ASK FRED
The Buddy Holly/Dave Brubeck jazz-rock summit that never was!
I’ve been told that Buddy Holly was a closet jazz fan and a great friend of Dave Brubeck’s. It seems unlikely, but can you confirm this?
Graham Bent, via e-mail
Fred says: Surprisingly, perhaps, Holly was a jazz fanatic. Dave Brubeck once explained, ”One of the less reported of all friendships was mine with the late, great Buddy Holly. I knew Buddy for some time before he died and I always regretted that I did not see him as often as I would like to have done. When he was in London and appeared on Sunday Night At The London Palladium, I called on him in his dressing room and we chatted about music – Buddy had a great knowledge of the subject. He knew as much about the modern jazz scene as he did about what was happening in rock and blues and country. It’s just a pity that we never did get to record something together.”
WHO RECORDED THE BACKYARD SONG FIRST?
I recently discovered Death May Be Your Santa Claus by Mott The Hoople and instantly bought the Brain Capers album. It contains a cover of Your Own Backyard by Dion, which may be the greatest anti-drugs song ever. But Brain Capers was released in 1972 and Born To Be With You, the Dion album that features Your Own Backyard, emerged in 1975. How could Mott have known about the song before it was even released? Jean-Baptiste, Paris, France
Fred says: Dion originally released a version of Your Own Backyard as a Warner single in 1970, with Sit Down Old Friend, the title track of that year’s LP, on the flipside. The 45 even edged into the US charts at Number 73. Mystery solved.
WAS THIS THE FIRST A-Z OF ROCK?
Do you recall the NME’s A-Z Of Rock Bands? I avidly collected this as it was given away over various weekly issues. I still have it, actually, bound with some of ma’s wool! I guess that there can’t be many copies left in existence. Mine is already a strange shade of ochre due to foxing but the cover is wonderful. I still treasure it as the writing was definitely of its time. I was wondering if, in fact, this was the first instance of an A-Z of its kind? David C. Birch, via e-mail
Fred says: Yes I can recall the give-away part-work, which was published in the early ’70s. I may even have contributed some elements! However, I’ve always considered Lillian Roxon’s Rock Encylopedia to be the first important A-Z listing of all
things rock. First published
in 1969, I grabbed a copy of the 1971 reprint and still use it from time to time to remind myself of the era when the name Roosevelt Gook, aka Al Kooper, caused pundits to scratch heads. Roxon (real name Ropschitz) was Italian-born but raised in Australia. She died at the age of 41 in 1973. Some of us owe her a lot for her considerable research.
WHY DID JOHN AND TODD ARGUE?
I remember John Lennon and Todd Rundgren having a very public argument in the ’70s and placing replies in the music press. What was it all about?
Philip S. Smith, via e-mail
Fred says: Todd Rundgren criticised Lennon in the September 14, 1974 edition of Melody Maker, commenting, “John Lennon ain’t no revolutionary. He’s a f---idiot, man… all he wants to do is get attention for himself and if revolution gets him that attention, he’ll get attention through revolution. Hitting a waitress in the Troubadour. What kind of revolution is that?” After reading the rant, Lennon typed a reply headed “An open letter to Sodd Runtlestuntle (from dr. winston oboogie) (sic)” saying, “I have never claimed to be a revolutionary. But I am allowed to sing about anything I want.” He also denied he hit a waitress – though he admitted, “I did act like an ass, I was drunk. So shoot me.” He added that the real reason Rundgren was annoyed was because he didn’t know who Todd was when the two first met at the LA Rainbow. Lennon concluded his reply, “When I found out later, I was cursing, ’cos I wanted to tell you how good you were. Anyway, however much you hurt me, darling, I’ll always love you. J.L.” In a 2013 interview with The Guardian, Todd described the contretemps as “more of a stunt, really, cooked up by the paper so they could splatter the acrimony across their pages like blood! Ultimately, though, John and I realised we were being used and I got a phone call from him one day and we just said: ‘Let’s drop this now.’”
HELP FRED…
Having just watched London: The Modern Babylon on Keith Richards’ Lost Weekend, a song on the soundtrack gave me pause for thought. It was London Town as performed by Donovan from his album Sixty Four. The composer credit on the album has Tim Hardin. However, I have a 1965 single by Mick Taylor (not that one) of this song with composer credit going to him. I’ve never been able to find any biographical detail on Taylor, so would be pleased to know what happened to him. Norman Killon, Liverpool
Fred says: The Pretty Things also recorded a version of London Town around the same period with the composer credit correctly naming Tim Hardin. But what happened to the folkie Mick Taylor, whose version, like that of Donovan, was produced by Peter Eden? Does anyone know?