ROCK Sex brings you another classic that 'she did first'.
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"Remember (Walking In The Sand)" catapulted The Shangri-Las and much more.
As the story goes, fledgling producer "Shadow" Morton painted himself into a corner one day while visiting former flame and now hit songwriter Elle Greenwich. Her partner Jeff Barry put him on the spot about what he did and Morton blurted, "Songs."
"What kind?'"
"Hit songs." Then Morton had to scramble to write his first-ever song in a week and under pressure he wrote this one.
For the demo he grabbed an unknown Girl Group called The Shangri-Las and a young piano player named Billy Joel. Then he proved himself to be a worthy rival to Phil Spector with his dramatic arrangement, echo, and sound effects.
What he also lucked into was the group themselves. Led by the edgy confessionals of Mary Weiss, they proved to be one of Pop and Rock's greatest goldmines. And Shadow Morton did write hit songs for them, after all.
THE SHANGRI-LAS -"Remember (Walking In The Sand)" (1964)
The song's dramatic Beethoven chords struck a national nerve that resonates in this German version.
SHIRLEY -"Vergessen" (W. Germany, 1964)
And gets the cinematic opera treatment in this Italian film clip.
LUCIO DALLA -"L'ora di Piangere" (Italy, 1964)
The Beatles loved Girl Groups and covered a number of their songs in the early days.
But I never see anyone remark on the clear sonic influence of "Remember" on this later song, "I Want You (She's So Heavy)"; listen to the famed epilogue (4:45), with those hard descending chords, along with a dramatic building progression and the "aaahhh" background harmonies. It even has a bracketed title!
Oddly enough, the original version of "Remember" is rumored to have been over 7 minutes long, which is another harbinger of this one.
THE BEATLES -"I Want You (She's So Heavy)" (1969)
The chords were perfect for Hard Rock drama. Note how this bluesy version by a German band acts as a hinge from The Beatles to Aerosmith.
JACKBOOT -"Remember (Walking In The Sand)" (W. Germany, 1976)
Aerosmith has the most famous cover version of "Remember (Walking In The Sand)". But it seems clear enough that their Rock chord version hinged off of what The Beatles did with "I Want You (She's So Heavy)". Consider that they had recently covered "Come Together", also from the ABBEY ROAD album.
Mary Weiss actually did back-up vocals on this, but was unfortunately uncredited.
AEROSMITH -"Remember (Walking In The Sand)" (1979)
The Shangri-Las' 'tough girl' style had a huge influence on Glam and Punk artists, from New York Dolls to The Damned, from Suzi Quatro to Blondie.
The Go-Go's have been covering this song since their early L.A. Punk days.
THE GO-GO'S -"Remember (Walking In The Sand)" (1981)
AMY WINEHOUSE, no stranger to mid-'60s style and tough girl sass, often interpolated lyrics from "Remember" in concert versions of her own song, "Back To Black".
AMY WINEHOUSE -"Back To Black" (2007)
Roaring for glory, here comes the Portuguese Garage Rock take.
GIALLOS -"Walking In The Sand" (Portugal, 2014)
"(Remember) walkin' hand in hand
(Remember) the night was so exciting
(Remember) smile was so inviting
(Remember) then he touched my cheek
(Remember) with his fingertips
Softly, softly we'd meet with our lips..."
I'm going to throw in a new feature to the Blog today: ROCK Sex, about how everything intersects together in great and surprising ways.
Culture isn't a fixed tradition owned by a few. It's actually an intersection of ideas from everyone that is constantly fluid and opening up more possibilities. Someone tries something, someone else is inspired to add something, some third party adds both together into something else.
This relay race is actually how true creativity runs and always will.
Here's an example...
Rhythm'n'Blues band leader Tiny Bradshaw first did "The Train Kept A-Rollin" as a jump jive number in 1951:
TINY BRADSHAW -"The Train Kept A-Rollin'" (1951)
The Johnny Burnette Trio, fueled by the busted amp of guitarist Paul Burlison, redefined it entirely as a Rockabilly blaster in 1956...
THE JOHNNY BURNETTE TRIO -"The Train Kept A-Rollin'" (1956)
With the benefit of the British Invasion's popularity, The Yardbirds (featuring Jeff Beck on guitar) crystallized it into the Garage Rock anthem covered by everyone else...
THE YARDBIRDS -'The Train Kept A-Rollin'" (1966)
They then retooled as it as "Stroll On" performing in Antonioni's classic film BLOW UP (1966), with Jimmy Page and Jeff Page duelling on guitars.
Here's Marc Bolan and Mickey Finn rollin' on a similar track.
T.REX -"Jewel" (1971)
From there it "trucked on down that old fairlane" as a standard, covered by everyone from Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Motorhead, Guns'n'Roses, and Metallica, to the "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" video games.
"Liberation for all. Everything must be rethought." ______________
Two great things hybrid a third great thing. ROCK SEX is a metaphor for the creative connections that link our shared culture together. This Pop Culture hub explores the roots and branches of Music, Film, Art, Comics, and more. _______________
Rock'n'Soul music is a baton relayed by everyone. Learn the holistic history with the most advanced Music Playlists online!:
BLUES, MAMBO, JAZZ, ROCKABILLY, SURF, BEAT, SOUL, GARAGE, PSYCHEDELIA, FUNK, GLAM, PUNK, NEW WAVE, HIPHOP, POSTPUNK, GRUNGE, RIOT GRRRL, ELECTRO, next! _______________
This is our party and everyone is invited!
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