Fact #118492
When:
Short story:
Bobby Darin records If I Were A Carpenter in Los Angeles, California, USA.Full article:
Bobby Darin: Well, what actually happened was some fellas came to me with some songs. They were very fresh in the music publishing business and it was in 1966, and I was kinda looking for a hit... they brought me a song, which went a little like this (singing) "Do you believe in magic ... in a young girls heart ?"
I said, "Fellas, that's a lovely song, it really is, but it'll never be a hit." I know what it feels like to be an idiot.
It was a smash, as you all know, (for the Lovin' Spoonful), a million and a half seller, maybe a two million seller. A couple or three months went by and they were very solicitous, by the way. The first time they came into the office, they were all kinda dressed up to here, and they were trying to make an impression. So they had said to me, "Mr. Darin, may we see you?" and once you call me Mister, you know, I go crackers, I like that. "OK, great," I said, "Yeah," and then they played me that song... I turned it down.
Couple of months later, after having that success already, they walked back into my office and said, "Hey Bobby! We don't wanna bug you but we have a new song". They played me a song that went something like (singing) "Younger girl... rollin' across my mind," and I said, "Fellas, at my age I cannot be singing about no younger girl or they'll throw me in jail". That's not exactly the way I said it, because we're not in a nightclub,I can't tell you the way I exactly said it.
In any event that sold two and half million records, it was a big smash. They came back to me a third time, this time they said, "Hey! Baby, wanna get behind this number before you catch yourself in slumber... we came back to your shack, Jack, this time in a cadillac... so we hate to trouble you, because we know you can't make the payments on the VW, but if you do this song before long it'll be a smash, bigger cash than you made with Splash."
So I said, "Well play it, don't say it, play it". So they put it on the machine and it went like this..."Summer in the City and the back of my neck gets tired and gritty" and I turned that one down too.
Three million copies, number one for 28 weeks, it was an incredible record. The Next Time they came into the office I was laying and waiting for 'em, I said, "I don't care what you got I'm gonna record it," and they whipped out the sheet music... I thought it was, it wasn't, it was an eviction notice… it was a piece of paper that said, "We have just bought this building with the royalties we made from you turnin' down our records!"
But before they left altogether they did give me a very lovely Tim Hardin song (If I Were A Carpenter) and I wasn't about to let them get away with that.
it was a nice sized record, yes it was very good sized. I'll tell ya, it was departure also for me in terms of a commercial record. I had sung other songs in that vein, but certainly none that broke through like that. Tim Hardin is a fine songwriter, I'd like to hear more of his material, I really would.
(Source : interview on the David Frost Show, March 1972)
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I said, "Fellas, that's a lovely song, it really is, but it'll never be a hit." I know what it feels like to be an idiot.
It was a smash, as you all know, (for the Lovin' Spoonful), a million and a half seller, maybe a two million seller. A couple or three months went by and they were very solicitous, by the way. The first time they came into the office, they were all kinda dressed up to here, and they were trying to make an impression. So they had said to me, "Mr. Darin, may we see you?" and once you call me Mister, you know, I go crackers, I like that. "OK, great," I said, "Yeah," and then they played me that song... I turned it down.
Couple of months later, after having that success already, they walked back into my office and said, "Hey Bobby! We don't wanna bug you but we have a new song". They played me a song that went something like (singing) "Younger girl... rollin' across my mind," and I said, "Fellas, at my age I cannot be singing about no younger girl or they'll throw me in jail". That's not exactly the way I said it, because we're not in a nightclub,I can't tell you the way I exactly said it.
In any event that sold two and half million records, it was a big smash. They came back to me a third time, this time they said, "Hey! Baby, wanna get behind this number before you catch yourself in slumber... we came back to your shack, Jack, this time in a cadillac... so we hate to trouble you, because we know you can't make the payments on the VW, but if you do this song before long it'll be a smash, bigger cash than you made with Splash."
So I said, "Well play it, don't say it, play it". So they put it on the machine and it went like this..."Summer in the City and the back of my neck gets tired and gritty" and I turned that one down too.
Three million copies, number one for 28 weeks, it was an incredible record. The Next Time they came into the office I was laying and waiting for 'em, I said, "I don't care what you got I'm gonna record it," and they whipped out the sheet music... I thought it was, it wasn't, it was an eviction notice… it was a piece of paper that said, "We have just bought this building with the royalties we made from you turnin' down our records!"
But before they left altogether they did give me a very lovely Tim Hardin song (If I Were A Carpenter) and I wasn't about to let them get away with that.
it was a nice sized record, yes it was very good sized. I'll tell ya, it was departure also for me in terms of a commercial record. I had sung other songs in that vein, but certainly none that broke through like that. Tim Hardin is a fine songwriter, I'd like to hear more of his material, I really would.
(Source : interview on the David Frost Show, March 1972)