Picture this! It was July 1981 and Merle Haggard, the legendary singer, guitarist, and songwriter, had just finished a marathon recording session with his band at Britannia Studios in Los Angeles. “I had just signed with Epic Records, and they wanted me and my band [the Strangers] to record twenty-three songs in forty-eight hours, giving them enough material for two albums.”
No problem. Done! So while the band was packing up, Haggard returns to his bus in the parking lot to check on his lifelong friend, Dean Holloway, who was their bus driver. “For whatever reason, my timing was perfect: Dean was ticked off.”
“I hate this place. I’m tired of this dirty old city,” complained Dean.
But Merle Haggard, like any gifted songwriter, listened beyond the words and heard lyrics for a new song! “’Mr. Holloway’—that’s what I always called him—‘I can see you’re upset, but why don’t we take that anger out on a piece of paper.’ I climbed on board, and Dean handed me a pad and pen…”
So Haggard took Dean’s “dirty old city” line and the lyrics began to flow. He then told his friend, “I’m gonna run inside and record this thing before I forget the melody.” He inspired the band to set up again and record yet one more song. Back on the bus in less than an hour, Haggard played the tape of the finished song to Dean and told him, “This was your inspiration, so we’re splitting it down the middle.”
“Big City” (song No. 42 in the book), released in January 1982. It hit No. 1 on Billboard’s country chart. And according to Merle Haggard, Dean Holloway’s share of the royalties was (wait for it…) “a half-million dollars.”
That heart-warming true story is just one of 45 fascinating “oral histories” from “Anatomy of a Song: The Oral History of 45 Iconic Hits That Changed Rock, R&B and Pop,” by Marc Myers.
This fall, I began reading the book but limited myself to a strict diet of just one story and one YouTube video per day. My idea: I would enjoy a 45-day feast of these stories, while listening to each iconic song on YouTube.
Confession! I cheated on my own daily discipline! The stories are so good, and the book is so well-written, I couldn’t resist. So I doubled up and quadrupled up on some days—and finished the book early! I double-dare you to limit yourself to one song a day! Here’s why:
Marc Myers, who originally researched these 45 songs for his “Anatomy of a Song” columns in the Wall Street Journal (I read almost every column!), begins by saying “Please think of this book as an oral-history juke box.” He adds, “At its heart, this book is a love story—a five-decade oral history of rhythm & blues, rock, and pop as told to me by the artists who wrote and recorded the forty-five songs in these pages.”
The 45 songs are listed chronologically and span the years from Lloyd Price’s “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” in 1952 to R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion” in 1991. The author notes, “In my mind, a song is not iconic until it has stood the test of a generation—twenty-five years.”
Favorites? Almost all of them, but let me tempt you with these:
#8. “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” (The Righteous Brothers, November 1964) “became the most-played radio song of all time in 2011, with 15 million airplays.” Remember those old 45 rpm single records with the A-side and B-side? This 45 pioneered Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound” technique, but the love song ran 3:45 minutes. “Fearful that the record’s length would suppress airplay on AM radio, Spector simply changed the time listed on the label to 3:05 before the 45 was pressed.”
LOL! Read why Spector told “Righteous Brother” Bill Medley to sing only on the chorus, since “Brother” Bobby Hatfield had a deeper voice. Medley complained, but Spector’s response was classic.
#12. The introduction to “Light My Fire” (The Doors, May 1967), as with many of each chapter’s short intros, features a memorable U.S. history lesson covering the countercultural and anti-establishment movements, and the tech innovations in music. When 45s gave way to albums—there was a problem. “…too few young record buyers owned personal stereo systems. Most played singles on portable phonographs, while albums were taken into living rooms and played on parents’ large wooden phonograph consoles. If fingers weren’t pinched trying to pry open the phonograph’s heavy lid, teens could expect to hear parents’ shrill demands to turn down the music!”
The Primary Customer! The album version of “Light My Fire” was a lengthy 7.06 minutes. The group pushed back on a shorter version until they understood their customer: You’re 17 and live in Minneapolis and “you’ve never heard of the Doors.” The shorter version at 2:52 minutes cut out Robby Krieger’s guitar solo. But good news: thanks to José Feliciano’s 1968 ballad version of the song (which they didn’t like at first), the copyright revenue from Feliciano’s version became their biggest earner by far.
#16. “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” (Otis Redding, January 1968) reached No. 1 in March 1968 for four consecutive weeks—but Otis Redding never heard his single played on the radio. Redding penned the lyrics on a houseboat in Sausalito, Calif., following his performance at the Monterey Pop Festival. On Dec. 10, 1967, just 18 days after the studio recording was made, Redding died in a Wisconsin plane crash.
This chapter features the “oral history” of four band members, including Ben Cauley (trumpeter), who was the only passenger that survived the plane crash. Cowriter and guitarist Steve Cropper notes, “Otis always liked to ad-lib at the end of songs, so I added in about ten measures of instrumental background for him to do so. But when the time came, Otis couldn’t think of anything and started whistling, which, of course, made the song.” The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1968.
#22. “Oh Happy Day” (The Edwin Hawkins Singers, April 1969) was unusual in many respects because “…gospel groups were unable to land secular hits, largely because black churches strongly discouraged them from recording for secular labels.”
Marc Myers notes that “…immediately following the success of ‘Oh Happy Day,’ pop artists began releasing church-flavored singles, including Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ (1970); George Harrison’s ‘My Sweet Lord’ (1970)…” and others. “Oh Happy Day" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
40 MORE STORIES, 40 MORE SONGS. You’ll need to read this wonderful book yourself (and listen to each hit on YouTube) to enjoy the other 40 songs and stories, including: “Shout” (The Isley Brothers), “My Girl” (The Temptations), “Fist City” (Loretta Lynn), “Proud Mary” (Creedence Clearwater Revival), “Midnight Train to Georgia” (Gladys Knight and the Pips), and Deacon Blues (Steely Dan).
Note: Award-winning author Marc Myers writes a daily newsletter, “Jazz Wax,” and continues to write about rock, soul, jazz, and the arts for the Wall Street Journal, plus he writes the WSJ's weekly “House Call” column. (Does this guy every sleep?)
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