I post a weekly diary of historical notes, arts & science items, foreign news (often receiving little notice in the US) and whimsical pieces from the outside world that I often feature in "Cheers & Jeers".
OK, you've been warned - here is this week's tomfoolery material that I posted.
CHEERS to Bill and Michael in PWM and ...... well, each of you at Cheers and Jeers. Have a fabulous weekend .... and week ahead.
ART NOTES— an exhibition entitled Survival of the Fittest: Picturing Wildlife and Wilderness— forty-five works by four European wildlife artists whose imaginations were piqued by Darwin’s discoveries of the 1800’s — is at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri to August 24th.
YOUR WEEKEND READ is this account in ProPublica, who made a public records request to see if any EPA employees responded to an e-mail (sent after Krasnov’s inauguration) that sought information on any co-workers who were working on DEI initiatives and learned that — of a nearly 15,000 strong workforce at the time — none had responded.
HELP WANTED - a firm in central London has received over 250 applications for job to look after ... its office mascot Jerry the Cat, involving: feeding, grooming, playing it classical music every Friday, and making a monthly visit to a luxury department store to buy new toys.
SPORTING NOTES— on Saturday, May 31st there will be the professional team soccer championship game of Europe, with Paris St-Germain vs. Inter Milan of Italy (held at the neutral site of Munich, Germany). It will begin at 3:00 PM Eastern, noon Pacific ... and is on free broadcast TV (CBS), plus streamed live on Paramount+.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Pierre the Cat - a French kitteh who was a stowaway in a truck that made its way to Italy and then England ... before being reunited with his family due to his microchip.
BRAIN TEASER— try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC ...… and the usually easier, less UK-centered New York Times quiz.
SEPARATED at BIRTH— the recently resigned-under-protest CBS News president Wendy McMahon, and former national security advisor (and frequent MSNBC guest) Olivia Troye.
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… sometimes, a song can take many iterations over the years, as different performers try their own interpretations. Angel of the Morning is one such song, even though most hew close to the original version(s), as we will see.
This was written by James Voight — the younger brother of actor Jon Voight (and the uncle of Angelina Jolie). The music world knows him as Chip Taylor— who also wrote the song Wild Thing (made famous by The Troggs as well as Jimi Hendrix). And while one might not associate those two songs going together: Chip Taylor says he used the same three-chord structure, just with a different sound. He had the idea after hearing someone play Wild Thing very soft and slowly … then heard the Rolling Stones song Ruby Tuesday on his car radio and saw it as a model.
Chip produced the very first recording of it in 1967 by a pop singer named Evie Sands, for Cameo-Parkway Records. Alas, the small label went bankrupt two weeks later, with Chip Taylor distraught that they not only did not promote it, but also printed few copies. Evie Sands never had a breakthrough hit, as the year before she had the first recording of a different Chip Taylor song I Can’t Let Go— only to see The Hollies record it later that year (reaching #2 in Britain and #42 in the US). Evie Sands at age seventy-eight still performs, recently finishing a spring tour.
Angel of the Morning first became a hit when sung by Seattle native Merrilee Rush, who was touring as part of the opening act for Paul Revere and The Raiders in 1967-68, while they were recording their next album at the famous American Sound Studio in Memphis, run by Chips Moman. His assistant Tommy Cogbill heard her voice and thought she would perfect to sing Angel (he had a demo tape on hand, for just the right person).
Her version reached #7 on the US charts in 1968, earning her a Grammy nomination. Interestingly: her version was used on the 1999 film Girl, Interrupted (set in 1967-68) which won a Best Supporting Actress award for ... Chip Taylor’s niece Angelina Jolie.
At age eighty-one Merrilee still performs on the oldies circuit from time-to-time.
Later that year of 1968, it became a #29 hit in the UK sung by another singer: Patricia Cole Arnold, under the stage name P.P. Arnold. In 1965 she left a violent husband to became part of the Ikettes— the back-up singing ensemble for the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. When they toured Britain opening for the Rolling Stones, she decided to stay (after enduring the remnants of Jim Crow) and at age seventy-eight has gone on to a successful singing and musical theater career as London’s First Lady of Soul.
Another successful version came in 1981 by the country singer Judith ’Juice’ Newton, after her producer recommended it to her as a way to breakthrough with her latest album. She recognized the tune, yet thought of it as a strictly pop song, not in her genre. Yet it reached #4 in the pop charts (surprisingly, only #22 in the country charts) and was the first country music video to premiere on MTV.
She had other hits from that album — Queen of Hearts as well as The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known) — and a country-music fan co-worker of mine (at the time) said that whenever his radio station played any of her tunes, it was described as “your morning Juice”. Juice Newton earned a Grammy Award before she retired from performing in 2020 at age sixty-eight.
There are numerous other recordings (Skeeter Davis, Olivia Newton-John, Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, Bonnie Tyler, Dusty Springfield and an interesting 1971 version by Nina Simone sung to the sound of a strumming harp).
Yet the one truly different adaptation — and the highest charting one — was by the Jamaican-born reggae singer Orville Burrell, whose stage name is Shaggy. He adapted the lyrics to reflect a man singing to a woman (re-naming it Angel) and was granted permission by Steve Miller to sample the bass line from his 1973 hit The Joker.
In the year 2000, this song hit #1 in both the US and Britain, and at age fifty-six Shaggy has two Grammy Awards and soon commences a tour of North America and Europe.
