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector

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Darlene Love details the recording of "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" from the 1963 GRAMMY Hall Of Fame-inducted album
Darlene Love
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 4:06 pm

(Since its inception in 1973, the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame has enshrined nearly 1,000 recordings across all genres. The Making Of … series presents firsthand accounts of the creative process behind some of the essential recordings of the 20th century. You can read more Making Of … accounts, and in-depth insight into the recordings and artists represented in the Hall, in the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition book.)

 

 

A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector
Phil Spector And Various Artists
Philles (1963)
Album
Inducted 1999

(As told to Tammy La Gorce)

What I remember most about making ["Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"] is that we were doing it at the hottest time of the year. It was August when we were recording. And we would go into the studio at 1 in the afternoon, and we wouldn't leave till 1 or 2 in the morning. We never knew what time of day it was because we were working with Phil Spector, who worked us until our tongues were hanging out of our heads. But it was still fun.

"Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" was the only original song on [A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector]. [Writers Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich and Spector] came up with this great song, but because it was an original I was kind of scared. I thought, "You're gonna come along and do a brand-new song?" But after we finished doing it, everybody just kind of stopped and stared. It was like, "Wow, what did we just do?" It had this power, even in the session.

And a lot of people didn't know Leon Russell was our piano player. When we got to the end of the song, he was playing so much he was sweating. I don't think all he was playing at the end even made it onto the record, but he was playing so hard he actually played himself off the end of the bench. Well, thank God that ended the session. After he did that we were like, "OK y'all, it's time to go home."

(Tammy La Gorce is a freelance writer whose work appears regularly in The New York Times.)

News

Deck The GRAMMY Hall

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The GRAMMY Hall Of Fame's holiday classics
Tim McPhate
GRAMMYs
Jan 5, 2016 - 9:07 am

The holiday season is the only annual celebration that could be said to have inspired its own genre of music. Not formally a genre, of course — holiday music comes in all varieties, from blues, rock and country to classical and hymns — but no other holiday has inspired such a vast canon of songs. Christmas carols date back as early as the 13th century, when presumably Mongols, crusaders and Byzantines took a break from sacking various cities to allow for a holiday feast and singing.

Of course, many traditional holiday carols, and even many popular holiday songs, predate the era of recorded music, which is the focus of the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame. Even fewer holiday songs have definitive renditions. Performing rights society ASCAP lists chestnuts such as "Winter Wonderland," "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" and "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" among its top 10 most performed classic holiday songs, a milestone generally reached through multitudes of cover versions.

Still, in the recorded music era, a handful of songs that would be as missed on Dec. 25 as presents and eggnog have been the subjects of enduring, classic recordings, eight of which have been inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame to date.

"All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)" (1948)
Spike Jones & His City Slickers
Inducted: 2007

Jones, who predated "Weird Al" Yankovic by some 40 years as pop's premier parodist, enjoyed one of his best-known recordings with this farcical carol. Written by grammar school music teacher Donald Gardner in 1944, the Slickers' original recording, with childlike vocals by group member George Rock, hit No. 1 in 1949. "I was amazed at the way that silly little song was picked up by the whole country," Gardner said in 1995. It might be considered an early tuneup that Jones was the drummer on Bing Crosby's indefatigable "White Christmas."

A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
Vince Guaraldi Trio
Inducted: 2007

The 1965 holiday TV special "A Charlie Brown Christmas" was destined to be a dud, at least based on the initial reaction to the finished show by both its producers and the network, who thought its pacing and dashed-off animation would doom the show. But like Charlie Brown's forlorn Christmas tree, there was beauty beneath the dying needles. It won a big audience, critical acclaim, an Emmy, and a Peabody Award and has aired annually every year since its first broadcast, celebrating its golden anniversary in 2015. Its soundtrack, with original music written by Vince Guaraldi and performed by his trio, was a risk, matching West Coast jazz to an animated TV show. Again, it proved a surprise hit. The network "didn't think jazz fit properly," show executive producer Lee Mendelson said in a 2006 interview. Still, the show aired basically as is, and the album has never gone out of print since. 

A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector (1963)
Phil Spector And Various Artists
Inducted: 1999

Though primarily a behind-the-scenes record producer, Spector was so well known and popular in his own right in the early '60s that he issued this holiday album, calling on his stable of artists (the Crystals, the Ronettes and Darlene Love, among others) to perform holiday classics as well as the now widely loved original "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)." The album has become part of our holiday music soundtrack since its 1963 release. "After we finished [recording 'Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)'], everybody just kind of stopped and stared," Love told GRAMMY.com in 2013. "It was like, 'Wow, what did we just do?' It had this power, even in the session."

"The Christmas Song" (1946)
Nat "King" Cole
Inducted: 1974

Both ASCAP and BMI cite it as one of the most performed holiday songs of all time. Mel Tormé and lyricist Bob Wells wrote the song during a hot Los Angeles summer in 1944 as a way to trick themselves into feeling cooler. Cole recorded four versions. The inducted version was first, cut simply with his trio. A final version made in 1961 with a full orchestra is the one to which you likely roast chestnuts today. The list of covers is nearly infinite, and includes unlikely versions by Big Bird and the Swedish Chef, Daffy Duck, Bob Dylan, Twisted Sister, and Kim Taeyeon of K-pop group Girls Generation, highlighting the song's universal reach. After the initial 1946 recording, according to Performing Songwriter, Tormé and Wells pointed out the grammatical error Cole sang in the bridge: "To see if reindeers really know how to fly." Cole was a perfectionist, but correcting that error was not likely the reason for the three additional versions of the song.

"Feliz Navidad" (1970)
Jose Feliciano
Inducted: 2010

Was it the first Spanglish hit? Certainly it could be argued it's the most recognized Spanish-language holiday song in the popular canon. Released in 1970, "Feliz Navidad" soon became a heavy-rotation holiday standard, despite Feliciano's low-key expectations. "I never thought it would be as popular as it is and the big hit that it is," he told CBS' "Sunday Morning" in 2006. In a controversy that resonates perhaps even more deeply today, the song was parodied in 2009 using offensive stereotypes of Latin American immigrants to the United States. Feliciano, a native of Puerto Rico, elegantly rebuffed the parody by re-enforcing the song's initial intended message: "This song has always been a bridge to the cultures that are so dear to me, never as a vehicle for a political platform of racism and hate," he wrote on his website.

My Favorite Things (1961)
John Coltrane Quartet
Inducted: 1998

The Sound Of Music — Soundtrack (1965)
Julie Andrews & Various Artists
Inducted: 1998

Though originally written by Rodgers and Hammerstein for the musical "The Sound Of Music," "My Favorite Things"' wintery images and ode to things gift-related ("brown paper packages tied up with strings") have since made it closely associated with the holidays. Andrews' version, included in the 1965 film The Sound Of Music, is no doubt the most definitive. Coltrane entered the Hall with a very different version, a nearly 14-minute modal jazz masterpiece. The song had taken on its holiday symbolism at least as early as 1964, when Jack Jones included it on The Jack Jones Christmas Album. Many holiday covers have followed, but these two Hall-inducted versions are among our favorite things.

"Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer" (1949)
Gene Autry
Inducted: 1985

It's true, Rudolph was all a marketing ploy. But it could be argued in this case that the commercialization of the holiday season had a timeless, positive result. In 1939 a Montgomery Ward store in Chicago commissioned a holiday story to help beef up sales. Ad copywriter Robert L. May was selected to write the story. After considering names, including Roland and Roddy, Rudolph was born. The books Ward printed were a hit. Next, May asked his songwriter brother-in-law to write a tune to his story. Johnny Marks obliged, Gene Autry cut it, and it reportedly sold 30 million copies. That led to a 1964 animated TV special, and Rudolph went down in history. For Autry, the singing cowboy who already had a massive film and singing career before Rudolph, this holiday diversion from his usual country repertoire became the biggest hit of his career.

"White Christmas" (1942)
Bing Crosby, The Ken Darby Singers
Inducted: 1974

Guinness World Records credits Bing Crosby's version of "White Christmas" with selling at least 50 million copies, making it the best-selling single ever. Written by Irving Berlin — and another holiday classic written in warm weather conditions — the song was first recorded by Crosby, with the Ken Darby Singers, as part of the 1942 film Holiday Inn. Reportedly cut in 18 minutes, the original recording is not the one we're familiar with today. Crosby rerecorded it in 1947 after the original master was damaged, with attention paid to making the new version as close to the original as possible. Berlin won his only Oscar for the song. Both "White Christmas" and "The Christmas Song" were among the first five titles inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame.

Joni Mitchell, circa 1960s

Judy Collins

Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Interview

Judy Collins on recording Joni Mitchell's 'Both Sides Now'

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Judy Collins details meeting Joni Mitchell and the making of her 1968 GRAMMY Hall Of Fame-inducted hit
Judy Collins
GRAMMYs
May 15, 2017 - 2:36 am

(Since its inception in 1973, the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame has enshrined nearly 1,000 recordings across all genres. The Making Of … series presents firsthand accounts of the creative process behind some of the essential recordings of the 20th century. You can read more Making Of … accounts, and in-depth insight into the recordings and artists represented in the Hall, in the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition book.)

"Both Sides Now"
Elektra (1968)
Single
Inducted 2003

(As told to Roy Trakin)

I was sound asleep in my uptown New York apartment in 1967 when my old friend Al Kooper called on the phone. "I've just met this girl here in the bar. … She and I were talking and she told me she wrote songs. She's good-looking and I figured I could follow her home, which couldn't be a bad thing no matter how you look at it."

He put her [on the phone] and Joni Mitchell proceeded to sing me "Both Sides Now." It turned out she could write songs. I told him, "I'll be right over." I recorded the song and it became a big hit, though not immediately. People loved it on the album, but it took a few remixes by David Anderle before it was appropriate to go on radio, [where] it did quite wonderfully.

We recorded the song as part of the Wildflowers album in New York, with Mark Abramson producing and Josh Rifkin [conducting]. That album has virtually no guitars on it, except for "Both Sides Now." Josh had the smart, wonderful and amazing idea to put a harpsichord on the arrangement, which I think took it a long way. It's a great song, timeless and singable, even today, and did a great deal for my career, because people started answering my phone calls. It also led to a lot of success for Joni, who was given the respect she deserved as a songwriter, and was able to record it herself.

Hearing that song and deciding to cover it turned out to be an organic, holistic experience that happens immediately and without explanation. Some people are bound to sing certain songs. It was instantly obvious to me that "Both Sides Now" was my song. There's no science or way to predict it. I probably learned that from my father, who was in the radio business. He sang Rodgers and Hart and always chose the best songs from their shows, the ones that became hits. My mother said I came by this talent honestly because I inherited it from him. I know exactly what song will last and was meant for me to sing — "Both Sides Now" was one of those. It's all about gut instinct, which comes with training, time, experience, and knowing what you love to sing and what you hate. That's a lifetime education. And the song doesn't necessarily depend on the writer. It takes on a life of its own. The song knows where it's meant to go, and it knows what to do when it gets there.

That same year [1967], I was on the board of the Newport Jazz Festival and pushed to have a singer/songwriter workshop with Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Janis Ian, and Tom Paxton. And I believe that helped kick off the careers of both Joni and Leonard, along with my covers of their songs. It was a really important event for the festival, because the traditional types were so against bringing in these younger performers who wrote their own material.

(Roy Trakin, a senior editor for HITS magazine, has written for every rock publication that ever mattered, some that didn't, and got paid by most of them.) 

GRAMMYs

Brenda Lee

Photo: Don Cravens/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

News

The Making Of Brenda Lee's "I'm Sorry"

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Country/pop legend remembers the birth of her GRAMMY Hall Of Fame-inducted song "I'm Sorry"
Brenda Lee
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 4:06 pm

(Since its inception in 1973, the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame has enshrined nearly 1,000 recordings across all genres. The Making Of … series presents firsthand accounts of the creative process behind some of the essential recordings of the 20th century. You can read more Making Of … accounts, and in-depth insight into the recordings and artists represented in the Hall, in the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame 40th Anniversary Collector’s Edition book.)

 

I'm Sorry
Brenda Lee
Decca (1960)
Single
Inducted 1999

(As told to Tammy La Gorce)

["I'm Sorry"] was really the first big ballad we had done. Prior to that we had done "Sweet Nothin's" and I had a hit with that, and we had also done “Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree," and that became a hit, but it really hadn't done anything [on the charts] up to that point.

"I'm Sorry" was one of the first songs to come out of Nashville using strings. It was originally an eight-bar song, and we were trying to figure out how to get it to be a 16-bar song, because that's usually what songs are; at eight bars it would have been too short. In any event, I was a big fan [of the Ink Spots] because of my producer, Owen Bradley. And they used to recite words in their songs. So I said, "Why not do a recitation [to lengthen the song]?" And so that's where the recitation in "I'm Sorry" came from.

So when "I'm Sorry" came out and became such a huge hit, that made "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" start selling. Then that became a huge, huge hit.

I didn't write "I'm Sorry." The [writers were] Ronnie Self, who wrote "Sweet Nothin's," [and Dub Albritton]. We had no formal arrangements or anything. We all met at the studio, and we had the crème de la crème — the Anita Kerr Singers, [saxophonist] Boots Randolph and [pianist] Floyd Cramer. We all sat down and decided, "I think this should go here [and] this would sound pretty there." It was all just us thinking together because back then we didn't have any arrangements.

We did it in two takes. I was going on 16 years old. I look back on that now, and it seems pretty amazing. But you know, I had been singing since I was 3 years old, so my love of singing was always there. But I never expected to have a big old record like that. I didn't really have an agenda for my talent. I just wanted to be able to sing. That I had those hits was the icing on the cake.

I knew the song was great when I first heard it. We all did. We all felt there was something very, very special about the song.

Now, oh my Lord, every show I do I include "I'm Sorry." If I didn't my audience would be upset. Because it's just like with anybody — they come to hear the songs that got them acquainted with the artist in the first place. And that song has withstood the test of time. But you know, with Owen Bradley, who was just a genius with the team, and Anita Kerr and all the rest, all you needed was the song and the singer. Everything else was there for you, ready to go.

(Tammy La Gorce is a freelance writer whose work appears regularly in The New York Times.)

GRAMMYs

Dionne Warwick

Photo: Popperfoto/Getty Images

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The Making Of Dionne Warwick's "Walk On By"

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Current GRAMMY nominee recalls creating magic with Burt Bacharach and Hal David on her GRAMMY Hall Of Fame-inducted classic "Walk On By"
Dionne Warwick
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 4:06 pm

(Since its inception in 1973, the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame has enshrined nearly 1,000 recordings across all genres. The Making Of … series presents firsthand accounts of the creative process behind some of the essential recordings of the 20th century. You can read more Making Of … accounts, and in-depth insight into the recordings and artists represented in the Hall, in the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition book.)

"Walk On By"
Dionne Warwick
Scepter (1964)
Single
Inducted 1998

(As told to Roy Trakin)

The song was originally the B-side of "Any Old Time Of Day." It didn't really get played on the radio until [New York DJ] Murray the K turned the record over after holding a contest for which side the listeners preferred, and they chose "Walk On By."

I liked it the first time I heard it. Like most of the songs I was given to record at the beginning of my career, it was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, who were not only my songwriters, but my producers. I depended on them to give me great songs, and they did, as my history shows.

I met Burt first. He had written a song called "Mexican Divorce," with another writer named Bob Hilliard, for the Drifters. I was one of the background singers on the session, and after the date was finished, he asked if I'd be interested in singing some demos he was writing with a new partner, Hal David. And that was the start of our association.

We recorded the song at Bell Sound Studios in New York, live with full orchestra ... strings, horns, [a] rhythm section, [and] background singers. That's something I miss terribly. Those were always wonderful musical events. It was basically a performance, and a lot of fun.

With Burt Bacharach sitting at the piano or in the control room, it was never the first take, even if, in fact, it usually ended up being the first take [that we used for the record]. It wasn't about punching in overdubs. We did every single recording full-out, and on about the 28th take, I think someone probably said — if it wasn't me — "I think we may have it."

The song had a memorable melody and words. If I had known it was going to be a hit, I'd be sitting on a mountain with a ruby in my hand. I was dear, dear friends with both Burt and Hal. We depended on each other to bring to the table the expertise we each possessed. Hal David's lyrics were the most incredible I've ever sung. And Burt created those intricate, but memorable, melodies. And I was the vehicle to bring all of that to the listeners' ears.

I'm totally enamored [with] Isaac Hayes' cover, which he made his own. Very much like what Aretha did with "I Say A Little Prayer" or Luther Vandross did with "A House Is Not A Home." When anyone covers a song, it's a compliment to the original version.

To this day, I can't leave the stage without singing it. It's a song that not only I have grown to love over my 50 years in the industry, but it has become a favorite of my audience. The songs that I've had the pleasure of recording with Bacharach [and] David have grown with me. I'm singing it for people my age, who have brought their children, and in turn, they've brought their children. It's been able to age with each new group of listeners.

(Roy Trakin, a senior editor for HITS magazine, has written for every rock publication that ever mattered, some that didn't, and got paid by most of them.)