Paul Anka | The Magnificent Others with Billy Corgan
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
It wasn't about just getting up there and singing. You had to entertain people.
These incredible lyrics, these incredible songs. I mean, the absolute height of American songwriting.
I sat in my basement. People laughed at me. I was spending my time just writing, you know.
Where I think it's interesting with you is you actually bridge these two worlds.
We, as these young teenagers, we shifted the culture.
Here you are, a teen idol playing basically, you know, the beginning of rock and roll.
You know, I was an international creature. Did your parents know what you were up to?
Yeah.
Paul Anka. I feel I should call you Mr. Anka, Paul Anka. Thank you for being on my podcast.
Well, I'll call you Bill, and you're going to call me Paul.
You know, grown men like yourself, they have a hard time calling me Billy. So I'm actually William now, but they still want to call me Bill. So I don't know what that's about.
What would you like me to call you?
William.
I'm going to call you William.
What's your middle name? Patrick. Patrick. I was born on St. Patrick's Day. Lucky you, huh? William Patrick.
All right, William. Good to meet you.
Thank you, sir. Do you remember where you were August 24th, 1956?
American Bandstand?
No. You were singing the song, I Confess.
oh, Blauweil de Biesfontein, you're digging holes here now, huh? So I came out to L.A. to visit an uncle, and I started in Canada as a writer. I wrote short stories and won awards in school, and then I went and worked as a cub reporter at a local newspaper and got thrown at a shorthand, took music, so that was my first taste. And then I came out to Los Angeles, and I used to be, absolutely enamored with the whole black culture of music. And I listened to it all the time. Who were some of your favorites at that time? I want to go back to the Satins, the Moonglows, all of that, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, all of them. And I'd leave my uncle's house on Sunset and go down to Wallach's Music City. Wallach's was the music store, probably the biggest in the West Coast.
And you'd go in and they had these little booths. And you'd go in and you'd take your vinyl and you'd go in and listen to records all day. Okay. And there was one record I loved. It was the number one record in the country. It was called Stranded in the Jungle by the Cadets. Now, I know you know your music, but I don't know that you remember that one. I don't know that one. Okay. So Stranded in the Jungle was huge. And in the interim, I was reading a book. When I had to go back to Canada, I had this book for a book report that I had to write out, do a whole essay on. And it was called Prester John. And the premise was a town in Africa called Blauwald de Bisfonte. And I was fascinated by this little village, Blauwald de Bisfonte.
And one day I got up, I had, I'm going, I just wrote my first song, right? Now it's in my head. I'm in Los Angeles. I'm reading the book report and I'm in Wallach's and I'm listening to this record. And I read on the label. modern records, RPM, Culver City. And it was a chip shot from where my uncle was. And I had the song finished. I said, you know what?
How did Paul Anka write and land his first record as a teenager?
I'm going to go to this record company.
Had you ever written a song before?
No. Okay. So I take the song. I think I hitchhiked out there. I'm like 14, 15. And it's a little, it's like this building here. One story building. little garage front, nothing to it. And I walk in and there's two guys and a female. And it was the Bahari brothers and their sisters. And they owned this little record company. You know, back then there were a few indies, but not a lot. I said, hey guys, you're delivering something? He said, no, no. I got a song I want to sing to you. He looked at me. He said, what do you mean you got a song? Had you sung before? Never. To a record company? No. Oh, in school, I was in the choir. I sang at school plays. You know, I had a voice. Okay. So... I sang them the song. I guess they had nothing to do and they had no other artists.
They said, can you come back in two weeks? We're going to record you. Right. And they gave me another song for the flip side called I Confess.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:29
2
How did Paul Anka write and land his first record as a teenager?
3:29–5:00
3
Which early R&B and rock artists influenced Paul Anka's songwriting?
5:00–14:11
4
What was recording and studio life like in the 1950s compared to today?
14:11–1:06:40
5
How did Paul transition from teen idol rock to the Great American Songbook and Vegas crooner world?
1:06:40–1:15:42
Speakers
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