Kodachrome (song)

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Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Singles
Kodachrome
  US 2 07/07/1973 (14 weeks)

Kodachrome is a song by the American singer-songwriter Paul Simon . It was the lead single of his third studio album There Goes Rhymin 'Simon , released on Columbia Records on May 5, 1973.

Page 1 (A) of the single

description

The song was after the 35 mm film Kodachrome of Kodak named. Kodak released this film in 1935; it is a registered trademark. Kodak, because Kodachrome was a trademark of theirs, required the album to display the Registered Trade Mark symbol (®) after the song title. The 2012 edition of Paul Simon Live in New York City, which includes a live performance by Kodachrome , does not include the icon or any other branding. Kodak stopped manufacturing the product in 2009.

idea

Paul Simon was working on a song called "Coming Home" when he came across the word "Kodachrome". He had no idea what that meant, but he knew there was going to be a much more interesting song than Coming Home. The song became an appreciation for the things in life that "make our world colorful". The song was not a hit in England because British radio stations rarely played it. The BBC had very strict rules about commercial endorsements and these did not allow broadcasters to play songs that appeared to be "pushing" products. For the same reason, the Kinks had to re-record part of "Lola". The text initially read: "We drink champagne and it tastes like Coca-Cola", but Ray Davies had to rewrite it to: "... just like Cherry Cola" so that the song could be played in the UK.

The Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama

Recording studio

Simon recorded the album in the " Muscle Shoals Sound Studio " in Alabama with the famous musicians of the "Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section" . He picked them up when he found out they were playing on I'll Shake There by the Staple Singers and was surprised to hear that they weren't Jamaican musicians but four white boys from the south. Simon went to "Muscle Shoals" to record just one song called Take Me to the Mardi Gras , but when they got that done earlier than expected, he also recorded Kodachrome and Loves Me Like a Rock . Simon was the first great musician to record in these studios; Bob Seger , the Rolling Stones , Bob Dylan, and Rod Stewart were some of the other great musicians who recorded there in the 1970s and 1980s.

David Hood , the bassist on the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, said: “When Paul Simon walked into our studio he thought, oh god what a funky place. Because that was him. He was used to working at A&R and Columbia in New York, in studios in England and elsewhere, and when he saw our little cabin he probably thought, man, this is a rat trap. "

Hit list places

In a May 12 issue of Billboard magazine's review , his "happy anti-social text" was praised. The song debuted at number 82 on the "Hot 100" this week. Four weeks later, it was at number 9, framed by Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree by Dawn featuring Tony Orlando and Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth) by George Harrison ; Another two weeks later, it topped the Billboard Hot 100 as No. 2 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart. In the UK , the song was marketed as the B-side to Take Me to the Mardi Gras (CBS 1578).

Others

According to American Top 40 presenter Casey Kasem would, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) will not play the song because it contains a brand name. The song was also banned by the Federation of (Australian) Radio Broadcaster.

In the late 1990s, Kodak used the song in advertising to sell their films.

The lyrics of the song differ in their formulation from the original 1973 There Goes Rhyming 'Simon and the albums The Concert in Central Park (1982) and Paul Simon's Concert in the Park (1991). In the first album states: "... everything looks worse in black and white" (... everything looks worse in black and white). But in the latter concert album, however, "... everything looks better in black and white" (... everything looks better in black and white). Simon said in an interview when asked about it that he usually can't remember the way he originally wrote it, so he likes to switch.

An instrumental version was used in the computer game Frantic Freddie for levels 3 and 11.

Musician

The following musicians were part of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section: 

In the media

Web links

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Charts US
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Kodachrome by Paul Simon. Songfacts.com, accessed October 8, 2016 .
  3. ^ Billboard Hot 100 . In: Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (Ed.): Billboard magazine . tape  85 , no. 42 , June 16, 1973, ISSN  0006-2510 , pp. 88 .
  4. ^ Whitburn, Joel : The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits . Ed .: Billboard Publications. tape  6 , 1996.
  5. ↑ Wesley Hyatt: The Billboard Book of # 1 Adult Contemporary Hits . Ed .: Billboard Publications. 1999.
  6. ↑ See label photos on 45cat.com
  7. ^ Gazoo: The BBC won't play songs that mention commercial products. 10 at 10 Club, 2008, accessed on May 16, 2018 .
  8. ^ Billboard Publications (Ed.): Billboard . 7 July 1973, p. 53 .
  9. ^ "Still Creative After All These Years," Interview with Daniel J. Levity, Grammy Magazine, Winter 1997.
  10. ^ Karen Collins: Game Sound: An Introduction to the History, Theory, and Practice of Video Game Music and Sound Design . Ed .: MIT Press . Cambridge, Massachusetts 2008, ISBN 978-0-262-03378-7 , pp. 32-33 .
  11. ↑ Paul Simon Greatest Hits, Etc. - Original 1977 album liner notes