I don't want to recount his entire life story, so here's the Wikipedia link on him if you want to learn more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otis_Blackwell
I've only made one album's worth of songs from him because although he wrote many songs over the years, in my opinion only a relatively small number were special. But boy were they special! It's estimated that over 150 million records sold have his name in the songwriting credits.
Blackwell tried being a professional singer before turning all of his attention to songwriting. The first song here is sung (and written) by him. He put out a bunch of singles from 1953 to 1958, but he had very little success despite being a good singer. In fact, he recorded demos for the songs Elvis Presley turned into hits. On a rare later song from 1970, "It's All Over Me," you can see he sounds very Elvis-esque.
As with the case with many other songwriting who found success in the 1950s, that success came to a drastic half around 1964, when the Beatles and Bob Dylan drastically changed the music industry. It seems he had almost no new songs after about that time, though I've included one, "Back Trail," that was first recorded by him in 1977.
As a general rule for this Covered series, I don't like to include two versions of the same song. But I couldn't resist in this case. I put a version of "Breathless" by X at the very end of the album even though I included the original version by Jerry Lee Lewis, because I love the X version so very much.
Blackwell died in 2002 after a long life. I hope putting this album together and presenting it here will help him get a tiny bit more recognition, which he very much deserves.
01 Let the Daddy Hold You (Otis Blackwell)
02 Don't Be Cruel (Elvis Presley)
03 Paralyzed (Elvis Presley)
04 Great Balls of Fire (Jerry Lee Lewis)
05 All Shook Up (Elvis Presley)
06 Fever (Peggy Lee)
07 Breathless (Jerry Lee Lewis)
08 Hey Little Girl (Dee Clark)
09 Please Mister Mayor (Roy Clark)
10 Let's Talk about Us (Jerry Lee Lewis)
11 Brace Yourself (Ben E. King)
12 Handy Man (Jimmy Jones)
13 Livin' Lovin' Wreck (Jerry Lee Lewis)
14 Return to Sender (Elvis Presley)
15 Home in Your Heart (Solomon Burke)
16 Daddy Rolling Stone (Who)
17 It's All Over Me (Otis Blackwell)
18 Back Trail (Lonnie Brooks)
19 Breathless (X)
https://www.upload.ee/files/15259918/CoveredOtisBlackwll_atse.zip.html
This is the third songwriter or songwriter team I've deal with so far in this series. As with the other two, I've had a heck of a time finding any color photos, unless they're from much later in life. But I'm really happy with this pic used for the cover art, because it shows Blackwell sitting at the piano in the process of writing a song.
Note that, months later, I figured out how to colorize the pic, and did so.
I'm always for people getting their recognition. And Otis Blackwell certainly one of the great songwriters from his era.
ReplyDeleteBut .... No, Elvis did not "Slavishly... imitate his vocal Style".
LoL
Yes, many people have heard that. And many people push it as "truth"... But most of those people are just misinformed and going with the popular narrative.
Often the effort by some folks to give Otis Blackwell some recognition is done disingenuously, because there is usually a back-handed slap at Elvis in an effort to downplay his creativity as an artist. "He just copied Otis Blackwell"... is almost predictable in almost any writing throughout the decades that comes up involving Otis Blackwell name.
The problem with that is Otis gave many interviews over the years pointing out that "Elvis did Justice to those songs" *because* "Elvis already had a natural singing style similar" to his own (Otis').
Many people that were in Elvis early recording sessions were witness to the fact that Otis' original demos presented to Elvis were very *under-produced* with nothing more than Otis playing a piano and singing along to his own playing on a home sounding recording... and occasionally the sound of someone banging on the side of a box to simulate drums on the demo tape.
Elvis was the one, out of the dozen or so people in the recording studio, that sat down at a piano and then with acoustic guitar, and also the drums, and he himself worked through the musical arrangement for how the band would end up recording Don't Be Cruel.
Then he called the musicians together and specifically showed them each what he had in mind and how he would like them to play it.
Then through more than 30 takes at the song he worked at trying to match his voice to the arrangement that the musicians and he had put together.
This was all meticulously documented by reporter Alfred Wertheimer who was present during the session.
There's this sort of hack mentality out there that "Elvis copied Otis' Arrangements so strictly that they were almost identical"... when the reality was, other than the fact that they both had very similar vocal stylings (which, again is documented in more than a half-dozen interviews with Otis himself over the years) but Elvis took Otis' great homemade demo and took it to a whole other level.
"I like what Elvis did with my songs"
The only known Studio recordings of Otis Blackwell doing Don't Be Cruel, All Shook Up and a couple other songs he had written for Elvis were actually recorded *after* Elvis had already reworked them and made them hits.
This is somewhat important because there are many people out there that are clueless about this. They think the recordings of Otis Blackwell on YouTube of him singing those songs were the ones Elvis used as models for his own versions. But those actually were recordings Otis did *years after* Elvis recorded his own.
Elvis did the same thing with All Shook Up, that he did with Don't Be Cruel. The homemade demo that Otis had put together had very little to it other than a thumping noise from someone to keep the beat and Otis singing along to his own playing.
Elvis and his band completely pulled the lid off and ramped up the arrangement, as well as Elvis reworking the lyrics and adding some of his own.... which Otis admitted to in one interview.
...... Continued
Continued .....
ReplyDeleteAnd not only that but Otis talked to reporters right after Elvis passed away in 1977 as well as 1981 and again in 87 and 88.. admitting that he would try to sing his Demos in the style of Elvis's natural singing voice so that there would be a better chance of Elvis connecting with the song and wanting to record it.
People that understand the music business from back in that era realize this is how the music industry typically worked.
Most songwriters (whoever they were) created a demo hoping that the famous singer would connect to the demo (hear their own voice in the demo).
That way the songwriter or creator of the demo would receive more financial benefits if the singer liked what they heard and decided to record the song.
Otis is recorded in an audio interview admitting to singing his songs like Elvis in hopes Elvis wood want to record.
Many people that have researched this deeper come away realizing that in a weird twist of music fate ...Elvis was copying Otis when he listened to Otis' demos, because *Otis was actually copying Elvis* to begin with...
Although, again they both had very similar vocal stylings.
From childhood they each were raised around similar Musical influences ..they both had Country & Western, Gospel and rhythm & blues roots.. which is why Otis always maintained why he and Elvis were a perfect fit for each other.
And he was very clear in numerous interviews of his respect for Elvis as an artist and appreciation for what Elvis "did" with his songs.
Otis did (on a couple occasions with some interviewers) go with the popular narrative that "Elvis copied my demos" whenever he was asked. But that's basically because (as one of his friends said) he just got so sick and tired of retelling the story over & over again,so he would just start telling people what he thought they wanted to hear.
But Otis knew better. And anybody with half a mind can go back and listen to some of Elvis's earliest recordings 2 years before he ever even heard of Otis Blackwell and realize that Elvis already had that soulful blue note in his voice that not only Otis, but James Brown, BB King and many others all acknowledged about Elvis
It would be nice to see more writers wanting to talk about Otis Blackwell's great songwriting, along with all the other artists that he also wrote songs for, without feeling the need to invoke Elvis's name in such a way that often comes across like they need to somehow discredit his own musical contributions to those songs.
Not only is it a disrespect to Elvis's Artistry, but it's actually a disrespect to Otis, who respected Elvis greatly
RIP to both Otis & Elvis
Wow, you know your stuff. I take back my "slavish" comment. I think what you said makes sense, that Elvis already had his style, then Blackwell tried to sound like Elvis to increase the chance that Elvis would cover his songs. Plus, as you point out, they had similar styles to begin with because they were influenced by many of the same people.
DeletePlease re-up. Link has expired.
ReplyDeleteI love the songs of otis blackwell ... does anybody know if the "dont be cruel" demo that otis sold on december 24,1955 is availiable on record ???
ReplyDeletePlease re-up again?
ReplyDeleteReupped. I'm psyched to see people wanting his music.
DeleteI'm very glad that you made this volume...not just because I really like Otis Blackwell's songs, but also because I had never heard X do "Breathless"! Looking back, I guess "Under the Big Black Sun" was the last album of theirs I ever listened to...looks like I'd better do some catching up! Thank you!
ReplyDelete