Post by Rick Henry on May 3, 2004 1:08:45 GMT -5
Hi all,
This is Part Two in a series of mini interviews I am doing with artists whose songs the Carpenters have recorded. In this installment the song featured is "(A Place To) Hideaway" from the 1971 self-titled album Carpenters (aka the Tan Album). I hope you enjoy the comments from the song's writer Randy Sparks.
Hi, Rick;
I'm glad you asked. There's a neat story that goes with the song, and I trust you have a few moments to get the whole picture from my perspective. It's a bit more involved than my being able to give short answers to your questions.
Very simply, I ran a very profitable and popular group, The New Christy Minstrels, as I had invented the format, the big folk chorus (wherein everyone also happens to play an instrument). After the initial posturing that took place upon the completion of our first album (Presenting: The New Christy Minstrels, the one that won the Grammy), I was able to keep the same personnel for almost two years, but then one of my best performers (Dolan Ellis) wanted to go home to Arizona, and I realized for the first time that replacing the stars that we had developed would be very difficult indeed. That's when I came up with the same kind of device used so well in baseball: the farm team system. I needed a stadium, a place to train would-be replacements, and that's why I established Ledbetter's, a rehearsal hall with an audience, a night club for beginners. The preceding is an important story point. You would need to know about Ledbetter's, why it existed at all.
I had my own office building on Santa Monica Blvd., and it was much fun, very much like the atmosphere that we're told later flourished in Silicon Valley. People in my offices sang and played and wrote music all day long, and that includes myself. One day I was in my office writing, and when I finished the song I was working on, I was feeling pretty good about it, so I went down the hall to where Mike Johnson (you would know him as Michael Johnson these days...he had a huge hit titled Bluer Than Blue) was hanging-out (or whatever expression we used in those days, this being about 1967 or '68). "Hey, Mike," I said, "I want you to hear the song I just wrote." Then I sang it for him. He seemed to squirm a bit when I finished, and he finally said, reluctantly, "It's kinda trite, isn't it? I mean the words? 'Saved my pennies for a rainy day'...really? The tune is okay, but it's too common, I think" I was stunned. Michael was always the best of the best as a musician, and I respected his opinion. Mind you, I have never been a shrinking violet when it comes to my music, and if somebody, most anybody, told me he or she thought a song of mine didn't measure up, that wouldn't have bothered me a bit. But I really respected Michael's opinion, and I began to lose interest in my new song right away.
I went to the club, Ledbetter's, as usual that night, and I began to rethink my position about the new song. I decided to let the audience tell me whether or not it had validity, and I sang it without fanfare, just sang it. Nobody said anything about it. People in the audience clapped when I was finished, but they'd have applauded anybody's reading the phone book. That's the kind of joint it was. In my own mind, I pretty much decided that Michael Johnson was right, so I never sang it again.
About 1971...maybe 1972...can't remember for sure, after I had sold Ledbetter's and moved my family to our ranch in Northern California, I received a call from A&M Records one day. The question was, "Do you own a song called Hideaway?" My answer was no. "Well," the person on the telephone said, "Richard Carpenter thinks it's your song, and he learned it from you. He thinks he has most of it right, but isn't sure of a couple of words." "That's ridiculous!" I said, "You obviously have some wires crossed somewhere. Did he say where it was that he learned it from me?" "Ledbetter's," was the reply. Then, all at once, I saw the whole picture a bit more clearly, but this kind of thing never happens in real life, does it? I had given Karen and Richard's group, The Spectrum, their first job (at least that's what I was told at the time), and they were the headliners during that week when I performed A Place To Hideaway in public that one and only time. Richard hadn't said anything to me about the song, but he obviously liked it, and he has an incredible ear...and memory. He knew the whole song!
They recorded my song on the tan album, and I've been totally thrilled ever since. I wanted to send copies of my royalty checks to Michael Johnson, to let him know how much money my trite song was making, but my mother had taught me to always celebrate quietly. I love those people, and they were most kind to me.
By the way, Karen and Richard are in good company with other folks whose careers began at Ledbetter's. That's where I found a new kid whose name was too long for the marquee out front: Henry John Deutschendorf. I changed his name to John Denver. That's also where Steve Martin and Gary Muledeer and Michael Martin Murphey and The Hagers and The First Edition (including a bass player named Kenny Rogers) all got their start, and I'm delighted to have had a hand (however insignificant) in their prosperity.
I hope these words are close to what you had in mind. Cheers! Randy Sparks
Randy Sparks and the New Christy Minstrels
randy@thenewchristyminstrels.com/
Check out the picture of Randy Sparks in the Members File picture forum at: img44.photobucket.com/albums/v136/membersfile/
the password is: close2u
This is Part Two in a series of mini interviews I am doing with artists whose songs the Carpenters have recorded. In this installment the song featured is "(A Place To) Hideaway" from the 1971 self-titled album Carpenters (aka the Tan Album). I hope you enjoy the comments from the song's writer Randy Sparks.
Hi, Rick;
I'm glad you asked. There's a neat story that goes with the song, and I trust you have a few moments to get the whole picture from my perspective. It's a bit more involved than my being able to give short answers to your questions.
Very simply, I ran a very profitable and popular group, The New Christy Minstrels, as I had invented the format, the big folk chorus (wherein everyone also happens to play an instrument). After the initial posturing that took place upon the completion of our first album (Presenting: The New Christy Minstrels, the one that won the Grammy), I was able to keep the same personnel for almost two years, but then one of my best performers (Dolan Ellis) wanted to go home to Arizona, and I realized for the first time that replacing the stars that we had developed would be very difficult indeed. That's when I came up with the same kind of device used so well in baseball: the farm team system. I needed a stadium, a place to train would-be replacements, and that's why I established Ledbetter's, a rehearsal hall with an audience, a night club for beginners. The preceding is an important story point. You would need to know about Ledbetter's, why it existed at all.
I had my own office building on Santa Monica Blvd., and it was much fun, very much like the atmosphere that we're told later flourished in Silicon Valley. People in my offices sang and played and wrote music all day long, and that includes myself. One day I was in my office writing, and when I finished the song I was working on, I was feeling pretty good about it, so I went down the hall to where Mike Johnson (you would know him as Michael Johnson these days...he had a huge hit titled Bluer Than Blue) was hanging-out (or whatever expression we used in those days, this being about 1967 or '68). "Hey, Mike," I said, "I want you to hear the song I just wrote." Then I sang it for him. He seemed to squirm a bit when I finished, and he finally said, reluctantly, "It's kinda trite, isn't it? I mean the words? 'Saved my pennies for a rainy day'...really? The tune is okay, but it's too common, I think" I was stunned. Michael was always the best of the best as a musician, and I respected his opinion. Mind you, I have never been a shrinking violet when it comes to my music, and if somebody, most anybody, told me he or she thought a song of mine didn't measure up, that wouldn't have bothered me a bit. But I really respected Michael's opinion, and I began to lose interest in my new song right away.
I went to the club, Ledbetter's, as usual that night, and I began to rethink my position about the new song. I decided to let the audience tell me whether or not it had validity, and I sang it without fanfare, just sang it. Nobody said anything about it. People in the audience clapped when I was finished, but they'd have applauded anybody's reading the phone book. That's the kind of joint it was. In my own mind, I pretty much decided that Michael Johnson was right, so I never sang it again.
About 1971...maybe 1972...can't remember for sure, after I had sold Ledbetter's and moved my family to our ranch in Northern California, I received a call from A&M Records one day. The question was, "Do you own a song called Hideaway?" My answer was no. "Well," the person on the telephone said, "Richard Carpenter thinks it's your song, and he learned it from you. He thinks he has most of it right, but isn't sure of a couple of words." "That's ridiculous!" I said, "You obviously have some wires crossed somewhere. Did he say where it was that he learned it from me?" "Ledbetter's," was the reply. Then, all at once, I saw the whole picture a bit more clearly, but this kind of thing never happens in real life, does it? I had given Karen and Richard's group, The Spectrum, their first job (at least that's what I was told at the time), and they were the headliners during that week when I performed A Place To Hideaway in public that one and only time. Richard hadn't said anything to me about the song, but he obviously liked it, and he has an incredible ear...and memory. He knew the whole song!
They recorded my song on the tan album, and I've been totally thrilled ever since. I wanted to send copies of my royalty checks to Michael Johnson, to let him know how much money my trite song was making, but my mother had taught me to always celebrate quietly. I love those people, and they were most kind to me.
By the way, Karen and Richard are in good company with other folks whose careers began at Ledbetter's. That's where I found a new kid whose name was too long for the marquee out front: Henry John Deutschendorf. I changed his name to John Denver. That's also where Steve Martin and Gary Muledeer and Michael Martin Murphey and The Hagers and The First Edition (including a bass player named Kenny Rogers) all got their start, and I'm delighted to have had a hand (however insignificant) in their prosperity.
I hope these words are close to what you had in mind. Cheers! Randy Sparks
Randy Sparks and the New Christy Minstrels
randy@thenewchristyminstrels.com/
Check out the picture of Randy Sparks in the Members File picture forum at: img44.photobucket.com/albums/v136/membersfile/
the password is: close2u
