Carole King, Gerry Goffin and the Cookies

Listen/Download The Cookies – Chains

Greetings all

It is with this post that we resume regularly scheduled programming here at Funky16Corners.

I will take a moment here to give my deepest thanks to all of those that took part in the 2014 Allnighter and Pledge Drive, from the selectors that brought the heat, to the donors whose contributions will keep the lights on around here for another year.

This November will mark the tenth anniversary of the Funky16Corners Blog, and these pledge drives (this was the eighth year) always remind me of the generosity and dedication of the readership. That so many of you are willing to help keep this labor of love up and running warms my heart.

So thanks again, and stick around for more goodness.

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I had something else lined up for today, but the word came down late last week that the great Gerry Goffin had passed away at the age of 75.

Whether or not you knew his name, you certainly knew the music he helped to create over a career that lasted half a century.

Starting in partnership with his then wife Carole King, Goffin wrote some of the most memorable pop and R&B songs of the 60s, 70s and 80s.

The list is incredibly long (flip on over to the Wikipedia article listing the charting hits from 1961 to 1989) and includes an amazing number of certifiable classics.

The sounds include straight pop, girl groups, R&B, soul and rock, many of them huge hits.

I was genuinely surprised to discover that following the dissolution of the Goffin-King marital and creative partnerships that Gerry Goffin continued to generate hits (with partners like Barry Goldberg and Michael Masser), including a number of very big R&B hits for artists like Gladys Knight and the Pips (I’ve Got To Use My Imagination), Diana Ross (The Theme From Mahogany), Roberta Flack and Peabo Bryson (Tonight I Celebrate My Love) and Whitney Houston (Saving All My Love For You, originally recorded by Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr.).

Though I count a numberof Goffin-King songs among my very favorites (especially the Monkees ‘Pleasant Valley Sunday’) one of the first songs of theirs that drilled its was into my head was a tune called ‘Chains’.

The version I first heard (on the very first record I ever bought) was the cover by the Beatles.

The VeeJay LP ‘Introducing the Beatles’ was a gateway for me into R&B and soul, introducing me to the Shirelles (Boys, Baby It’s You), Arthur Alexander (Anna), The Isley Brothers (Twist and Shout) and (as on the record you see before you today), the Cookies and ‘Chains’.

Over the next few years, I would hear (and dig) the original versions of almost all of those songs, with the exception of the Cookies.

The group had a small string of hits in 1962 and 1963, of which ‘Chains’ was the first, but ‘Don’t Say Nothing Bad (About My Baby)’ was the biggest, making it into the Pop and R&B Top 10. It was the latter song that got airplay on oldies radio.

It wasn’t until many years later that I finally heard their version of ‘Chains’ (and only a few months ago that I finally got a copy of the 45).

The line up of Cookies that recorded ‘Chains’ was the second incarnation of the group, with members of the first version (which included Margie Hendrix) going on to join the Raeletts.

The Cookies Mk2, which provided backing vocals on a number of other artist’s (Little Eva, Mel Torme) records, included Earl-Jean McRea (the lead on ‘Chains’), who went on to record the original version of ‘I’m Into Something Good’, another Goffin-King song that went on to be a huge hit for Herman’s Hermits.

‘Chains’, which made the R&B Top 10 (and the Pop Top 20) in December of 1962 is a great bit of early girl group soul, driven by the group’s harmonies (and handclaps), a ringing rhythm guitar, a bass that sounds like it’s coming from the subway, and interjections from the horn section.

Interestingly enough, the record was also produced by Gerry Goffin!

All in all, a great record, and a great way to remember a truly great songwriter.

See you on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

 

 NOTE: The winner of the ‘Soul City Los Angeles’ CD comp was Jeff Ash!

 

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

 

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.