Pop Music Legends: Compendium of Recorded Music

Chapter 1

MUSIC FOR GENERATIONS

Music affects every person. It is the soundtrack of our happiness, zest for achievement and relationships to others. Music brings great ideas and feelings. It soothes the soul. It creates and sustains memories.

This book is written for young people. Yes, it is a nostalgic journey through 100 years of music history. It is intended to show what has transpired in the perspective of today.

We all still hear many of the golden oldies on TV commercials, on the radio, in concerts, on sound systems and via the internet. We acclimate to many musical styles and share the music with younger generations. I wrote this book from the perspective of a young person who learned what came before me, with the quest to pass it on.

The growth and expanse of pop music in the last 125 years parallels the growth of generations. The GI or Greatest includes persons born through 1926. The front half of the generation became music fans in the 1920s. The second half became the standard bearers of the Big Band Era.

The Silent Generation, born 1927–1945, grew in the 1950s, the Happy Days. Their growth years brought 45RPM and 33-1/3RPM records, television and modern radio as a pipeline to the latest music. They were the first fans of rock and roll, giving it a face and attitude.

Baby Boomers, born 1946–1964, were teens in the 1960s and came of age in the 1970s. They embraced teen pop, Motown, the British Invasion, singer-songwriters, disco and much more. They took rock and roll to the mainstream of culture, thus influencing next generations.

Generation X, born 1965–1983, has 1980s music as the gold standard. Their era brought us video tape, cassette tape, 8-tracks, CDs and DVDs, the media that further transported music and culture. In their growth, music videos came of age, along with cable TV.

Generation Y, aka Millennials, born 1984–2002, championed dance music of the 1990s and 2000s. They brought music access into the digital age, including internet, streaming tunes, downloads, cell phones and websites.

Generation Z, born 2003–2021, reaped the benefit of these evolutions from previous generations. They embrace it all and are poised to share with the next generation.

I grew up listening to the music of the early 1950s on radio and on TV variety shows. I became a huge fan of music by watching Your Hit Parade on NBC-TV, where top songs of the week were staged live. I saw the presentation of music evolve into music videos, MTV, YouTube and other media. I started working in radio as a DJ when I was ten years old. Rock and roll had just hit, and I got to play the latest hit records by the top stars of the day, including Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino and The Everly Brothers.

The first star that I ever met was Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll. I met Elvis in 1958. He came to visit me at KTBC Radio in Austin, TX, when he was a private in the US Army. The next time was in 1962 at the Seattle World’s Fair, where he was making a movie. The last time was backstage at his 1975 concert in Houston, TX.

The first question that I asked Elvis Presley was his favorite food. Answer: burnt bacon, because that’s what they served to him in Army basic training at Fort Hood. He kept the affinity for burnt bacon the rest of his life. The second question was about the staying power of rock n’ roll, then known as kids’ music. His answer: They won’t always be kids.

While Elvis was in the Army, music transitioned from that 1950s format. Other trends came and went. The music industry remained nimble and willing to change and update. I observed and chronicled every style, genre and heyday of music and share via this book.

Dick Clark was known as America’s oldest teenager, a seminal influence on music for 50 years. He started hosting American Bandstand in 1956, and every performer of the late 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and beyond held him in high esteem.

I met Dick Clark in 1971, appeared on an American Bandstand special and spoke at his final tribute dinner in 2011 in Los Angeles, CA. I sat at the head table between Frankie Avalon and Burt Bacharach. After speaking about his influence on the music industry, I introduced Beyoncé to give her tribute to Dick Clark. At the time of his death on April 18, 2012, Clark was worth $200 million. In 1972, he introduced New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, in 1973 went into game shows with $10,000 Pyramid and created American Music Awards. Dick Clark said: Rock had a huge impact. Anything that the older generation hates is usually loved by kids. Nothing changes, and that still continues today.

I hosted and innovated radio oldies shows. They covered such formats as Top 40, big band, rock and roll, easy listening, soul and country. I produced 150 radio documentaries on the music and its stars. I wrote about music in newspapers and magazines. I taught music appreciation classes.

I introduced in performance such stars as Frank Sinatra, The Beach Boys, Kenny Rogers, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Roy Orbison, George Jones, Don Williams, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Dionne Warwick, Count Basie, Chicago, Johnny Dee & the Rocket 88s, Simon & Garfunkel, Nelson Riddle, Danny & the Juniors, Ray Price, The Beatles, Janis Joplin, Rick Nelson, Conway Twitty, Chubby Checker, Benny Goodman, Kay Starr, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Della Reese, Billy Joe Royal, Sonny & Cher and others.

Since the beginning of recorded time, music has been with us. The ancient Greeks strummed instruments such as kithara and aulos players at festivals with instrumentals and vocals.

By the fifth century, music became prominent in church services. Roman chants and liturgies embodied community and aesthetic values of the time. The years of 1000–1200 saw an increase in trading and commerce throughout the world. Songs traveled from town to town, with additional verses added to the vocals.

The concept of raising notes and pitches for dramatic effect surfaced in 14th Century French and Italian music. Dancing and festivals created opportunity for happy, perky tunes. Humanism was characteristic of the Renaissance era, with music theory and practice expanded to widening popular cultures.

The sixteenth century witnessed the rise of native musical idioms. Categories of instrumental music included dance crazes, improvisatory pieces, contrapuntal genres, sonatas and variations. Church music expanded and adapted to reformation and baroque periods. The sixteenth century brought Christmas classics still being sung: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, O Christmas Tree and Twelve Days of Christmas. Carols and symphony suites in the 19th century, including O Holy Night, O Little Town of Bethlehem and Silent Night.

Opera came in the seventeenth century, as did vocal chamber music. Instrumentals utilized organs and harpsichords. The eighteenth century saw classical music by such esteemed composers as Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, George Fredric Handel and Jean-Philippe Rameau. Nineteenth-century romanticism classical music came from Ludwig Van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, Frederyk Chopin, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, Richards Wagner and Antonio Dvorak. There were symphonies, chamber music and vocal music.

In the pop music in the twentieth century, the classics were often updated as instrumentals for big bands, jazz groups and rock ensembles. Often, pop lyrics were added to create memorable songs that charted well and enjoyed longevity in the public psyche. Most of the classics were in the public domain, and their familiarity with the public assured that pop tunesmiths would go back to the well of classical music regularly.

Great composers such as Beethoven, Rachmaninoff’, Bach, Chopin, Schubert, Liszt, Brahms, Wagner, Mahler, Verdi, Debussy, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Rimsky-Korsakov, Ravel and others provided great melodies for pop standards. The popular operas influenced stage musicals, which influenced pop vocals in grandiose ballads.

This brings music history up to where this book begins. It was at this dawn that the recording industry was established. The twentieth century saw an exponential rise in pop music and industries that supported it. The next thirty-six chapters describe and pay homage to it.

Hank Moore with Dick Clark

Hank Moore with Sonny & Cher

Chapter 2

QUESTIONS IN LIFE, ASKED THROUGH MUSIC

Some people ask too many questions. Most don’t ask enough of the right ones. Some seek true answers. Some try to glean keen insights between the lines of the answers. For an outside-the-box reflection through everyone’s memory base (the entertainment genre), here are some of life’s most probing questions, taken from the lexicons of pop music.

Are

Are the stars out tonight? I don’t know if it’s cloudy or bright. I only have eyes for you, dear. Harry Warren & Al Dubin (1933)

Are you sincere when you say you’ll be true? Do you mean every word that my ears have heard? Are really mine every day, all the time? I’d like to know which way to go. Andy Williams (1958)

Are you lonesome tonight? Are you sorry we drifted apart? Does your memory stray to a bright summer day? Shall I come back again? 1920s song by Ray Turk & Lou Handman (later revived by Elvis Presley)

I hear the music coming out of your radio. Are you there with another girl? Burt Bacharach & Hal David (1965)

Are you ready to sit by the throne? Are you ready not to be alone? Somebody’s coming to take you home. Pacific Gas & Electric (1970)

Aren’t you glad you’re you? Bing Crosby (1946)

Can

I swear the day is going to come so soon. The truth is going to burst a lot of balloons. Mister, can’t you see? Buffy Sainte-Marie (1972)

Can you find it in your heart? Can’t we make another start? I’m repenting, Think it over. Tony Bennett (composed by Stillman & Allen)

Can’t you see that she’s mine? Don’t you know I love her so? I don’t care what the people say. I’m going to keep on holding her hand. Dave Clark Five (1964)

Did

Did you ever see a dream walking? Well, I did. Song hit of 1933

Did you ever have to make up your mind? Say yes to one and let the other one ride? So many changes and tears you must hide. John Sebastian & the Lovin’ Spoonful (1965)

Didn’t I blow your mind this time? The Delfonics (1968)

Do

Do you want to dance and hold my hand? Tell me that I’m your man? Squeeze me all through the night. Bobby Freeman (1958)

Do you love me, now that I can dance? The Contours (1962)

Do you know the way to San Jose? In a week or two, they’ll make you a star. And all the stars that ever were are parking cars and pumping gas. Burt Bacharach & Hal David (1968)

Do you believe in magic in a young girl’s heart? If you believe like I believe. John Sebastian/Lovin’ Spoonful (1965)

Do you want to know a secret? Let me whisper in your ear. I’m in love with you. The Beatles (1964)

Do you love as good as you look? The Bellamy Brothers (1981)

Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans? I know I’m not wrong. The feelings get stronger, the longer I’m away. Louis Armstrong (1956)

Do you really want to hurt me? Do you really want to make me cry? That’s a step a step too far. Give me time to realize my crime. Culture Club (1983)

Do you see what I see? A song high above the tree with a voice as big as the sea. Do you know what I know? Let us bring him silver and gold. Christmas song

Does

Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care? If so, I can’t imagine why. Chicago (1970)

Does your chewing gum lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight? If only I could know the answer to my question, is it yes or no. 1924 song, revived by Lonnie Donegan (1961)

Does my ring hurt your finger? Charley Pride (1967)

Don’t

Don’t it make you want to go home? Now the grass won’t grow, and the river doesn’t flow like it did in my childhood days. Joe South (1970)

Don’t you want me baby? You’d better change it back or we will both be sorry. The Human League (1982)

Have

Have you ever been lonely? Have you ever been blue? Ted Lewis (1933)

Have you ever seen the rain coming down on a sunny day? Creedence Clearwater Revival (1970)

Have I told you lately that I love you? Well darling, I’m telling you now. Gene Autry (1946)

Have you heard who’s kissing her now? Do you think she’s blue? Did she say we’re through? Does she say who’s to blame? hit for Joni James & The Duprees

How

How can I be sure, in a world that’s constantly changing? The Rascals (1967)

How am I supposed to live without you? Now that I’ve been loving you for so long. Michael Bolton, 1982

How can people be so heartless? How can people be so cruel? Easy to be hard, easy to be cold. from 1968 Broadway musical Hair

How much do I love you? I’ll tell you no lie. How deep is the ocean? How high is the sky? song by Irving Berlin

How will I know if he really loves me? Tell me, is it real love. Whitney Houston (1986)

How’d we ever get this way? I wonder how it all began. Andy Kim (1968)

How many times must a man turn his head and pretend he just doesn’t see? The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind. Bob Dylan (1962)

How can you mend a broken heart? How can you stop the sun from shining? How can a loser ever win. The Bee Gees (1971)

How much is that doggie in the window, the one with the waggily tail? I hope that doggie’s for sale. Patti Page (1953)

How important can it be? Why get lost in yesterday? Even foolish hearts can learn. 1955 song recorded by Joni James, Sarah Vaughan, Teresa Brewer

How can you expect to be taken seriously? What have I done to deserve this? Pet Shop Boys (1990)

How’d you like to spoon with me? song hit of 1906

Somewhere there’s music, I’ll paint the tune. How high the moon? song hit of 1940 (recorded by Benny Goodman, Stan Kenton, Les Paul & Mary Ford)

How are you going to keep them down on the farm, after they’ve seen Paree? 1919 song hit

If

If I fell in love with you, would you promise to be true? The Beatles (1964)

If you leave me now? You’ll take away the biggest part of me. How could we let it slip away? How could we end it all this way. Chicago (1976)

If I give my heart to you, will you handle it with care? Will you swear that you’ll be true to me. Doris Day (1954)

Is

Is there still room for me beneath the old apple tree? song hit of 1916

Is you is, or is you ain’t my baby? Is my baby still my baby too? Buster Brown (1960)

Is that all there is to a fire, the circus, to love, to life? Let’s keep dancing, break out the booze and have a ball. Peggy Lee (1969)

Is there any chance that you and I can start all over? Say that you’ll try. Marty Robbins (1960)

Isn’t

Isn’t it romantic? 1920s song classic

Isn’t it bliss? Aren’t we a pair? You here at last on the ground, me in mid-air. Send in the clowns. from A Little Night Music (1973)

Isn’t it a pity? Isn’t it a shame? Their eyes can’t hope to see the beauty that surrounds them. George Harrison (1970)

Isn’t it about time? Stephen Stills (1973)

Isn’t this a lovely day to be caught in the rain? Long as I can be with you, it’s a lovely day. Irving Berlin (1935)

May

May I speak with you? May I bring you joy? Girl, I’ve been searching for someone like you. Maurice Williams & the Zodiaks (1959)

Shall

Shall we dance? On a bright cloud of music, shall we fly? Shall you be my new romance? Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein, The King & I (1951)

What

What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me? The Beatles (1967)

What child is this? traditional Christmas song

What is my life without you by my side? What I feel, I can’t say. Then I’ll try my best to make everything succeed. George Harrison (1970)

What in the world’s come over you? Could you ever change your mind? If you do, I’ll still be here, longing, waiting for you. Jack Scott (1960)

What becomes of the brokenhearted? Who has love that’s now departed? I’ll be searching everywhere just to find someone to care. Jimmy Ruffin (1966)

What’d I say? See the girl with the red dress on? She can dance all night long. Ray Charles (1959)

What do you get when you fall in love? A guy with a pin to burst your bubble. I’ll never fall in love again. Burt Bacharach & Hal David (1969)

What am I living for, if not for you? Nobody else will do. Chuck Willis (1958)

What now my love now that you left me? How can I live through another day? 1966 hit by Sonny & Cher

What kind of fool am I, who never fell in love? Why can’t I fall in love like any other man? Maybe then I’ll know what kind of fool I am. Anthony Newley (1962)

What is love? Five feet of heaven in a ponytail, the cutest ponytail that sways with a wiggle when she walks. The Playmates (1958)

What are you doing the rest of your life? I have one request, that you spend it with me. Michel Legrand, Alan & Marilyn Bergman (1969)

What do I have to do to get the message through? Kylie Minogue (1987)

What’ll I do when you are far away? What’ll I do, with just a photograph to tell my troubles to. 1920s song by Irving Berlin

What kind of girl do you think I am? Loretta Lynn (1967)

What is this thing called? Who can solve its mystery? Why should it make a fool of me? 1920s song by Cole Porter

What’s

What’s this whole world coming to? Things just aren’t the same. Anytime the hunter gets captured by the game. Smokey Robinson (1967)

What’s he doing in my world? If he’s not more than just a friend, then why were you kissing him? Eddy Arnold (1965)

What’s new, pussycat? I’ve got flowers and lots of hours to spend with you. You’re so thrilling, and I’m so willing to care for you. Burt Bacharach & Hal David (1965)

What’s your name? Is it Mary or Sue? Do I stand a chance with you? Don & Juan (1962)

What’s love got to do with it? Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken. Tina Turner (1984)

What’s new? How is the world treating you? How did that romance come through? Seeing you is grand. recorded 1929 by Bing Crosby, 1983 by Linda Ronstadt

When

When will I see you again? When will we share precious moments? Will I have to wait forever? Is this my beginning or end. The Three Degrees (1974)

When you smile at me, well, I know our love will always be. If you will, I know all will be fine. When will you be mine? The Kalin Twins (1958)

I’ve been cheated. I’ve been mistreated. When will I be loved? recorded 1960 by The Everly Brothers, 1975 by Linda Ronstadt

Where

Where have all the flowers gone? Long time passing, long time ago. When will they ever learn? The Kingston Trio (1962)

Where’s the playground, Susie? The carousel has stopped us here. What merry-go-round can you ride without me? Glen Campbell (1969) (composed by Jim Webb)

Where do I go? Follow the river. Is there an answer that tells me why I live and die? Gerome Ragni, James Rado & Galt MacDermot from 1968 Broadway musical Hair

Where are you? Where have you gone without me? Where’s my heart? Where is the dream we started? Frank Sinatra (1955)

Where is the love? Donny Hathaway & Roberta Flack (1972)

Where do I begin to tell the story of how great a love can be? There’ll never be another love. She fills my heart with very special things. Carl Sigman & Francis Lai (theme from Love Story) (1970)

Which

Which way are you going, Billy? Can I go too? I have nothing to show if you should go away. Poppy Family (Terry & Susan Jacks) (1970)

Who

Who can I turn to when nobody needs me? My heart wants to know, and I must go where destiny leads me. Maybe tomorrow I’ll find what I’m after. Anthony Newley (1962)

I long to wake up in the morning and find everything has changed. For I have something else entirely free. To question such good fortune, who am I? Petula Clark (1967)

Who put the bomp in the bop shoo bop shoo bop? Who put the ram in the rama lama ding dong? Barry Mann (1961)

Who wrote the Book of Love? I’ve got to know the answer. Was it someone from above? The Monotones (1958)

Who are you? I want to know. Peter Townshend & The Who (1978)

Who will the next fool be? Bobby Bland (1962)

Who can explain it? Who can tell you why? Fools give you reasons. Wise men never try. Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein, from South Pacific

Who’s sorry now? Who’s sad and blue? Who’s crying too? Not like I cried over you. Connie Francis (1957)

Who do you think you are to take such advantage of me? Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods (1974)

Who’s making love to your old lady, while you’re out making love? Johnnie Taylor (1968)

Trying to find the sun. Who’ll stop the rain? Creedence Clearwater Revival (1970)

Who’s zooming who? Aretha Franklin (1985)

Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? sung by the Three Little Pigs in Walt Disney cartoon classic (1933)

Who stole my heart away? Who makes me dream all day the dreams that I know will never come true. Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein & Jerome Kern (1925)

Why

Why do birds sing so gay? Why does the rain fall from up above? Why does my heart skip this crazy beat? Why do fools fall in love? Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers (1955)

Why, oh why, do I love Paris? Because my love is near. 1920s song by Cole Porter

Why does the sun go on shining? Why does the sea rush to shore? Don’t they know it’s the end of the world. Sung by Skeeter Davis (1963)

Why me, Lord? What have I ever done to deserve even one of the pleasures I’ve known? Kris Kristofferson (1973)

Why can’t we be friends? I’ve seen you around for a long time. The color of your skin doesn’t matter to me, long as we can live in harmony. Sung by War (1975)

Why don’t you do right, like some other men do? Get out of here and get me some money too. Benny Goodman (1943)

Why don’t you believe me? It’s you I adore. Can I promise more? How else can I tell you? I love only you. Joni James (1952)

Why don’t you love me like you used to do? How come you treat me like a worn-out shoe? I’m the same old trouble that you’ve always been through. Hank Williams (1950)

Will

Is this a lasting treasure, or just a moment’s pleasure? Will my heart be broken when the night meets the morning sun? Will you still love me tomorrow? Carole King & Gerry Goffin (1961)

"Will I find my love