Keefer

Keefer

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ON THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY: 1.31

1967 - The Beatles spent a second day at Knole Park, Sevenoaks, Kent, England to complete filming for the 'Strawberry Fields Forever' promotional video. Taking time out from filming John Lennon bought an 1843 poster from an antique shop in Surrey which provided him with most of the lyrics for The Beatles song Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite.

Lennon: "I hardly made up a word, just connecting the lists together. Word for word, really. I was just going through the motions because we needed a new song for Sgt. Pepper".

1970 - The Jackson 5 went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "I Want You Back". The song was originally written for Gladys Knight & the Pips.

1970 - In New Orleans, the Grateful Dead are arrested for possession of drugs, an incident which would partly inspire one of their most famous songs, "Truckin'." The song is a travelogue of the trials and tribulations of life on the road and the arrest was remembered in the lines, "Busted, down on Bourbon Street, Set up, like a bowling pin."

1976 - The Ohio Players' "Love Rollercoaster" hits #1 in America. The scream in the instrumental section is rumored to be the sound of a woman being killed in the studio, an urban legend that persists for decades. The scream was actually keyboard player Billy Beck.

The title of the forth coming Black Keys album, Ohio Players, is a homage to the band.

1979 - With Bo Diddley as their opening act, The Clash began their first U.S. tour. While Bo Diddley isn't exactly a punk himself, his music was a prototype for that style, with block-like chords and pounding beats.

The Clash loved and were influenced by Bo (listen to "Hateful"). “In the flesh, he was more awe-inspiring than we could possibly imagine. He dressed like he was ready to fight. He always had his huge sheriff’s hat on and a giant belt buckle, and you were unmistakably in the presence of someone who gave no quarter.”

1989 - Two months after his death, Roy Orbison's album Mystery Girl is released. ELO's Jeff Lynne and Orbison started work on it in the mid 80's, but then tabled it to join the supergroup the Traveling Wilburys. Once that was complete, work began in earnest on the album. "You Got It" ( Tom Petty shared a co-write) was the hit. But other notable songs were the collaborations with U2 ("She's a Mystery to Me") and Elvis Costello ("The Comedians"). A graceful coda to a legendary career.

1994- Tori Amos releases Under The Pink. Amos combines some of her strongest melodies and lyrics with especially haunting and powerful arrangements to create an artistic success. The best-known tracks are "God," a wicked critique of the deity and "Cornflake Girl," a waltz-paced number with an unnerving whistle. Another highlight, "Past the Mission," with Trent Reznor guesting on gentle, affecting backing vocals, shifts between loping country and a beautifully arranged chorus.

Birthdays:

Alan Lomax was born on this day in 1915. Few figures deserve greater credit for the preservation of America's folk music traditions than Alan Lomax. Scouring the backroads, honky tonks, and work camps of the Deep South, he unearthed a treasure trove of songs and singers, documenting the music of the common man for future generations to discover; through Lomax's pioneering efforts, cultural traditions ranging from the Delta blues to Appalachian folk to field hollers continue to live on, with his invaluable recordings offering a compelling portrait of times and cultures otherwise long gone.

Phil Manzanera is 73. Profoundly influenced by both Latin music and rock & roll, he is the longtime guitarist for Roxy Music. His style was essential to Roxy's musical cocktail of art rock, prog and electronica.

In 1975 produced the up-and-coming New Zealand group Split Enz, later morphing into Crowded House. Also produced David Gilmour's solo album On An Island. He has also recorded several solo albums.

Phillip Glass is 87. As one of postmodern music's most celebrated and high-profile composers, Philip Glass' myriad orchestral works, operas, film scores, and dance pieces proved essential to the development of ambient and new age sounds, and his fusions of Western and world music were among the earliest and most successful global experiments of their kind.

John Joseph Lydon — aka Johnny Rotten — is 68. John Lydon -- formerly Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols -- is easily one of the most influential and revered figures in rock & roll. The godfather of British punk, a leader in the arty post-punk movement with Public Image Ltd., and a participant in the alternative rock scene his earlier work helped inspire, Lydon has forged a stubbornly idiosyncratic body of work that reflects both his love of challenging his audience and his snarling contempt for shallowness and conformity. (Photo by Karl Walter/Getty Images)

Marcus Mumford, lead singer of Mumford and Sons, is 37. Born in Yorba Linda, California, he was raised in the London suburb of Wimbledon Chase. he once served as the touring drummer for singer/songwriter Laura Marling. He co-founded Mumford & Sons in 2007, one of the most successful acts to come out of the 21st century's English folk-rock revival. Mumford is married to actress Carey Mulligan.

R.I.P.:

Slim Harpo died on this day in 1970. His most successful and influential recordings included ‘I'm a King Bee’ (1957), ‘Rainin' In My Heart’ (1961), and ‘Baby Scratch My Back’ (1966). A master of the blues harmonica, his stage name was derived from the popular nickname for that instrument, the "harp". The Rolling Stones, Pretty Things, Yardbirds and Them all covered his songs.

John Wetton died on this day in 2017. He rose to fame with bands King Crimson, Roxy Music, Uriah Heep, and Wishbone Ash. Later he was the frontman and principal songwriter of the supergroup Asia. Their biggest hit "Heat of the Moment", reached No. 4 in the U.S. in 1982.

On This Day In Music History was sourced, copied, pasted, edited, and occasionally woven together with my own crude prose, from This Day in Music, Song Facts, New York Times, Beatles Bible, The Pick, and Wikipedia.

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