This article needs additional citations for verification .(January 2009) |
"The Happy Organ" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Dave "Baby" Cortez | ||||
from the album The Happy Organ | ||||
B-side | "Love Me as I Love You" | |||
Released | 1959 | |||
Recorded | 1958 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 2:06 | |||
Label | Clock | |||
Songwriter(s) | Dave "Baby" Cortez, James J. Kriegsmann, Kurt Wood | |||
Dave "Baby" Cortez singles chronology | ||||
|
"The Happy Organ" is an instrumental composition made famous by Dave "Baby" Cortez in 1959. Cortez co-composed it with noted celebrity photographer James J. Kriegsmann and frequent collaborator Ken Wood. A significant portion of the tune bears a strong resemblance to the traditional "Shortnin' Bread" tune. [2] [3] The record topped the Billboard Hot 100 on 11 May 1959 [2] and also reached #5 on Billboard's R&B chart. [4] In Canada, the song reached #6. [5]
"The Happy Organ" originally featured lyrics and was intended to be sung accompanied by a piano and an organ. Cortez recorded a vocal for it, but was unhappy with the result. He spotted a Hammond B3 organ in the studio and decided to play the song's melody on it. He also brought in studio drummer, Gary Hammond, to provide percussion. The guitar solo is by session musician Wild Jimmy Spruill. [2] Hearing an organ on a rock or R&B song at the time was unusual, but Cortez helped popularize its use outside of the jazz field.
The piece was Cortez' second single for Clock Records, a New York indie launched in 1958. [2] The next week, the Hot 100's #1 was Wilbert Harrison's cover of "Kansas City", which also included Spruill's guitar. [2] Doug Moody soon left Clock to start up Mystic Records in Hollywood, and Cortez took his next hit, "Rinky Dink", to Chess Records.
See alsoRelated Research ArticlesDavid Cortez Clowney, known by the stage name Dave "Baby" Cortez, is an American pop and R&B organist and pianist, best known for his 1959 hit, "The Happy Organ". He is the second earliest surviving singer to have a solo #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 next to Frankie Avalon. "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" is a song written by Smokey Robinson, which became a 1962 Top 10 hit single for the Miracles. One of the Miracles' most covered tunes, this million-selling song received a 1998 Grammy Hall of Fame Award. It has also been selected as one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. It was recorded by the Beatles for their second album, With the Beatles (1963). Many other musicians also recorded versions. "Canadian Sunset" is a popular song with music by jazz pianist Eddie Heywood and lyrics by Norman Gimbel. An instrumental version by Heywood and Hugo Winterhalter reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 7 on the R&B chart in 1956. A version sung by Andy Williams was also popular that year, reaching No. 7 on the Billboard chart. The Sounds Orchestral, conducted by Johnny Pearson, hit the Easy Listening chart reaching No. 14 and the Billboard Hot 100 in 1965 reaching No. 76. In Canada their version reached No.25 on the Top 40 charts. James Edgar Spruill, also known as Wild Jimmy Spruill, was an American New York based session guitarist, whose guitar solos featured on many rhythm and blues and pop hits of the 1950s and 1960s. "I Can't Tell You Why" is a song by the American rock band Eagles that appeared on their 1979 album The Long Run. It was written by band members Timothy B. Schmit, Glenn Frey and Don Henley. Recorded in March 1978, it was the first song finished for the album and the first Eagles song to feature Schmit on lead vocals. Released as a single in February 1980, it became a Billboard top 10 hit in April, reaching number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and number three on the Adult Contemporary chart. It was the group's last top ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100. "When a Man Loves a Woman" is a song written by Calvin Lewis and Andrew Wright and first recorded by Percy Sledge in 1966 at Norala Sound Studio in Sheffield, Alabama. It made number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B singles charts. Country singer John Wesley Ryles had a minor hit with his version of the song in 1976. Singer and actress Bette Midler recorded the song and had a Top 40 hit with her version in 1980. In 1991, Michael Bolton recorded the song and his version peaked at number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the Billboard Adult Contemporary Singles chart. With Everything I Feel in Me is the twenty-first studio album by American singer Aretha Franklin, Released on November 25, 1974, by Atlantic Records. "Kansas City" is a rhythm and blues song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller in 1952. First recorded by Little Willie Littlefield the same year, as "K. C. Loving", the song later became a chart-topping hit when it was recorded by Wilbert Harrison in 1959. "Kansas City" is one of Leiber and Stoller's "most recorded tunes, with more than three hundred versions", with several appearing in the R&B and pop record charts. "I Only Have Eyes for You" is a romantic love song by composer Harry Warren and lyricist Al Dubin, written for the film Dames (1934) when Dick Powell introduced it. Several successful recordings of the song were made in 1934; later, there were charted versions by the Flamingos (1959) and Art Garfunkel (1975). "Oye Cómo Va" is a 1962 cha-cha-chá song by Tito Puente, originally released on El Rey Bravo. The song achieved worldwide popularity in 1970, when it was recorded by American rock group Santana for their album Abraxas. This version was released as a single in 1971, reaching number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 11 on the Billboard Easy Listening survey, and number 32 on the R&B chart. The block chord ostinato pattern that repeats throughout the song was most likely borrowed by Puente from Cachao's 1957 mambo "Chanchullo", which was recorded by Puente in 1959. "Stupid Boy" is a song written by Dave Berg, Deanna Bryant, and Sarah Buxton. Originally recorded by Buxton, the song was later recorded by Australian country music singer Keith Urban on his 2006 album Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing. Urban's version was released as that album's second single in December 2006 and peaked at number 3 on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. A year after its release, Urban won a Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance of the song. "Groovin'" is a song written by the American singer songwriters Felix Cavaliere and Eddie Brigati, initially recorded by their group the Young Rascals in 1967. Cavaliere was inspired to compose the song by his girlfriend Adrienne Buccheri, whom he only got to meet every Sunday amidst heavy touring and recording. Musically, the song differs from most of band's previous output, leaving the garage rock genre for Latin American influences, such as baião. Lyrically, "Groovin'" tells the tale of a narrator spending time with his partner on a Sunday afternoon. The song was arranged and recorded at the Talentmasters Studios, New York City in March of 1967. Go Bo Diddley is the second album by American rock and roll musician Bo Diddley, released in July 1959. The album was Bo's first studio album that included some material that hadn't been prereleased on singles, and his first LP for Checker Records. In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked it number 214 on its The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and 216 in a 2012 revised list. "Tossin' and Turnin'" is a song written by Ritchie Adams and Malou René, and originally recorded by Bobby Lewis in the fall of 1960. The record was released on the Beltone label in December 1960. It reached number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 on July 10, 1961, and R&B chart and has since become a standard on oldies compilations. It was named the number one single on the Billboard chart for 1961, after spending seven consecutive weeks at the top. It was also featured on the soundtrack for the 1978 film Animal House. "The Long Run" is a song written by Don Henley and Glenn Frey and recorded by the Eagles. The sound of the song is viewed as a tribute to the Stax / Memphis rhythm and blues sound. It was the title track of their album The Long Run and was released as a single in November 1979. It reached No. 8 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in early 1980. It was the second of three singles released from The Long Run album, preceded by "Heartache Tonight," which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1979, and followed by "I Can't Tell You Why," which also reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, in the spring of 1980. Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine is a 1986 solo album by Daryl Hall. The album features his only top-ten solo single, "Dreamtime", which peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. The second single, "Foolish Pride", peaked at number 33. A Night to Remember is the eighth studio album by American country music artist Joe Diffie. It was released on June 1, 1999, through Epic Records. It is his last album released by Epic. The album contains the singles "A Night to Remember", "The Quittin' Kind", and "It's Always Somethin'", which respectively reached #6, #21, and #5 on the Billboard country charts. The title track was also Diffie's highest entry on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching #38 there. The song "I'm the Only Thing " was originally recorded by Conway Twitty on his Final Touches album. "Don't Our Love Look Natural" was originally recorded by Keith Whitley. Time Exposure is the sixth studio album by Little River Band (LRB), which was recorded with producer George Martin at Associated Independent Recording (AIR) in Montserrat and released in September 1981. It peaked at No. 9 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart. In the United States, it reached No. 21 on the Billboard 200. "Green Onions" is an instrumental composition recorded in 1962 by Booker T. & the M.G.'s. Described as "one of the most popular instrumental rock and soul songs ever" and as one of "the most popular R&B instrumentals of its era", the tune is a twelve-bar blues with a rippling Hammond M3 organ line by Booker T. Jones that he wrote when he was 17, although the actual recording was largely improvised in the studio. Kellie Pickler is the second studio album by American country music singer Kellie Pickler. The lead-off single, "Don't You Know You're Beautiful", was debuted at the 43rd Academy Of Country Music awards and peaked at number 21 on Hot Country Songs. The album was released via BNA Records/19 Recordings on September 30, 2008. Since the albums' release, three more singles have charted; "Best Days of Your Life" at number 9, "Didn't You Know How Much I Loved You" at number 14 and "Makin' Me Fall in Love Again" at number 30. References
|