Ok, I’m not as much of a musicologist as some on here, but if there’s one thing I dislike it is the lack of intellectual curiosity on behalf of those who do listen to music. Specifically I can’t stand when people automatically assume that a version of the song that they hear was written by the artist themselves. Most of the time it wasn’t, even if they are the first to record it.
Take “Without You,” one of the saddest songs ever. Anyone under 30 probably assumes it was written by that shill Mariah Carey. It wasn’t. She didn’t even record one of the better versions of it (and no, you won’t get one of her versions here, because she’s atrocious).
These guys did record a decent version at one point:
But it gets better.
Harry Nilsson recorded it before Air Supply after hearing the song at a party. His was the first truly popular version (replete with all that vocal echo shit that filters the voice when people sing live so it sounds like a recording):
and a rare piano-only demo sung without all that junk done to his voice to make it sound better live:
Dude’s voice is amazing.
But it gets better.
The song was originally written by Pete Ham and Tom Evans of the Welsh band Badfinger who recorded it first:
Badfinger were fucked more royally by the music industry than perhaps any other group at any time in history. Pete Ham’s 1974 suicide note even fingered their first manager, Stan Polley: “Anne, I love you. Blair, I love you. I will not be allowed to love and trust everybody. This is better. Pete. P.S. Stan Polley is a soulless bastard. I will take him with me.”
The band broke up and for years Evans and other members performed blue-collar work and sold off their instruments while still in a fight for royalties owed them from their first album and the Stan Polley incidents.
From Wiki:
“On November 19, 1983, Evans and Molland had an extensive heated argument on the telephone regarding past Badfinger income still in escrow from the Apple era, and the “Without You” songwriting royalties Evans was now receiving, which Molland, former manager Bill Collins and Gibbins all wanted a share in. Following this argument, Evans hanged himself in the garden at his home.”
So not only is it one of the saddest songs ever written, it has one of the saddest stories behind it.
And is a reason why those liner notes are important…
i was so stricken with sadness that i couldn’t type.
dood shouldn’t have killed himself because of what someone else did to him.
mariah carey rocks your ass off.
August 25, 2008 at 11:47 pm
or just this
August 26, 2008 at 12:04 amJesus Fucking Christ Fitsum.
August 26, 2008 at 7:50 amI think the Mariah Carey version should have been included:
a. for my sake
b. for compare and contrast purposes.
Svet - then we would have had a delete war. Me deleting it, you adding it, me deleting it, you adding it, and so on.
I had my finger on it with regards to Fitsum’s post thinking he was going to post it.
At best I would allow that asian version of American Idol or whatever with the chick singing “Ken Lee” but she called it Mariah Carey’s song so I decided no.
August 26, 2008 at 9:13 amNever trust your manager if he (a) is affiliated with the mob and (b) tells you that he will “hold onto your money for you.”
If you start making gobs of cash, audit the books personally and put your money into real estate, equities, and/or pretty much anywhere else other than another person’s suitcase.
August 26, 2008 at 9:25 amdewd! why, fitsum? why? *shudder*
August 26, 2008 at 9:28 amFill in the blank:
Harry Nilsson—>Eliott Smith—> ___________.
August 26, 2008 at 10:34 am@the offended
it’s the first thing I thought of after I realized we weren’t talking about Eric Carmen’s hair singing “All By Myself”. great film adaptation of a not so great book btw.
I’m not offended. It was shocking and well done. It was just… Jesus Fucking Christ, Fitsum!
August 26, 2008 at 11:49 amquit throwing my name around like that, you blasphemous doody-head.
August 26, 2008 at 12:19 pmShut up, Yeshua
http://www.bobpitch.com/anon/funkstar_JesusFuckingChrist.jpg
August 26, 2008 at 12:22 pmSilence, fake Jesus!
August 26, 2008 at 12:22 pmmichael. no. no. omg. no. omg. no….
no.
August 26, 2008 at 12:30 pm1. New column?
2. Jesus christ, Air Supply was awesome.
No comments? You people have no souls.
August 25, 2008 at 11:23 pm