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Comments are appreciated. I have no idea who will, or won't, visit this site but welcome is the key word. One of my past-times is to find original versions to songs and post them (not in their entirety) along with the hit version. Click on "articles".

Louise Cordet (Louise Boisot) is the goddaughter of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. She toured with The Beatles, Paul & Paula and Gerry & The Pacemakers and Gerry Marsden initially wrote the song "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying" for

Composer and OBE recipient Albert Hammond is at least partially responsible for hits "99 MIles From L.A.", "It Never Rains in Southern California", "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now", "Moonlight Lady", "The Air That I Breathe", "One Moment in Time",

Anne (Patricia Jacqueline Sibley) Shelton's recording career began in 1943. After the war she sang with the Glenn Miller orchestra during the band's tour of the UK. Anne Recorded "The Village of St. Bernadette" in 1959. She was awarded the OBE in 1990.

Curly Putman has written or co-composed "The Green Green Grass of Home", "Elusive Dreams", "He Stopped Loving Her Today" and "D-I-V-O-R-C-E". The ex Mrs. George Jones, Tammy Wynette (Virginia Wynette Pugh) had the big hit of "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" in 1968.

"Those Were the Days" (Gene Raskin), is a Russian song called "Dorogoi dlinnoyu" (Boris Fomin, Konstantin Podrevskii). One of the first recordings from the twenties featured Alexander Vertinsky. Gene Raskin played the folk circuit in 1960s New York

"If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)" composed by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays was written as a political statement in 1949. It was recorded first by The Weavers (Ronnie Gilbert, Lee Hays, Fred Hellerman, and Pete Seeger) but achieved little success.

Gary Usher co-wrote the Beach Boy classics "In my Room" and "409". It was Gary who composed "Don't Give in to Him" recorded by the British band Finders Keepers in 1967. Two years later it hit the top twenty for Gary Puckett and the Union Gap.

"I Just Fall in Love Again" (Herbstritt, Dorff, Lloyd, and Sklerov) was recorded by The Carpenters in 1977 and covered in 1979 by Dusty Springfield, whose version inspired Anne Murray to record it the same year. Anne Murray's version hit Billboard's

Flaming Star is a 1960 Western film starring Elvis Presley, based on the book Flaming Lance (1958) by Clair Huffaker. Critics agreed that Presley gave one of his best acting performances as the mixed-blood "Pacer Burton", a dramatic role. The film was

In 1966 Yugoslavian Berta Ambroz entered the Eurovision Song Festival with “Brez Besed” (Without Words) composed by Mojmir Sepe and Elza Budau. In 1973 Mocedades came second in the Spanish Eurovision Song with “Eres Tu” composed by Juan Carlos

Winchester Cathedral: a large Church of England cathedral in Winchester, Hampshire, England. This song won the 1966 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary (R&R) Recording. Don’t ask why, I don’t know, although it is a pleasing departure from the

Jim Lowe, singer-songwriter is best known for his 1956 hit "Green Door". He was also a radio personality in New York City. Jim composed "Gambler's Guitar", a hit for Rusty Draper in 1953. In 1957 he hit the top twenty with the original version of “Four

The Wellingtons performed the title songs for "Gilligan's Island" and "Davy Crockett." They also backed acts on "Shindig!!” The group started as a folk quartette with Kapp Records and were known as The Lincolns because they were from Illinois. They

P. F. Sloan (Philip Gary Schlein) co-wrote Round Robin’s "Kick That Little Foot, Sally Ann", “A Must to Avoid” for Herman’s Hermits, Johnny Rivers' "Secret Agent Man" the Turtles' "You Baby” and in 1965 Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction”. Barry

"That's When Your Heartaches Begin"(Fisher, Raskin, Brown) by Shep Fields & His Rippling Rhythm Orchestra with vocalist Bob Goday was recorded in 1937. It was recorded by Elvis Presley three times, the first in July 1953, when it was one of the two

"Uno Tranquillo" (One Quiet Man) was composed by Daniele Pace, Lorenzo Pilat and Mario Panzeri and it was a 1967 Italian hit for Riccardo Del Turco. The British group The Tremeloes (originally back up band for Brian Poole) hit in 1968. Their version

"The Morning After" was composed by the gifted team of Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn. It was the Academy Award Winner for Best Original Song in 1972 for "The Poseidon Adventure". Renée Armand was dubbing the singing voice of Nonnie (Carol Lynley). Later

"Lily the Pink" was inspired by the American product: Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound circa 1875. The song was sung during the First World War in POW camps in Germany by Canadian prisoners. Oscar Brand was perhaps the first to record "The

Mieko Hirota is a Japanese popular singer. Her nickname is Mico (also spelled Miko). In 1965, Mieko became the first Japanese singer to appear at the Newport Jazz Festival. The same year she recorded “Sunny”. In 1966 Nashville singer/songwriter Bobby

In 1927 Columbia recorded Reverend J. C. Burnett's sermon "Gambler's Doom". T. Texas Tyler's styling hit the country charts in 1948. The most popular version hit the top ten and was recorded in 1959 by American radio personality and future game show

Written by the Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis (Never on Sunday) as part of the soundtrack to the 1959 film The Island of the Brave. Greek singer Nana Mouskouri recorded the French Version in 1962. This was the same year Brenda Lee had the

As Jerry Lee Lewis’ mother once said: “You and Elvis are pretty good, but you’re no Chuck Berry.” The father of rock and roll, Mr. Berry gave us one of the best story songs ever when he recorded "Memphis, Tennessee" in 1959. In 1963 it was covered as an

"Detour" was written by Paul Westmoreland in 1945. The original version by Jimmy Walker with Paul Westmoreland and His Pecos River Boys was released in November of that year. Tex Williams (1946) and even Duane Eddy (1958) hit with the song later. The

“In the Mood” seems to have evolved just like so many other melodies. We start with "Clarinet Get Away” (Jimmie O'Bryant) by O’Bryant's Washboard Wonders in 1925 for Paramount records, the first minute of this post. Next is the 1930 recording by BBQ

In the documentary In Dreams: The Roy Orbison Story, Bono tells how he woke up for a concert's sound check, following a late night listening to the soundtrack to David Lynch's Blue Velvet, and had the tune in his head, figuring it was another Orbison song

One of the greatest and most successful singer/composers of the rock era Neil Sedaka (Juilliard School of Music 1947) was one of the original creators of the “Brill Building” sound and was the first to sign with Don Kirshner and Al Nevins at Aldon

The song “La Goualante de Pauvre Jean” means “The Ballad of Poor John” (Marguerite Monnot, René Rouzaud) yet in English it is usually called “The Poor People of Paris”. The tune was made famous by French songstress Edith Piaf. It was introduced in

We had the chance to watch Tim Hardin on stage with Kris Kristofferson at the National Art Centre in Ottawa. Kris enjoyed the booze, Tim was addicted to heroin. Tim composed "If I Were a Carpenter" which hit large for Bobby Darin in 1966 then, in 1969,

James Baskett played Uncle Remus in "Song of the South" for which he won an honorary Academy Award. Disney won't release the entire film on the home video market because of the controversial nature of the film, which was denounced as racist by the NAACP

At the time of "The Locomotion" Little Eva's (Eva Narcissus Boyd) weekly salary was $50 plus expenses. Her previous job was a $35-a-week live-in nanny for composers Carole King and Gerry Goffin. Little Eva included the King-Goffin tune "Up on the Roof"

“Promises, Promises” was a 1968 Broadway musical comedy based on the book by Neil Simon and on the film "The Apartment" by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond. Music by Burt Bacharach, lyrics by Hal David. Jill O’Hara was nominated for Broadway's 1968

The disco song “Goodbye (There’s Nothing to Say) was released in1974 as Nosmo, months later issued as The Javells featuring Nosmo King (Doctors/Steve Jameson). Two years later Nosmo King sued the writers of Maxine Nightingale’s "Right Back Where We

Guy Warren (Warren Gamaliel Kpakpo Akwe), the Ghanaian drummer known as Kofi Ghanaba (son of Ghana) was a member of the Tempos band. Guy played piano, flute, sang, and was trained in Western style composition. He is known as the first African drummer

Ringo Starr's (Beatle Richard Starkey) cover of Hoyt Axton (character actor: Black Stallion, Gremlins, We’re No Angels and Kingfish, singer and composer: "Joy to the World", "Never Been to Spain", "The Pusher", "Greenback Dollar") and David Jackson's

In 1974 Gigliola Cinquetti got to the top spot on the Italian charts with "Alle Porte del Sole". It was the same songwriting team (Pace/Panzeri/ Pilat/Conti) who also gave her Si, the Italian entry for the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, defeated by

"Oh What a Night, Such a Night" was written by Lincoln Chase (Jim Dandy, and The Name Game plus The Nitty Gritty for partner Shirley Ellis) and recorded by The Drifters featuring Clyde McPhatter and released in January 1954. It hit second spot on the

The song "I'm a Woman" was written by famed songwriting duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, and was first recorded in 1962 by Christine Kittrell. It was recorded and released as a single later that year by Peggy Lee, reaching number 54 on U.S. pop

Chilean singer/actor Antonio Prieto had a 50-year career, recorded over 1000 songs, acted in more than 33 films (Don Miguel Rojo, the eldest of the bandit brothers in Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars with Clint Eastwood) and had the first variety

James "Sugar Boy" Crawford recorded as Shaw Weez, Shaweez, Sugar Boy & the Cane Cutters, James Sugar Boy, and later James Crawford, Jr. In 1954 he called this Cajun melody “Jackamo” and claimed he composed it when he recorded it for Chess Records.

Duke Ellington was once a member of Russell Wooding's Grand Central Red Caps who in 1931 recorded “That’s My Desire”. In 1951 Frankie Laine (Francesco Paolo LoVecchio) took it to the top of the American charts even though he recorded it originally in

"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong in 1966, the single was first recorded by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, but it was not released. In 1967 Gladys Knight & the Pips altered the lyric a bit

Sonny Curtis and Jerry Allison of the Crickets wrote and recorded "More Than I Can Say" in 1959. Since then it's been released by Bobby Vee in 1961 and Leo Sayer had the hit in 1980. It's almost difficult NOT to sing along with the tune.

In 1947 the motion picture “Capas Negras” (named after the black capes of the university students of Coïmbra.) was shot in Coimbra, Portugal. Alberto Rebeiro sang the title tune “Coimbra” (composers: Raul Ferrâo/José Galhardo) years later it became

Louisiana’s Robert “Bobby” Charles Guidry wrote Fats Domino’s “Walking to New Orleans”, “(I Don’t Know Why I Love You) But I Do,” by Clarence “Frogman” Henry; and “See You Later Alligator,” for Bill Haley and the Comets. Fats didn't want the

DJ Tommy Shannon was on air at WKBW in Buffalo in the fifties when he met "The Rebels" (named after Duane Eddy and the Rebels) at a local high school. They entered a recording studio together and started fooling around with a jingle composed for the

Sidney Bechet was born in New Orleans three years before Louis Armstrong. The clarinetist left the Storyville District for Europe in 1919 where he also mastered the saxophone. He spent most of his career in abroad. While in France he wrote Petite Fleur.

Allen Toussaint's version of "Working in a Coalmine" morphs into the hit later. In a recent Canadian television interview Allen tells us about Lee Dorsey's love of auto body work and that singing was almost secondary despite his hits with "Ya-Ya" (the

Environmentalist, singer and composer Kenny Young wrote "Under the Boardwalk" (Drifters), "Arizona" (Mark Lindsay), "Don't Go Out Into the Rain (you're going to melt) (Herman's Hermits)" and "Just a Little Bit Better". Kenny's original is from 1964.

"Saginaw, Michigan" started with an idea by Don Wayne (Choate), the Nashville native who wrote a big hit for Ireland's Val Doonican, originally recorded by Faron Young, "Walk Wall". Don also composed "Country Bumpkin" which topped the country charts for

The El Capris from Pittsburgh formed in 1954. They thought Spanish for "bluebird" was"capri" and settled on the "El Capris". "el" means "the", so "the El Capris" would have translated to "the the bluebirds". "El" is the singular, so it should have been

Pianist/composer/singer Gerard Kenny had a number of bands, including one with Billy Joel. He is the composer and the first to record "Made it Through the Rain" (Gerard W. Kenny - Drey Shepperd) in 1978. The album of the same name made the top twenty in

Rod McKuen gave us novelties like "The Mummy" and "Oliver Twist", but he also composed some of the most introspective songs of a generation. One of those is "Love's Been Good to Me" which he recorded in 1964. Later that year the Kingston Trio released

Composers Carl Montgomery (Melba's brother) and Earl Green wrote "Six Days on the Road" and it was recorded by Paul Davis in 1961.Not the Paul Davis of "I Go Crazy" fame. Dave Dudley first released it in 1963, since then it's been referred to as the

Shirley Owens, Doris Coley, Addie Harris and Beverly Lee were the Shirelles. "Sha La La" composers were producer Luther Dixon along with Robert Mosely, Curtis Ousley and Robert Taylor.This hit the Top 100 for them in April of 1964. Manfred Mann (named

Mel Tillis has composed and recorded tons of hits including Detroit City, I Ain't Never and Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town. He was the spokesman and honorary chairman for the Stuttering Foundation of America and he leads of this "medley". Next is

In the early '60s James Hendricks was part of the Big Three with Tim Rose and a pre-Mamas and the Papas Cass Elliot. Later James and Cass teamed up with Zal Yanovsky and Denny Doherty to form the short-lived Mugwumps. His first solo effort featured

The song was first recorded in early 1965 by Limmie Snell (who started recording for Columbia at the age of 11) under the name "Lemme B. Good". About a month later the song was redone -- with considerably rewritten lyrics -- by R&B/novelty artists

In 1928 Bruno Rudzinsky recorded this European melody as Pawel Waltz. The title was changed by Tex Owens (Doye Hensley Owens) to "Cattle Call' in 1934. The Tennessee Plowboy, Eddy Arnold took it to the top of the charts in 1944 and again in 1955 with

Ruthann Friedman was born in 1944 and gradually headed to the west coast where Van Dyke Parks (exec producer on her lp Constant Companion) introduced her to The Association in 1964. The group recorded "Windy" three years later. Listen carefully and

Although it wasn't released until 1970 Eddie North recorded "Rainy Night in Georgia" at roughly the same time as composer swamp rocker Tony Joe White (Polk Salad Annie) in 1969, Tony wrote it in 1962. The incomparable Brook Benton had the hit in the

Bob and Joe Shelton (Bob Attlesey and Joe Attlesey) originally recorded "Just Because" later recorded by Elvis Presley whose name is listed as one of the composers on "Love Me Tender" and with Ken Darby. The Shelton Brothers recorded "Aura Lee"

Marvin Percy Rainwater had been a classically trained pianist, but after an accident had removed part of a thumb, he learned to strum a guitar enough to accompany his singing and compose songs on it. His career was established by "Gonna Find Me a

Rumour has it that this is John Lennon struggling to demo "Nobody I Know" apparently written principally by Paul. It's the second of three Lennon-McCartney compositions given to Peter and Gordon who hit with the song in 1964. Peter's sister Jane dated

Tony Renis co-composed "Quando, Quando, Quando" (When, When, When) in1962. The Italian composer, singer, actor and producer received a Golden Globe Award and Oscar nomination for "The Prayer", by Céline Dion and Andrea Bocelli, from the Quest for

Composer Jenny Carson was a fan of Hank Williams and wrote "Let Me Go Devil" after Hank died and his fight with alcoholism. Country fiddler and vocalist Wade Ray recorded the song in 1953. The lyrics were rewritten the following year when "Let Me Go

In 1958 Little Kid Lex recorded "New Year Rock". It's probably the first and only time Bert Kaempfert recorded anything that originally used the word "rock". In 1962 Bert Kaempfert recorded "Afrikaan Beat" as a follow up to "A Swingin' Safari"

Jerry Masters, who was a recording engineer at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, told the story: "We cut a demo of "Old Time Rock and Roll" on the writer of the song, George Jackson (Jackson-Jones), there at the studio when we didn't have anything else to do.

Buddy Holly is playing lead guitar on Charlie Phillips "Sugartime" (Charlie Phillips - Odis Echols) issued in 1957. Charlie went on to record the demo for "Welcome To My World" before Jim Reeves had the hit. The McGuire Sisters (Phyllis, Christine and

Dick Holler composed songs as varied as "Abraham, Martin and John" and "Snoopy vs the Red Baron". Here he is with his group "The Holidays". In 1964 group members Don Smith and Cyril Vetter penned "Double Shot". The Swingin' Medallions hit with the tune

Phil Spector, Jeff Barry, and Ellie Greenwich composed "Be My Baby" in 1963. The first version here is by composer Ellie Greenwich. Next is the Ronettes as produced by Phil Spector. That was the big hit! While Canadian Andy Kim charted the song in

Gordon Jenkins' 1953 Seven Dreams concept album and the song "Crescent City Blues" with vocalist Beverly Maher provided more than the basis for this hit. After "Folsom Prison Blues" became popular Johnny Cash reached a settlement with Gordon. The man

The late Fred Karlin (composer of 1971 Academy Award winner For All We Know) and lyrics by Dory Previn who died in 2012 (ex-wife of Andre), wrote "Come Saturday Morning". It was first performed by The Sandpipers on the soundtrack of the 1969 film The

Gene Autry was the first to record "Blueberry Hill" for his movie "The Singing Hill" in 1940. It became a hit for Sammy Kaye, Louis Armstrong and many others. None of these had the impact demonstrated by Antoine Fats Domino's version in 1956. Fats

The Seagulls recorded "Don't Go Out into the Rain (You're Gonna Melt) in1966. Kenny Young composed the Drifter's "Under the Boardwalk", Mark Lindsay's "Arizona", Herman's Hermits' "Just a Little Bit Better" and this tune which hit the Top Twenty for

On his "Catch One" album Hot Chocolate member Tony Wilson released three records before his label mate Randy Vanwarmer's hit version. On the Tony Wilson lp, Vanwarmer and Wilson are mentioned as

"On Broadway" was composed by music legends Barry Mann , Cynthia Weil, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. When Phil Spector discovered The Crystals they were all in high school. Their version of "On Broadway" from the 1962 album "Twist Uptown", later

"That's Amore" is a 1952 song by composer Harry Warren and lyricist Jack Brooks. It became a major hit, signature song for Dean Martin in 1953. Amore means "love" in Italian.

Shawn Elliott was on Roulette records when he recorded "A Walkin' Miracle". He would go on to record for Atlantic, London and others, before moving onto acting. His Broadway credits include: "City of Angels" and "Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and

The 1954 Broadway production "The Pyjama Game" gave us Richard Adler and Jerry Ross tunes like "Hey There", "Steam Heat" and "Hernando's Hideaway". The original cast include John Raitt (Bonnie's father), Janis Paige. Eddie Foy Jr and Shirley MacLaine

Brinsley Schwarz was a British pub band featuring Nick Lowe as lead vocalist. In 1970 they were set to open for Van Morrison at the Fillmore East in New York but had problems getting visas and when they did, at the last minute, everything went wrong for

"Standing on the Corner" was written by Frank Loesser in 1956. It was introduced by Shorty Long, Alan Gilbert, and Roy Lazarus in the Broadway musical, The Most Happy Fella. The same show also gave us "Big D". The original production was partially

Artie Kornfeld along with Steve Duboff were the Changin' Times. In 1965 they wrote and recorded "The Pied Piper". It became one of the most covered records ever. Artie Kornfeld was also the co-writer of "Dead Man's Curve" by Jan and Dean and was the

At the end of January 1911 vaudeville performer Dolly (Dorothy) Connolly recorded My Hula, Hula Love. The song was composed by Percy Wenrich and Edward Madden. In the late forties Leadbelly (Huddie Ledbetter) recorded the tune as a blues "Hawaiian