Inspired by the July 1 birthdays of Debbie Harry, Missy Elliott, The B-52’s Fred Schneider, Village People’s Victor Willis, Evelyn King, Sufjan Stevens, Bobby Day, David Geddes, Imperial Teen’s Roddy Bottum, Elwood Blues (aka Dan Aykroyd), The Rembrandts’ Phil Solem, and Plies.
Inspired by the February 24 birthdays of N.E.R.D.’s Chad Hugo, Manfred Mann’s Paul Jones, M People’s Mike Pickering, George Thorogood, Rupert Holmes, Plastic Bertrand and Barry Bostwick.
Inspired by the February 16 birthdays of The Weeknd, Danielle Haim, Lupe Fiasco, Ice-T, Duck Sauce’s Armand van Helden, Sonny Bono, 808 State’s Gerald Simpson, and songwriter Otis Blackwell, whose compositions include “Don’t Be Cruel,” “All Shook Up,” Handyman,” “Great Balls Of Fire,” and “Return to Sender,” and the February 15 birthdays of Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst, Melissa Manchester, UB40’s Ali Campbell, Megan Thee Stallion, Denny Zager, and Olivia.
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Today is Bobby Brown’s 46th birthday. A former member of New Edition, Brown had his first solo hit in 1988 with “Don’t Be Cruel,” which reached #8 on the Hot 100. Though it shares its title with an Elvis Presley #1 hit from 1956, Brown’s “Don’t Be Cruel” is not a remake.
That brings us to today’s playlist, which I call The Song Retains the Name. It consists of different songs with the same title. I initially planned to include twenty such songs, but more kept springing to mind. Before I knew it, I passed 100 entries. There are plenty more, so I decided to open this up to my reader(s). If you have songs that share titles you’d like to add, feel free to do so.
(NOTES: I included The Jacksons’ “This Place Hotel” because when it was released in 1980 its title was “Heartbreak Hotel.” Thought he didn’t have to, Michael Jackson, the song’s writer, later changed its name to “This Place Hotel” to avoid confusion with the Elvis Presley song “Heartbreak Hotel.” Whitney Houston didn’t feel the need to make the same Hotel accommodation.
Also, though it is listed on Spotify as “The Best of My Love,” the Eagles track does not have a “The” on the 45 or the band’s On the Border album.)
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In my role as the Vice President of Licensing at Warner Music Group I oversaw the licensing of “samples.” A sample is when a newer song uses a portion of an existing recording. A prominent example is Puff Daddy’s sample of The Police’s “Every Breath You Take” in his “I’ll Be Missing You.”
One of the most popular catalogues for sample licensing is that of Curtis Mayfield. Elements of his records have been used by many well-known and respected rap acts, including Kanye West and Beastie Boys. I’d run the requests by Curtis’ son Kirk, who was always a pleasure to work with.
Many complain of hip hop’s dependence on samples, and while often times samples are used in a lazy and uninspired way, there are many examples where the samples complement the new song perfectly. It can also be argued that samples keep the music of great acts of the past alive and introduce this music to younger generations. Where else might a teenager hear Curtis Mayfield or James Brown other than via a new Kanye jam?
Today, the third day of Black Music Month, we celebrate the birthday of the late, great Curtis Mayfield with some of the classics he had a hand in – as a solo artist, as a member of The Impressions, as a writer/producer, or via a sample. Click here for the playlist.