Chapter 1: What early influences shaped Neil Sedaka's musical career?
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On the web at theschmidt.org. This is Fresh Air. I'm David Bianculli. Neil Sadaka, the singer and songwriter whose recording and performing career stretched from the 1950s to the current decade, died last week. He was 86 years old. Neil Sadaka was born in Brighton Beach in 1939 and displayed his musical talent early on.
His mother bought him his first piano at age seven, and at age nine he got a Child Prodigy Scholarship at Juilliard and was hand-selected by classical pianist Arthur Rubinstein to perform on live radio. But Sadaka was drawn elsewhere. Another young kid interested in pop music, Neil Diamond, lived across the street from him.
His girlfriend in high school, Carol Klein, turned out to be a pretty good songwriter, too, once she broke up with Sadaka and renamed herself Carol King. By then, young Neil had teamed with another budding songwriter, Howard Greenfield, who wrote lyrics to Neil's music. Their first break and first hit came in 1958, when Connie Francis was looking for a song to appeal to teenagers.
Neil Sadaka was only 19 at the time, and she loved the song's innocence. Stupid Cupid became a top 20 hit for her.
Connie Francis later had an even bigger hit with another of their songs, Where the Boys Are.
Neil scored his own hit, a top ten on Billboard, the next year with O'Carroll. And even though the lyrics were written by Greenfield, the message for Neil Sadaka was personal. He was singing about his ex-girlfriend, Carole King.
O'Carroll, I am but a fool. Darling, I love you, though you treat me cruelly. cry But if you leave me I will surely die
Sadaka scored another top ten hit with Calendar Girl in 1960. Breaking Up is Hard to Do in 1962 was his first number one hit. But after the British invasion arrived and music tastes changed, Neil Sadaka vanished from the charts for more than a decade. Then, in 1975, he enjoyed a major renaissance. Elton John signed him to his record label, and Sadaka had two number one hits that year.
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Chapter 2: How did Neil Sedaka achieve his first major hit?
So it was a good atmosphere. And at the end of the day, all of us would go into Al Nevin's office and play the songs. And they would say which artists are coming up for sessions, whether it be the Righteous Brothers or the Chiffons or or so many groups, and the best song won out.
Most of the songwriters there were writing for other singers. And you wrote songs that other singers recorded, but you wrote a lot of songs that you recorded yourself. Were you originally hired to write for other people?
I came in as a writer the first six months, and two of my songs were recorded. Connie Francis did Stupid Cupid, and before that, Atlantic Records, Ahmed Erdogan and Jerry Wexler took my songs and recorded them with Clyde McFatter and Laverne Baker. But about six months to a year into the contract, I was 19, and And I had a great desire to record my own songs. And I was brought into RCA Victor.
Steve Scholz, who was the top A&R man, he had just brought Elvis Presley from Sun Records to RCA. And I auditioned for him with a song called The Diary, and he signed me to a five-year contract. And, Terry, I was very fortunate. Between 1958 and 1963, to the shock of my family, after studying at the Juilliard, I sold 40 million records in the five years.
I'm sure your parents were happy about that in spite of their classical aspirations for you.
My mother, in fact, was not happy at the beginning. But, you know, I bought her her Ming Stoll, so she was very, very happy after that.
We're listening to Terry's 2007 interview with songwriter and singer Neil Sadaka. He died last week at the age of 86. Terry asked him about the syllables he sang in his songs, which became his trademark.
How did it become a trademark and how did you figure out what syllables to use, whether it should be wella wella or doobie doobie?
Well, it started early in the career and it was kind of someone singing along. Perhaps they were just getting into the song and they didn't get into the lyric yet. So they were going, down do-be-do, down, down, before they began the actual song. And it was, how did I choose the syllables? The most important thing in songwriting was the marriage of words and music.
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Chapter 3: What challenges did Neil Sedaka face during the British invasion?
And when I was 13, I discovered that I could write songs. I wasn't very popular in school. I wasn't a jock and wasn't one of the popular kids playing Chopin and Bach. So I was... fascinated by the reaction I got. I was invited to all of the teenage parties, and that was a very big deal in those days, if you can play your own songs or hits of the day. So it was a two-fold experience.
Actually, a two-fold study of songwriting and going to Juilliard every Saturday. And then I went to the college, Juilliard College, studied with Adele Marcus. And when I was 19, I had to make a decision which direction to go.
Chapter 4: How did Elton John contribute to Neil Sedaka's comeback?
And... You know, the money is being from a very poor family. My father was a taxi driver in Brooklyn for 30 years and worked very hard. And I think every teenager wanted to be a rock and roll star that, you know, that would be very exciting to any kid ever. So I did pursue it, but I never dropped the classical music because I still basically love it, and those are my roots.
In an autobiography that you wrote a few years ago, you write about a song, Mr. Moon, that you wrote when you were in high school and that you performed in high school, but the principal didn't like the song. You describe it as having been a little risque. Right. for school.
I was dying to hear how it went. Well, I was a freshman at Lincoln High School and, as I said, not one of the popular kids. And I had started writing rock and roll. It was the beginning of rock and roll. And I wrote a song called Mr. Moon and sang it at one of the Ballyhoo shows in the auditorium. And there was to be two performances.
The first performance, the kids started to jump and dance and bump and grind. And it was a sensation, except when Abraham Lass, the principal, called me into his office and said, you know, Neil, we can't have that kind of behavior. We'd like you to do something else, another kind of song for the second performance.
And there was a petition signed by the students that they wanted Neil to do Mr. Moon again. And we won. And I did it again. It was not a dirty song in any way, but it was kind of a bump and grind, you know, that old rock and roll tempo, which was very new at the time.
Could you do a few bars of it?
Oh, my goodness, I was 16. Mr. Moon, guide your love back to me. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Sounds very, very fragile now. Very timid.
Neil Sadaka speaking to Terry Gross in 2007. After a break, we'll continue their conversation. Also, Ken Tucker reviews the new album by The Paranoid Style, and Justin Chang reviews Hoppers, the new Pixar movie. I'm David Bean Cooley, and this is Fresh Air.
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Chapter 5: What was the impact of Neil Sedaka's songs on pop culture?
Yes, that was one of the reasons that I... wanted to be recognized. I wanted to please people. I think in many instances, artists who begin as, you know, are neglected and are made fun of, I think that they pursue these careers to be noticed, to be accepted, and to be revered. So I showed those football players.
Yeah.
Well, did it make you self-conscious when you started performing about whether you should look more macho as a performer? I studied in front of a mirror. I had a sister, Ronnie, who I adored. And she was my hero. She was 18 months older, beautiful, popular. And, you know, I had to stand in front of a mirror. I'll be totally honest with you. And
and learn how to move in a more macho way, how to carry my books, how to... It was a metamorphosis.
You know, I think in that era, every teenager was standing in front of a mirror. And some people were learning to dance in front of a mirror. Some people were pretending they were singing into a microphone in front of a mirror. And other people were just trying to figure out how to fix their hair or look better. But don't you think, like, every boy and girl was standing in front of a mirror then?
Yes, but I must correct you. I didn't use the word sissy. I used the word effeminate because I was raised by six women. We were, believe it or not, 11 people in a two-bedroom apartment in Brighton Beach. My mother, my sister, my five aunts, and my grandmother. So these are the people who I emulated. So it was a marvelous upbringing because I was spoiled by all these women.
Now, a few years ago, you recorded an album of Yiddish songs called Brighton Beach Memories. You grew up in Brighton Beach. Yes. Were these songs that you grew up hearing?
Yes. My mother played the Barry Sisters records. These were the great old standards. I heard them at bar mitzvahs and weddings and family picnics. And I decided at this stage of my career that I wanted to do things for my own heart, for my own spirit, not particularly looking for commerciality. And I got some wonderful reaction.
I did an all-Yiddish concert at Carnegie Hall a couple of years ago for the folks being Jewish theater in New York. It wound up to be a very exciting album. I performed with a few klezmer groups in California and Chicago, the klezmatics. It was my roots and I'm very proud of where I came from. I think you have to remember where you came from and this was very special.
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Chapter 6: How did Neil Sedaka adapt his music for a new generation?
A Yiddish Mama Es gibt nicht besser in der Welt A Yiddish Mama I weh wie bitter wenn sie fällt Licht deck ist ein Häus, wenn die Mammes du. Wie treu dich finster wird, wenn Gott nehmt dir auf eulem Habu. In Wasser und Feier.
This is Neil Sedaka from his album Brighton Beach Memories that came out a few years ago. Now, earlier we heard two different versions of your song Breaking Up is Hard to Do, one from the early 60s, one from the mid-70s. When did your string of hits in the 60s end?
People always say that for the American pop songwriters and singers, their careers were really interrupted or ended by the British invasion. Is that too simplistic or do you think that's an accurate description?
That's an accurate description, Terry. There was also a natural progression of five years of hits. The Everly Brothers, Connie Francis, Fats Domino, Brenda Lee. We all didn't have more than five years. But as you said, the British invasion, the great Beatles and Rolling Stones came. I wanted to write that story.
that style, and I did write that style, but my public wouldn't accept it, and the record company wouldn't accept it. So for 11 years, I took a back seat, took stock of myself, raised a family, had my two children, and wrote for a publishing firm, and had some great artists record my songs, Andy Williams, Johnny Mathis, Peggy Lee, Shirley Bassey, and
But, you know, once you get a taste of being in front of the public, you never get over that. And it was 11 years later, around 1974, 75, actually, that I lived in England. I moved my wife and children to England because in England they respected the original rock and rollers in America. And it was there that I met Elton John, who was starting a record company, Rocket Records, in America.
And he was a big fan of my early records. And he knew that I was recording with a group called the 10CCs in Stockport, England. Marvelous group at the time. And I made two albums with them, and both of them were successes in the U.K., And Elton said, you know, I think I could launch you again in America. And I said, well, that would be remarkable.
Elton had me record an album called Sadaka's Back, which was a remarkable comeback for me. And I always thank Elton for that.
Was Laughter in the Rain on that?
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Chapter 7: What personal experiences influenced Neil Sedaka's songwriting?
Don't trip over your toys. Put them away neatly. And so perhaps I'll be Papa Neil on television. Who knows?
I'm trying to think of a really torchy version of where the toys are. Well, it's really been a pleasure talking with you.
Thank you so much. Same here, Terry. And it's a wonderful program. Congratulations. Continued success.
Neil Sadaka speaking to Terry Gross in 2007. The co-composer of Where the Boys Are, Breaking Up is Hard to Do, and Love Will Keep Us Together died last week at age 86.
There's no meal that's better. Just give me a fork and a spoon. It's almost noon. Make me some food, cause I wanna eat soon. Just stop, cause I'm really hungry. Stop, I can hear my tummy. Look in the fridge and let lunch keep us. Coming up, Ken Tucker reviews Known Associates, the latest album by the Paranoid Style.
This is Fresh Air. This is Fresh Air. The Paranoid Style is a Washington, D.C.-based rock band led by Elizabeth Nelson, whose dense, clever lyrics have marked her as a superior pop music composer. Nelson's writing also has appeared in print, in publications like The New York Times and The Atlantic, and in liner notes for historical reissues of acts such as Bob Dylan and The Replacements.
The Paranoid Style's new album is called Known Associates, and rock critic Ken Tucker says it's the band's most rocking record yet.
All the names, Rogers and Hammerstein, Rogers and Hart. All the rage when you don't even know where to start. We start from the heart and then we take it to court. I believe we've crossed paths. I believe we've played cards.
That voice you hear, flatly declarative, wry, and verbose, belongs to Elizabeth Nelson, lead singer and chief songwriter for The Paranoid Style. Five albums into their career, the band exudes a cocky confidence in its ability to use rock songs as vehicles for both social commentary and personal angst.
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