All posts by Woodstock Whisperer

Attended the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in 1969, became an educator for 35 years after graduation from college, and am retired now and often volunteer at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts which is on the site of that 1969 festival.
Anniversary, Music et al, Music of the 60s

Strangers In the Night

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Strangers In the Night

Billboard #1 July 2 – 9, 1966

Strangers In the Night

“Strangers in the Night” by Bert Kaempfert

1966

1965 had been a tipping point for American popular music. Bob Dylan wasn’t working with Maggie no more. The Beatles had a rubber soul. Brian Wilson knew that God only knows.

So one might think that 1966 meant “our” songs at #1 all year long. Our albums, too.

Not the case.

Of course there were the Beatles, but there were also the Monkees. The Rolling Stones, but Petula Clark. The Troggs, but Tommy James, too. Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman”, but SSgt Barry Sadler’s “Ballad of the Green Berets.”

Strangers In the Night

Sinatras

The Sinatras were there, too. Not quite the psychedelics we expected. Nancy had her #1 hit with the famous “These Boots Are Made for Walking” (didn’t we young hormonal teenager boys love to watch her sing that.

Strangers in the Night

Something in my heart…

But it was father Frank’s song that we’d listen to with our girlfriends on our transistor radios. “Something in my heart told me I must have you.”

Sinatra had begun singing professionally more than 30 years earlier and  like most artists, his career had its ups and downs. “Strangers In the Night” won the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance and the Grammy Award for Record of the Year, as well as a Grammy Award for Best Arrangement Accompanying a Vocalist or Instrumentalist for Ernie Freeman. It became a gold record.

Strangers In the Night

Avo Uvezian

The song’s origins are disputed. The melody is commonly attributed to Bert Kaempfert (he who recorded Tony Sheridan with the Beat Boys backing Sheridan. The Beat Boys were, of course, the Beatles), but cigar maker and jazz musician Avo Uvezian had stated that he originally composed the song for Frank Sinatra.

Strangers In the Night
Avo Uvezian, a cigar maker and Juilliard-trained musician, at his home in Orlando, Fla. Credit Jacob Langston for The New York Times

According to Uvezian, his song, originally called “Broken Guitar”, had different lyrics.

Sinatra didn’t like the lyric, studio composers created new lyrics, changed the title to “Strangers In the Night.” Sinatra reportedly hated the song, but with a #1 hit long behind him, He recorded it. The rest is disputed history.

Uvezian died on March 24, 2017.

The Beatles’ “Paperback Writer” preceded “Strangers In the Night” at #1. The Beatles’ “Paperback Writer” followed “Strangers In the Night” at #1.

Strangers In the Night

Anniversary, Music et al, Music of the 60s, Woodstock Music and Art Fair

Tim Hardin 1 album

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Tim Hardin 1 Album

“Tim Hardin 1” album released July 1966

Tim Hardin 1 album

 

Ah, Tim Hardin

Born in Eugene, Oregon on December 23, 1941. High school dropout. Marine Corps enlistee. Heroin addict. New York City resident. Greenwich Village folk singer.

Not the same collection of events in every singer-songwriter’s resume, but familiar enough to merit a nod of recognition.

Many received the Village’s golden touch of success. Many. Not all.

Hardin didn’t feel that tap, surprising to others who knew him, loved his songs, and his talent.

At at time when composers were telling their tale with longer and more elaborate songs (Mr Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” a prime example), Tim Hardin typically stuck with the short: verse > chorus > verse format.

Tim Hardin 1 album

On his first release, Tim Hardin 1, “Reason to Believe” is perhaps the best known of the album’s many wonderful songs. Others have covered the song, Rod Stewart’s in 1971 is perhaps the best known.

If I listen long enough to you
I’d find a way to believe that it’s all true
Knowing, that you lied, straight-faced
While I cried But still I’d look to find a reason to believe
Someone like you makes it hard to live
Without, somebody else
Someone like you, makes it easy to give
Never think of myselfIf I gave you time to change my mind
I’d find a way to leave the past behind
Knowing that you lied, straight-faced
While I criedBut still I’d look to find a reason to believe
If I listen long enough to you
I’d find a way to believe it’s all true
Knowing that you lied, straight-faced
While I criedStill I’d look to find a reason to believe.

Woodstock Music and Art Fair

Those whom Woodstock Ventures invited to their festival and art fair in Bethel, NY ranged from the little known to the famous. “Little known” to some, but loved by many. Hardin was of the latter. Bob Dylan reportedly described Hardin as, ““the greatest songwriter alive.”

Side one
  1. “Don’t Make Promises” – 2:26
  2. “Green Rocky Road” – 2:18
  3. “Smugglin’ Man” – 1:57
  4. “How Long” – 2:54
  5. “While You’re On Your Way” – 2:17
  6. “It’ll Never Happen Again” – 2:37
Side two
  1. “Reason to Believe” – 2:00
  2. “Never Too Far” – 2:16
  3. “Part of the Wind” – 2:19
  4. “Ain’t Gonna Do Without” – 2:13
  5. “Misty Roses” – 2:00
  6. “How Can We Hang On to a Dream?” – 2:04

Personnel

  • Tim Hardin – vocals, guitar, keyboards
  • Gary Burton – vibraphone
  • Bob Bushnell – bass
  • Earl Palmer – drums
  • Buddy Salzman – drums
  • Jon Wilcox – drums
  • John Sebastian – harmonica
  • Phil Kraus – vocals
  • Walter Yost – bass

Woodstock Ventures also scheduled Hardin to open. First day. First performer.

Many wonder what it was like to be in that crowd of 400,000 on Max Yasgur’s 40 acre field, but few ask what it was like to perform in front of that throng. For Hardin the challenge was initially too great a burden and Richie Havens famously filled in.

Hardin did later perform in that day’s gloaming. His short songs filled his short set:

  • (How Can We) Hang on to a Dream
  • Susan
  • If I Were a Carpenter
  • Reason to Believe
  • You Upset the Grace of Living When You Lie
  • Speak Like a Child
  • Snow White Lady
  • Blue on My Ceiling
  • Simple Song of Freedom
  • Misty Roses

Left out and off

Not appearing on the Woodstock album, nor the movie, addiction, and sometimes leaving the country to seek medical help kept Hardin out of the public eye for years. The New York Times described him in a 1976 show, “he is a nervous, self‐absorbed performer who phrases in a wildly unpredictable manner. Sometimes his improvisations are exciting, but sometimes they are simply aimless.”

Hardin died four years later on December 29, 1980, 6 days after his 39th birthday. His addiction finally killed him, but his songs continue to inspire.

Tim Hardin 1 album

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History, Music et al, Technology, Today in history

Bell Demonstrates Transistor Radio

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Bell Demonstrates Transistor Radio

June 30, 1948
Bell Demonstrates Transistor Radio
Regency transistor radio

“Tiny Blue Transistor Radio” by Connie Smith. 

Is it a camera?

In the Exhibition Gallery of the Museum at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts is a display of sleeves for 45 rpm record and several transistor radios. On a tour that includes a young guest, I will ask them whether they know what they are–either of them.

Most times they seem to know, but there are, not surprisingly, times that a head shakes “No.”

In an obtuse way, I kiddingly refer to these radios as PLDs…Personal Listening Devices. The term my attempt at re-naming a product with a 21st century twist.

To that same young guest, I will ask them if they have a cell phone. Depending on the age they will nod “Yes” with a smile or “No” longingly. I ask those without one how old is someone now when they get their first cell phone? The answers vary, but by the age of 10, cell-phone ownership is common.

I’ll say to guests of all ages, “As much as a child today impatiently waits  for their first cell phone and all it brings with it, a Boomer waited with equal impatience for their first transistor radio.“

Bell Demonstrates Transistor Radio

Portable Listening Device

The transistor radio was not the first “PLD.”  Tubed radios with large batteries existed, but were too heavy and bulky to actually be considered portable. They could be moved and put in a different place, but hanging out with friends at the park with one was simply too difficult.

The transistor radio changed all that. The transistor itself had been successfully developed by Bell labs in the mid-1940s [Wired article] As with any new invention, some scientists looked for other uses. On June 30, 1948 Bell Labs held a news conference at which they demonstrated a prototype transistor radio.

Bell Demonstrates Transistor Radio

Slow commercialization

A prototype is not a commercial product and it was still six years before a commercially viable transistor radio arrived. Two companies working together, Texas Instruments of Dallas, Texas [site] and Industrial Development Engineering Associates (I.D.E.A.) of Indianapolis, Indiana, were behind the unveiling of the Regency TR-1, the world’s first commercially produced transistor radio.  They made the announcement on October 18, 1954 and sales began in November. It cost $49.95, not inexpensive.

Competition and development brought down the cost, though one could never describe even the least expensive models as cheap.

Bell Demonstrates Transistor Radio

Steve & Bill

Whatever the price, the cultural impact was great. Apple’s Steve Wozniak stated, “My first transistor radio was the heart of my gadget love today. I loved what it could do, it brought me music, it opened my world up”

Microsoft’s Bill Gates stated, “Without the invention of the transistor, I’m quite sure that the PC would not exist as we know it today”

Bell Demonstrates Transistor Radio

Released Boomers


Transistor radio untied Boomer teenagers from their parent’s kitchen radio and their parent’s nearby ears. Boomers could listen to their music (at first only on AM radio) with their friends (or alone), wherever they wanted.

And as long as you had a wet tongue, you could test whether that 9-volt battery had any life left!

Bell Demonstrates Transistor Radio

Bell Demonstrates Transistor Radio