Well, this is just adorable.
In case you hadn't heard, Neil Sedaka is making yet another comeback. Here's a video of him live at Joe's Pub in NYC a week or so ago doing "Calendar Girl" with vocal backing by -- get this -- the guys from Fountains of Wayne. Who are, of course, young enough to be his grandchildren.
No generation gap here, thank you.
Interesting thing about Sedaka, for my money, is that of all the great Brill Building songwriters he came up with -- Goffin-King, Mann-Weill, Barry-Greenwich, Doc Pomus, Leiber and Stoller -- he's the one who most obviously connects to the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition. The above mentioned "Calendar Girl" is a case in point -- although superficially it sounds like 50s pop rock, there's really nothing about it, either lyrically or harmonically, that Irving Berlin wouldn't have cheerfully accepted the royalties for.
[h/t to L.A. legend Eric C. Boardman]
Update:For some reason, the YouTube link wasn't working before. It's up now, j'espere.
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5 comments:
This would be his what, 3rd comeback now?
I thought he was square back in the 70s during his first.
OT, though I enjoy steve simels' posts
I tried to address you early this Wednesday morning on Eschaton's Fresh Thread (22:25), but missed you through the deadly combination of Haloscan, annieangel and your headache. I assume that headache, metonymic or literal, was related to the first two. Hope you're better
In any case, your trip to Hackensack reminded me of the Fountains of Wayne song. I found a charming fan-made video at YouTube illustrating the song in stick figures.
The link is at 2:17 am. I also posted a follow-up at 2:41 am, about what happens when one searches "Hackensack" at YouTube. Hope you're amused
--Space
Here's the link to the video:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fNY3E3gNMtA
Right on about Irving Berlin, Steve. Very perceptive. I can't see Sedaka ever writing "The Porpoise Song," or "I'm a Believer." For better or worse.
I don't know about NY, but down here in Dixie, Sedaka's concerts are a staple of PBS Pledge Week drives. "Please call in now. Where else can you see a full hour of Neil Sedaka?" Indeed
One of their $100 premium rewards was a DVD featuring all of NS's appearances on the Sonny & cher, Captain & Tennile, Hudson Bros, and Osmonds TV shows. Fashion hell beckons
"Made especially for PBS," which I translated as "Who the hell else would want it?" I deduced an enterprising tax lawyer somewhere in the works
Actually I like Sedaka, but he's a bit, um, indiscriminate about his associates
--Space
He was on Fresh Air last month. Really good interview, too, as you would expect from Terry Gross.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9603438
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