Monster Mash was a hit and became a Halloween Classic, and while you can make a great living as a successful songwriter, and the residuals can come in for years on a "one hit wonder," Bobby's novelty song has kept ringing the cash registers for the last 47 years.
(MAKE THAT 49 YEARS in 2011!)
I remember how happy we all were for Bobby when this song hit! Wes Bryan
I'm over here doing the "Transylvania Twist" since I'm related to Vlad the Impaler!
Christine Trzyna
video replaced October 2012
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Monday, October 31, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
(355) THE CREATIVE PROCESS : THERE'S ALWAYS A SONG IN MY MIND
Though at times in my career I was called "The Singing - Acting Sensation," or "The Next James Dean," or simply "entertainer" or "singer-songwriter," I think "singer-songwriter" is the title that I've earned since my song "Freeze" was recorded by me at United Artists back in '58 and then covered by other artists.
Freeze is a rare record these days, with just a few disc jockey copies (promo) showing up in auctions. That's because the record was played on record players till it broke. (And yes, as a reader pointed out, the song is available on a compilation CD.)
I played it on American Bandstand. The song inspired a dance craze, a dance called The Freeze.
"Singer-Songwriter" is also a title that was also applied to many of my friends who I started out with in the late 1950's in New York, many who also headed west to California in the early 1960's, such as Ersel Hickey, Bobby Darin, Buddy Knox, and Johnny Rivers...
If you've been a reader of this blog, you know I've mentioned certain creative collaborations I've enjoyed as well, with artists such as Jimmy Bowen, Red West, Fred Horton, Glen Campbell and Mae Axton.
I've talked about the Cover Tune Era, when every singer was trying to find a hit song that someone else wrote (or already recorded) to cover, small labels and regional markets, and the days when I traveled around the country performing on dance parties and radio programs live; I traveled while with United Artists for a couple years, on the Buddy Knox tour with Buddy for a couple years.
Some of my collaborations happened spontaneously, just sitting around my house, or Elvis', other collaborations were part of my job when I was a staff songwriter at American Music in Los Angeles, where a lot of artists came through, for a day, or a few months, or were on contract as well.
I also sold songs independently and worked as a freelancer for Pat Boone's CoogaMooga.
I lost track of just how many songs I'd written or co-written over the years. Then the Intellectual Properties that had been owned or co-owned by others started returning to me several years ago. Lots of paperwork.
One day my lawyer said "It's up over 800, Wes!"
There's always a song in my mind, always something I'm working on.
Some of my songs were recorded as demos only by some now famous people and the studio musicians on them went on those demos to have entertainment careers of their own. Some of these were pressed, some may be in tape vaults, some are lost forever as recordings, but because I REGISTERED the song, they were understood to be my Intellectual Property.
I can't help but hope that someday songs that were recorded as demos or in studios that did not make it onto records at the time will be discovered.
Freeze is a rare record these days, with just a few disc jockey copies (promo) showing up in auctions. That's because the record was played on record players till it broke. (And yes, as a reader pointed out, the song is available on a compilation CD.)
I played it on American Bandstand. The song inspired a dance craze, a dance called The Freeze.
"Singer-Songwriter" is also a title that was also applied to many of my friends who I started out with in the late 1950's in New York, many who also headed west to California in the early 1960's, such as Ersel Hickey, Bobby Darin, Buddy Knox, and Johnny Rivers...
If you've been a reader of this blog, you know I've mentioned certain creative collaborations I've enjoyed as well, with artists such as Jimmy Bowen, Red West, Fred Horton, Glen Campbell and Mae Axton.
I've talked about the Cover Tune Era, when every singer was trying to find a hit song that someone else wrote (or already recorded) to cover, small labels and regional markets, and the days when I traveled around the country performing on dance parties and radio programs live; I traveled while with United Artists for a couple years, on the Buddy Knox tour with Buddy for a couple years.
Some of my collaborations happened spontaneously, just sitting around my house, or Elvis', other collaborations were part of my job when I was a staff songwriter at American Music in Los Angeles, where a lot of artists came through, for a day, or a few months, or were on contract as well.
I also sold songs independently and worked as a freelancer for Pat Boone's CoogaMooga.
I lost track of just how many songs I'd written or co-written over the years. Then the Intellectual Properties that had been owned or co-owned by others started returning to me several years ago. Lots of paperwork.
One day my lawyer said "It's up over 800, Wes!"
There's always a song in my mind, always something I'm working on.
Some of my songs were recorded as demos only by some now famous people and the studio musicians on them went on those demos to have entertainment careers of their own. Some of these were pressed, some may be in tape vaults, some are lost forever as recordings, but because I REGISTERED the song, they were understood to be my Intellectual Property.
I can't help but hope that someday songs that were recorded as demos or in studios that did not make it onto records at the time will be discovered.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
