Bill Buchanan (April 30, 1930 - August 1, 1996) was an American songwriter.

Career

His most famous composition took place in 1956, when he and

Dickie Goodman Richard Dorian Goodman (April 19, 1934 – November 6, 1989), known as Dickie Goodman, was an American music and record producer born in Brooklyn, New York. He is best known for inventing and using the technique of the "break-in", an early precur ...

created the sound collage "

The Flying Saucer ''The Flying Saucer'' is a 1950 independently made American black-and-white science fiction spy film drama. It was written by Howard Irving Young, from an original story by Mikel Conrad, who also produced, directed, and stars with Pat Garrison ...

". After Buchanan and Goodman severed their partnership in 1959, Buchanan later wrote the song "

Please Don't Ask About Barbara "Please Don't Ask About Barbara" is a song written by Bill Buchanan and Jack Keller. The song was produced by Snuff Garrett, and performed by Bobby Vee. It reached #15 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, #2 in Canada, and #29 in the UK in 1962. I ...

" for

Bobby Vee Robert Thomas Velline (April 30, 1943 – October 24, 2016), known professionally as Bobby Vee, was an American singer who was a teen idol in the early 1960s and also appeared in films. According to '' Billboard'' magazine, he had thirty-e ...

. He also co-produced records for other artists, one of which was

The Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeared ...

. Some records he co-produced with

, with whom he ran the Lunaverse record label. In 1962, with his then partner,

Brill Building The Brill Building is an office building at 1619 Broadway on 49th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, just north of Times Square and further uptown from the historic musical Tin Pan Alley neighborhood. It was built in 1931 as t ...

veteran

Howard Greenfield Howard Greenfield (March 15, 1936 – March 4, 1986) was an American lyricist and songwriter, who for several years in the 1960s worked out of the famous Brill Building. He is best known for his successful songwriting collaborations, including o ...

, he wrote and produced a break-in for a new recording artist, Susan Smith ("A Letter From Susan"/"Will You Love Me When I'm Old?", Dynamic Sound 502). A few years later, she met one of Bill's old partners,

, and recorded with him, later becoming his wife and the mother of their children, one of which is Jon Goodman, who continues in Dickie's footsteps, making break-in records, and recently wrote the book ''

: King Of Novelty''. He also was president of a company manufacturing Disk-Go Cases, a plastic cylindrical portable record storage unit. In his later years, he worked in a jewelry store in Texas until a few years before his death. He died of cancer on August 1, 1996, at age 66.

Singles

Bill Buchanan

Gone Records Gone Records was a record label founded in 1957 by George Goldner, along with music publishing arm Real Gone Music, that was active in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Among the artists that recorded for the label were Bill Haley & His Comets, Ral D ...

5032 *The Thing/Oh Happy Day (9/27/1958) "The Thing" was a cover version of Phil Harris' hit of the same name. "Oh Happy Day" was recorded by someone else, before Buchanan did this version.

United Artists Records United Artists Records was an American record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks. The label expanded into other genres, such as easy listening, jazz, pop, and R&B. History Genres In 1959, ...

531 *The Night Before Halloween/Beware (10/11/1962) This was a Halloween-based version of "

The Night Before Christmas ''A Visit from St. Nicholas'', more commonly known as ''The Night Before Christmas'' and ''Twas the Night Before Christmas'' from its first line, is a poem first published anonymously under the title ''Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas'' i ...

". "Beware" was also a pretty good Halloween rocker.

Buchanan and Ancell

Flying Saucer Records 501 *The Creature (From A Science Fiction Movie)/Meet The Creature (From A Science Fiction Movie) (11/30/1957) This song includes a joke on a break-in when one of the characters tells the creature to stop talking to him in records.

Buchanan and Cella with Cast of Thousands

ABC-Paramount Records ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels bef ...

45-10,033 *Side 1: String Along With Pal-O-Mine *Side 2: More String Along With Pal-O-Mine/Still More String Along With Pal-O-Mine (8/16/1959)

Buchanan and Goodman

Luniverse Records 101 * The Flying Saucer Part 1/The Flying Saucer Part 2 (7/25/1956) 101X *Back To Earth Part 1/Back To Earth Part 2 (7/25/1956) 102 *Buchanan And Goodman On Trial/Crazy (11/7/1956) 103 *The Banana Boat Story/The Mystery (In Slow Motion) (1957) 105 *Flying Saucer The 2nd/Martian Melody (7/13/1957) 107 *Santa And The Satellite Part 1/Santa And The Satellite Part 2 (12/14/1957) 108 *The Flying Saucer Goes West/Saucer Serenade (1958)

Comic Records a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

500 *Flying Saucer The Third/The Cha Cha Lesson (1959) Novelty Records 301 *Frankenstein Of '59/Frankenstein Returns (1959)

Buchanan and Greenfield

Novel Records 711 *The Invasion/What A Lovely Party (8/11/1964)

Other involvements

Other records he was involved with:

5031 Eddie Platt & His Orch. / Cha-Hua-Hua / Vodka (9/27/58) It's not known for sure if the Bill Buchanan listed on the label as producer of "Vodka" is the same one this page is about, but, since both records on Gone were released back to back, it's a reasonable assumption that they are the same person.

Golden Records Golden Records was a Simon & Schuster record label based in New York City. It was conceived and founded in 1948 by the Grammy Award-winning children's music producer, Arthur Shimkin, then a new recruit in the S&S business department. Shimkin ...

The Three Stooges / Party At Your House (1959) This album concept and songs were written by Dick Cella in one week. It was co-produced Dick Cella and Bill Buchanan. The back-up band, The Music Wreckers, was assembled Dick & Bill Studio sessions were co-produced by Dick Cella and Bill Buchanan. The tracks on this album are as follows: We're Coming To Your House The Concert At The Baseball Game Click Dart's Band Stand The Chipped Monks Let's Cut A Record Sing-Along With Moe At The Circus Parts 1 & 2 The Toy Store Parts 1 & 2 Goodbye, Auld Lang Syne!

559 The 3 Stooges / All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth / I Gotta Cold For Christmas (12/1959)

623 The 3 Stooges / Sing Happy Yuletide Songs The tracks on this e.p. are as follows: I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas I Gotta Cold For Christmas Wreck The Halls With Boughs Of Holly Jingle Bells Drag Down Through The Housetop

20th Century Fox Records 20th Century Fox Records (also known as 20th Fox Records and 20th Century Records, or simply 20th Century Fox Film Scores and Fox Records) was a wholly owned subsidiary of film studio 20th Century Fox. The history of the label covers three dis ...

45-139 The Little Toy Band / The Little Tin Man / Teeny Little Me (1/1960) This was written and produced by Buchanan & Cella

Guaranteed Records Guaranteed may refer to: * ''Guaranteed'' (Morris Day album) * ''Guaranteed'' (Ronnie Drew album) * ''Guaranteed'' (Phatfish album) * "Guaranteed" (Eddie Vedder song) * ''Guaranteed'' (Level 42 album) ** "Guaranteed" (Level 42 song) {{dis ...

204 The Prancers / Short Short `nin' / Rudolph The Red-Nose Reindeer (1/1960) This one was produced by Buchanan & Goodman. Triodex Records 112 James MacArthur / (The Story Of) The In-Between Years - (Parts 1 & 2) (1961) This was also released on Scepter. It was produced and co-written by Bill Buchanan. The singer on this record would turn up in a much more famous Role on the hit t.v. show "Hawaii 5-0". When Steve McGarrett would say, "Book `em Dano!", this is who he was talking to.

Dynamic Sound Records Dynamics (from Greek δυναμικός ''dynamikos'' "powerful", from δύναμις ''dynamis'' " power") or dynamic may refer to: Physics and engineering * Dynamics (mechanics) ** Aerodynamics, the study of the motion of air ** Analytical dyna ...

502 Susan Smith / A Letter From Susan / Will You Love Me When I'm Old? (1962) This was written and produced by Greenfield & Buchanan.

Liberty Records Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revival ...

F-55419 Bobby Vee /

/ I Can't Say Goodbye (2/24/1962) Barbara was written by Bill Buchanan.

Rori Records Rori may refer to: * Rori, a fictional moon from the ''Star Wars'' franchise that orbits Naboo * Rorikon, or Lolicon, Japanese slang for "Lolita complex" * Rori, an abbreviation for the given name Aurora * Rori Donaghy, human rights activist * ...

714 Joel Langran / I Really Want To Be A "Singar" / Young And Foolish (1964) Written & produced by Buchanan & Goodman. Label Unknown Susan Smith (Susan Smith Goodman) / Never Play Poker With A Man Named Doc Or Eat At A Place Called Mom's (1966) Produced by

and/or Bill Buchanan.

References

External links

http://www.geocities.com/shakin_stacks/billbuchanan.txt
* http://www.rockabilly.nl/references/messages/bill_buchanan.htm * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Buchanan, Bill American male songwriters 1930 births 1996 deaths 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American male musicians