Fact #38249
When:
Short story:
Ricky Nelson releases a new single, Hello Mary Lou/Travelin' Man, on Imperial Records in the USA. Hello Mary Lou is written by Gene Pitney.
Full article:
Gene Pitney (composer, Hello Mary Lou) : Aaron Schroeder was was a very aggressive publisher. The reason a lot of the songs were successful was because he targeted people, and then went out and got them.
I wrote and then recorded Hello Mary Lou, but at the time, I had another song out on the market so the record label held it back. Well one evening, I was in Philadelphia doing some promotion on my current record, and I was sitting in a car with a promotion man listening to the radio, when on came Ricky Nelson, and what was he singing? Hello Mary Lou, and I had never even been told he had recorded it!
Aaron had gone out to the West Coast, played tennis with Ozzie Nelson (father of Rick) and somehow got it across to Ozzie that he had exactly the right song for Ricky. It was a great version, with that great guitar solo by James Burton, although when I wrote it, never in a million years would I have pictured Ricky singing that song.
Jimmi Haskell (musical arranger) : We used six overdubs on the original Hello Mary Lou, which meant seven different generations of recordings all playing at the same time. So I mentioned to the engineer that we were going to have quite a few overdubs on this one. When we were through and everything sounded crisp and good I asked, "How did you do that?" and he answered, "I added more top end: added seven kilohertz here, five kilohertz there. I even added some EQ above the human range of hearing knowing some of it would disappear on each generation, and I guessed the right amount."
I played cowbell on the original Hello Mary Lou with Imperial, and I knew how it needed to sound.
I was about three or four years older than Ricky, and I was also very serious in my mannerisms and demeanor. Ricky, in his own quiet way, was a fun-loving guy. And Ricky, Jerry Fuller, Dave Burgess, and later on when Glen Campbell, came in, they'd have a lot of fun, joke around, and kid each other. One time Glen Campbell, was facing Jerry Fuller across the microphone, and to this day I can't remember who said the line, but they both started to sing and one of them burst out laughing. The other one asked, "What's the matter?" And the one laughing said, "You're breath smells like the hind end of a hog! "
They'd add hand claps in rhythm once in awhile, and I'd ask, "Do you want me to come out there and help?" And Rick would look at me and say, "Uh, no, that's okay Jimmie; you stay in the booth." He felt like I wasn't hip enough to perform with them, you know.
We'd start the sessions around seven o'clock and Rick would show up around eight o'clock. Well, he showed up around eight o'clock the night we were recording Hello Mary Lou and I was playing cowbell. I didn't want to give too much to the drummer, Richie Frost, as I wanted him to just get a great drum sound. Ricky came in and said, "Hey, that sounds pretty good." And I asked, "Do I get to play on the tape?" and he said, "Yeah."
And that's my claim to fame: I played cowbell on Hello Mary Lou!
(Source : not known)
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I wrote and then recorded Hello Mary Lou, but at the time, I had another song out on the market so the record label held it back. Well one evening, I was in Philadelphia doing some promotion on my current record, and I was sitting in a car with a promotion man listening to the radio, when on came Ricky Nelson, and what was he singing? Hello Mary Lou, and I had never even been told he had recorded it!
Aaron had gone out to the West Coast, played tennis with Ozzie Nelson (father of Rick) and somehow got it across to Ozzie that he had exactly the right song for Ricky. It was a great version, with that great guitar solo by James Burton, although when I wrote it, never in a million years would I have pictured Ricky singing that song.
Jimmi Haskell (musical arranger) : We used six overdubs on the original Hello Mary Lou, which meant seven different generations of recordings all playing at the same time. So I mentioned to the engineer that we were going to have quite a few overdubs on this one. When we were through and everything sounded crisp and good I asked, "How did you do that?" and he answered, "I added more top end: added seven kilohertz here, five kilohertz there. I even added some EQ above the human range of hearing knowing some of it would disappear on each generation, and I guessed the right amount."
I played cowbell on the original Hello Mary Lou with Imperial, and I knew how it needed to sound.
I was about three or four years older than Ricky, and I was also very serious in my mannerisms and demeanor. Ricky, in his own quiet way, was a fun-loving guy. And Ricky, Jerry Fuller, Dave Burgess, and later on when Glen Campbell, came in, they'd have a lot of fun, joke around, and kid each other. One time Glen Campbell, was facing Jerry Fuller across the microphone, and to this day I can't remember who said the line, but they both started to sing and one of them burst out laughing. The other one asked, "What's the matter?" And the one laughing said, "You're breath smells like the hind end of a hog! "
They'd add hand claps in rhythm once in awhile, and I'd ask, "Do you want me to come out there and help?" And Rick would look at me and say, "Uh, no, that's okay Jimmie; you stay in the booth." He felt like I wasn't hip enough to perform with them, you know.
We'd start the sessions around seven o'clock and Rick would show up around eight o'clock. Well, he showed up around eight o'clock the night we were recording Hello Mary Lou and I was playing cowbell. I didn't want to give too much to the drummer, Richie Frost, as I wanted him to just get a great drum sound. Ricky came in and said, "Hey, that sounds pretty good." And I asked, "Do I get to play on the tape?" and he said, "Yeah."
And that's my claim to fame: I played cowbell on Hello Mary Lou!
(Source : not known)