Marc Myers - Anatomy of a Song: The Oral History of 45 Iconic Hits That Changed Rock, R&B and Pop

Anatomy of a Song

Also by Marc Myers
Why Jazz Happened

Anatomy of a Song

The Oral History of 45 Iconic Hits
That Changed Rock, R&B and Pop

Marc Myers

Grove Press

New York

Copyright 2016 by Marc Myers

Jacket and art design by Michael Patrick Dudding

All photos printed throughout the text courtesy of Getty Images, with the following exceptions: p. 8 (Lloyd Price): Courtesy of Lloyd Price. p. 16 (Little Willie Littlefield): Gusto Records. p. 34 (Dion DiMucci): Susan DiMucci. p. 40 (The Dixie Cups):
Alan Betrock / Shake Books, Courtesy of Wayne Betrock. p. 66 (The Four Tops): Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy. p. 92 (Grace Slick): Courtesy of Herb Greene. p. 119 (Loretta Lynn): Loretta Lynn Enterprises Inc. p. 126 (Tammy Wynette): Courtesy of Cathy Sherrill Lale. p. 154 (Elvis Presley): Joseph A. Tunzi / JAT Publishing / Daryl Restly. p. 176 (Mick Jagger), p. 294 (Merle Haggard): Photographs by Norman Seeff. p. 184 (Rod Stewart): John McKenzie, London. p. 201 (Joni Mitchell): Courtesy of Cary Raditz. p. 222 (The Allman Brothers): Photo by Twiggs Lyndon / Courtesy of the Lyndon Family. p. 244 (Stevie Wonder): Courtesy Johnson Publishing Company, LLC. p. 286 (The Neville Brothers): Christopher R. Harris. p. 308 (Bonnie Raitt): Courtesy Everett Collection.

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A version of each chapter first appeared in The Wall Street Journal as part of the column Anatomy of a Song, 20112016.

First Grove Atlantic hardcover edition: November 2016

Published simultaneously in Canada

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN 978-0-8021-2559-0

eISBN 978-0-8021-8965-3

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available for this title.

Grove Press

an imprint of Grove Atlantic

154 West 14th Street

New York, NY10011

Distributed by Publishers Group West

groveatlantic.com

For Alyse and Olivia
My melody and harmony

Contents

Lloyd Price

Interviews: Lloyd Price, Dave Bartholomew, Art Rupe

Little Willie Littlefield

Interviews: Mike Stoller, Billy Davis, Alfred Pee Wee Ellis

The Isley Brothers

Interview: Ronald Isley

The Marvelettes

Interview: Katherine Kat Anderson Schaffner

Dion DiMucci

Interview: Dion DiMucci

The Dixie Cups

Interviews: Jeff Barry, Darlene Love, Mike Stoller, Barbara Hawkins, Rosa Hawkins, Artie Butler

The Kinks

Interviews: Ray Davies, Dave Davies, Shel Talmy

The Righteous Brothers

Interviews: Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Bill Medley

The Temptations

Interview: Smokey Robinson

The Four Tops

Interviews: Lamont Dozier, Abdul Duke Fakir, Paul Riser

John Sebastian

Interview: John Sebastian

The Doors

Interviews: Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, John Densmore

The Young Rascals

Interviews: Felix Cavaliere, Chris Huston, Gene Cornish

Jefferson Airplane

Interview: Grace Slick

The Stone Poneys

Interviews: Michael Nesmith, Linda Ronstadt, Bobby Kimmel, Don Randi

Otis Redding

Interviews: Steve Cropper, Booker T. Jones, Wayne Jackson, Ben Cauley

Loretta Lynn

Interview: Loretta Lynn

The Rolling Stones

Interview: Keith Richards

Tammy Wynette

Interviews: Billy Sherrill, Hargus Pig Robbins, Jerry Kennedy

Steppenwolf

Interviews: John Kay, Michael Monarch

Creedence Clearwater Revival

Interviews: John Fogerty, Sonny Charles, Tamiko Jones, Perry Botkin Jr., Brent Maher

The Edwin Hawkins Singers

Interviews: Edwin Hawkins, Dorothy Morrison

Elvis Presley

Interviews: Mark James, Chips Moman

Led Zeppelin

Interviews: Jimmy Page, George Chkiantz, Eddie Kramer

Janis Joplin

Interviews: John Byrne Cooke, Bob Neuwirth, Michael McClure, Clark Pierson, Brad Campbell

The Rolling Stones

Interview: Mick Jagger

Rod Stewart

Interview: Rod Stewart

Joni Mitchell

Interviews: Joni Mitchell, Cary Raditz

The Staple Singers

Interviews: Al Bell, Mavis Staples

Jimmy Cliff

Interviews: Jimmy Cliff, Jackie Jackson, Hux Brown

Gladys Knight and the Pips

Interviews: Jim Weatherly, Cissy Houston,Tony Camillo, Gladys Knight

The Allman Brothers

Interviews: Dickey Betts, Chuck Leavell, Les Dudek

The Hues Corporation

Interviews: Wally Holmes, John Florez, Joe Sample, H. Ann Kelley

Aerosmith

Interviews: Joe Perry, Steven Tyler

Stevie Wonder

Interview: Stevie Wonder

Steely Dan

Interviews: Donald Fagen, Walter Becker, Larry Carlton, Tom Scott, Pete Christlieb

Elvis Costello

Interview: Elvis Costello

Blondie

Interviews: Chris Stein, Debbie Harry, Michael Chapman

Pink Floyd

Interview: Roger Waters

The Clash

Interviews: Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Topper Headon

The Neville Brothers

Interviews: Cyril Neville, Aaron Neville, Art Neville, Charles Neville, Barbara Hawkins, Mac Rebennack

Merle Haggard

Interview: Merle Haggard

Cyndi Lauper

Interviews: Rob Hyman, Cyndi Lauper

Bonnie Raitt

Interview: Bonnie Raitt

R.E.M.

Interviews: Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe, Bill Berry

Acknowledgments

On Friday, September 23, 2011, I was grabbing a late lunch with my wife on New Yorks Upper West Side when Rich Turner, The Wall Street Journal s music editor, e-mailed an idea for a fast turnaround: Were wondering about whether there are stories to be done about individual songs, an Anatomy of a Song, classic songs that resonate today and have backstories behind them, anecdotes surrounding them, huge histories of what happened to them after they came out. Theyre like people and we could profile them. To start, how about My Girl by Smokey Robinson?

And so began the newspapers Anatomy of a Song column and my ongoing odyssey to gather the dramatic stories behind the writing and recording of some of Americas most iconic rock, soul, country, R&B, gospel, reggae, and disco songs. Originally, the mandate was to treat the column as a write-throughan article on the song with the songwriters quotes spread throughout. But by the third column, on the Righteous Brothers Youve Lost That Lovin Feelin, I faced a problem. There were two accessible songwriters Cynthia Weil and Barry Manninstead of one. Thats when I realized the column would be better served as an oral history, with the stories told through my edit of the songwriters and artists own words. The new format would be flexible enough to include as many sources as were needed to tell the story, and would also allow me to capture the sound of a subjects voice.

When I proposed the new format idea to Rich and Eben Shapiro, The Wall Street Journal s global arts editor, in July 2012, they agreed, and it worked perfectly. In the years that followed, the three of us routinely batted around artist and song ideas, and the process has been wonderfully collaborative and fruitful. My heartfelt thanks to Eben and Rich for their initial vision and guidance and for giving me the opportunity to preserve music history. A special thanks to the Anatomy of a Song team over the past five yearsLisa Bannon, Emily Gitter (now editor of the Mansion section), Michael Boone, Brenda Cronin, Catherine Romano, and photo editor Ericka Burchett. I also want to thank Wall Street Journal senior deputy managing editor Michael W. Miller for his critical eye and support for the column.