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Smokey Joe's Cafe (revue)
''Smokey Joe's Cafe'' is a musical revue showcasing 39 pop standards, including rock and roll and rhythm and blues songs written by songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. The Original Broadway cast recording, ''Smokey Joe's Cafe: The Songs Of Leiber and Stoller'', won a Grammy Award in 1997. After a Los Angeles tryout, the revue opened on Broadway in 1995, running for 2,036 performances, making it the longest-running musical revue in Broadway history. It also had a London run in 2021. Synopsis In revue format with no unifying theme, the 39 songs are presented by various members of the cast in various combinations with no dialogue. There are novelty songs ("Charlie Brown"), romantic ballads ("Spanish Harlem"), and infectious melodies ("There Goes My Baby").Stoudt, Charlott"Review: 'Smokey Joe's Cafe' at El Portal Theatre"''L.A. Times'', December 16, 2008 Songs Music and lyrics for all songs are by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, unless otherwise noted. The song "Smokey Joe's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerry Leiber
Lyricist Jerome Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and composer Michael Stoller (born March 13, 1933) were American songwriting and record producing partners. They found success as the writers of such Crossover music, crossover hit songs as "Hound Dog (song), Hound Dog" (1952) and "Kansas City (Leiber and Stoller song), Kansas City" (1952). Later in the 1950s, particularly through their work with The Coasters, they created a string of ground-breaking hits—including "Young Blood (The Coasters song), Young Blood" (1957), "Searchin'" (1957), and "Yakety Yak" (1958)—that used the humorous vernacular of teenagers sung in a style that was openly theatrical rather than personal. Leiber and Stoller wrote hits for Elvis Presley, including "Love Me (Leiber/Stoller song), Love Me" (1956), "Jailhouse Rock (song), Jailhouse Rock" (1957), "Loving You (Elvis Presley song), Loving You", "Don't (Leiber/Stoller song), Don't", and "King Creole (song), King Creole". They also collaborate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruby Baby
A ruby is a pinkish red to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapphires. Ruby is one of the traditional cardinal gems, alongside amethyst, sapphire, emerald, and diamond. The word ''ruby'' comes from ''ruber'', Latin for red. The color of a ruby is due to the element chromium. Some gemstones that are popularly or historically called rubies, such as the Black Prince's Ruby in the British Imperial State Crown, are actually spinels. These were once known as "Balas rubies". The quality of a ruby is determined by its color, cut, and clarity, which, along with carat weight, affect its value. The brightest and most valuable shade of red, called blood-red or pigeon blood, commands a large premium over other rubies of similar quality. After color follows clarity: similar to diamonds, a clear stone will command ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cynthia Weil
Cynthia Weil (born October 18, 1940) is an American songwriter who wrote many songs together with her husband Barry Mann. Life and career Weil was born in New York City, and was raised in a Conservative Jewish family. Her father was Morris Weil, a furniture store owner and the son of Lithuanian-Jewish immigrants, and her mother was Dorothy Mendez, who grew up in a Sephardic Jewish family in Brooklyn. Weil trained as an actress and dancer, but soon demonstrated a songwriting ability that led to her collaboration with Barry Mann, whom she married in August 1961. The couple has one daughter, Jenn Mann. Weil became one of the Brill Building songwriters of the 1960s, and one of the most important writers during the emergence of rock and roll. She and her husband went on to create songs for many contemporary artists, winning several Grammy Awards as well as Academy Award nominations for their compositions for film. As their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame biography put it, in part: "Man ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barry Mann
Barry Mann (born Barry Imberman; February 9, 1939) is an American songwriter and musician, and part of a successful songwriting partnership with his wife, Cynthia Weil. He has written or co-written 53 hits in the UK and 98 in the US. Early life Mann was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York City, United States. He was born two days before fellow songwriter Gerry Goffin. Career His first successful song as a writer was "She Say (Oom Dooby Doom)", a Top 20 chart-scoring song composed for the band The Diamonds in 1959. Mann co-wrote the song with Mike Anthony (Michael Logiudice). In 1961, Mann had his greatest success to that point with "I Love How You Love Me", written with Larry Kolber and a no. 5 scoring single for the band The Paris Sisters (seven years later, Bobby Vinton's version would reach the Top 10). The same year, Mann himself reached the Top 40 as a performer with a novelty song co-written with Gerry Goffin, " Who Put the Bomp", which parodied the nonsense ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
On Broadway (song)
"On Broadway" is a song written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil in collaboration with the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Composition Weil and Mann were based at Aldon Music, located at 1650 Broadway, New York City, and the song as written by Mann/Weil was originally recorded by the Cookies (although the Crystals' version beat them to release) and featured an upbeat lyric in which the protagonist is still on her way to Broadway and sings "I got to get there soon, or I'll just die". The song was played as a shuffle. When Leiber/Stoller let it be known that the Drifters had booked studio time for the following day and were a song short, Mann/Weil forwarded "On Broadway". Leiber and Stoller liked the song but felt that it was not quite right; the four held an overnight brainstorming session that culminated in the better-known version, now with a rock-oriented groove and with a more bluesy feel, which matched the new lyric in which the singer was now actually on Broadway and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kent Harris
Kent Levaughn Harris (October 15, 1930 – April 9, 2019) was an American songwriter and record producer, who is best known as the writer of novelty tunes such as "Shoppin' for Clothes" (a hit for The Coasters, credited to Harris, Leiber and Stoller),and "Cops and Robbers" (a hit for Bo Diddley). He recorded under various pseudonyms including Ducky Drake and Boogaloo and his Gallant Crew. Biography Kent Harris was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and was raised in San Diego, California. Retrieved 11 February 2013 He first recorded in 1954 as Ducky Drake for Trend Records, singing the B-side of his sister Dimples Harris' record "Hey Mr. Jelly." The B-side was called "1992." He would then change his stage name to Boogaloo. Harris originally recorded the song later known ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shoppin' For Clothes
"Shoppin' for Clothes" is a novelty R&B song in the talking blues style, recorded by American vocal group the Coasters in 1960. Originally credited to Elmo Glick, a songwriting pseudonym of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who also produced the track, it was partly based on the 1956 song "Clothes Line (Wrap It Up)", written by Kent Harris and recorded by him as Boogaloo and his Gallant Crew. Harris later received a co-writing credit on "Shoppin' for Clothes." Background and recording Jerry Leiber conceived the idea for the recording when Billy Guy of the Coasters told him about a song he had heard on the radio, about a man shopping for clothes. Guy had remembered some of the lyrics, but not the song title or singer. Leiber failed to track down the original recording, and created some new lyrics on the same theme, incorporating the lines that Guy had remembered. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poison Ivy (song)
"Poison Ivy" is a popular song by American songwriting duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It was originally recorded by the Coasters in 1959. It went to #1 on the R&B chart, #7 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, and #15 in the UK. This was their third top-ten hit of that year following "Charlie Brown" and " Along Came Jones". Composition Lyrics The song discusses a girl known as "Poison Ivy". She is compared to measles, mumps, chickenpox, the common cold, and whooping cough, but is deemed worse, because "Poison Ivy, Lord, will make you itch". According to lyricist Jerry Leiber, "Pure and simple, 'Poison Ivy' is a metaphor for a sexually transmitted disease". The song also makes references to other flowers such as a rose and a daisy. Cover versions * The Dave Clark Five – 1963. It was released as part of an E.P. * The Paramounts – as both a single (1963) and as part of a E.P. (released 1964). The single version got to #35 on the U.K. Charts. * The Rolling Stones recorded t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don't (Elvis Presley Song)
"Don't" is a song performed by Elvis Presley, which was released in 1958. Written and produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, it was Presley's eleventh number-one hit in the United States. "Don't" also peaked at number four on the R&B charts. ''Billboard'' ranked the balladHeartbreak Hotel: The Life and Music of Elvis Presley - page 84 as the No. 3 song for 1958. The song was included in the musical revue ''Smokey Joe's Cafe'', as a medley with " Love Me", and cleverly used in the key scene of the 1993 film ''Dave'', right at the moment the President of the United States (played by Kevin Kline), suffers a stroke while making love to a mistress, inside the White House. Personnel *Elvis Presley – lead vocals *Scotty Moore – electric guitar *Bill Black – double bass *D.J. Fontana – drums *Dudley Brooks – piano *The Jordanaires – backing vocals *Thorne Nogar – engineer *Steve Sholes – producer *Jerry Leiber – songwriter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Love Me (Leiber/Stoller Song)
"Love Me" is a sentimental song composed by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and recorded and popularized by Elvis Presley in 1956. Background Conceived as a parody of country and western music, it was initially recorded by R&B duo, Willy & Ruth, in 1954 (Spark 105), garnering a review spotlight in ''Billboard'' on August 14. Willie Headen was the lead singer of a vocal group, the Honey Bears, and Ruth was the wife of another group member. That record was quickly followed the same year with cover versions by Georgia Gibbs, Connie Russell, Billy Eckstine, Kay Brown, the Four Escorts, the Billy Williams Quartet, the Woodside Sisters and the DeMarco Sisters, and in January 1955 by Jimmie Rodgers Snow. Most of these records were well reviewed in the trades, but none was a hit. Elvis Presley recording Elvis Presley recorded the song on September 1, 1956, for his second album, ''Elvis'' (RCA Victor, LPM-1382), issued on October 19. It was also released on the EP, ''Elvis Vol. 1'' (RCA ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trouble (Elvis Presley Song)
"Trouble" is a blues song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, originally performed by Elvis Presley in 1958 and covered by a number of artists in later years. Background Elvis Presley performed the song in the 1958 motion picture ''King Creole'', and his recording was included on the soundtrack of the same name. "Trouble", featuring Scotty Moore on guitar, was one of only three songs written by Leiber and Stoller for the feature. Presley's performance in the film alludes to Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley. "If you're looking for trouble," he intones, "then look right in my face. Because I'm evil. My middle name is Misery." Music critic Maury Dean suggests that "Trouble," with Presley's "growling snarl," is one of the earliest proto-punk rock songs. Ten years later, Presley opened his 1968 comeback special with this number. With dark, moody lighting highlighting his sneer, the sequence alluded to Presley's checkered past and "dangerous" image and served to prove that the sing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
