The Letter (song)
The Letter is a by Wayne Carson -written pop song of the American band The Box Tops from 1967. As one of pop music history of the shortest hits was the Blue-Eyed Soul title for the first piece for the American Sound Studios , the number one reached the pop hit parade.
History of origin
Country musician Wayne Carson had in December 1966 written by him solo title My Little Noise Maker of Chips Moman produce. The song went without a response, but studio owner Moman took the ambitious composer into the studio staff of his American Sound Studios. That paid off quickly, as Carson wrote the song The Letter shortly afterwards . It is based on an idea from his father, who came up with the first line "Give me a ticket for an airplane", around which Carson built the text. Carson completed the text about a young man who receives a longing letter from his girlfriend and is therefore not afraid of the plane distance to her, as the journey on a long-distance express train takes too long.
admission
The DeVilles were a white school band from Memphis that had played at parties since 1966. In the local scene she gained some attention, which did not go unnoticed by the owner of the recording studio Moman. During the recording session, they adopted the name The Box Tops . The group consisted of lead singer Alex Chilton , Gary Talley (lead guitar), William Cunningham (bass guitar), John Evans (keyboard) and Daniel Smythe (drums). Composer Carson also plays guitar during the recording session. The unusual intro consists of rimshot hits on the drums.
Moman was intangible, so that studio composer Dan Penn got the opportunity to work as a producer for the first time. The voice of lead singer Alex Chilton was too hoarse for Carson, but that was exactly what studio owner Moman was looking for. Penn suggested breaking the word "aer-o-plane" into three syllables when singing. He built in violins and a Hammond B3 organ riff and added the sound of an airplane taking off to clarify the text acoustically. The violins and horn section were arranged by session band member Mike Leech. The song took a total of 33 takes before Penn was convinced of the product. The title was created on a 12-track tape after the studios had worked with outdated recording technology for a very long time. When Moman returned to the studio, he was not thrilled with the recording made in his absence; he was particularly bothered by the aircraft noise. Dan Penn prevailed and found a record company willing to release the song.
publication
The New York record label Mala Records, actually specializing in black music, released The Letter / Happy Times (# 565) in June 1967. The B-side came from Lindon "Spooner" Oldham and Dan Penn. The panel reached on August 12, 1967 pop charts of Billboard , where they at 23 September 1967, the first number-one hit was this hit parade for four weeks rank. He also reached the top position in four other countries. The title was sold three million times in the US, outside the US one million copies went over the counter, so that worldwide sales of four million came about; it was also the best-selling hit from Moman's recording studio. The million seller is only 1:58 minutes long and is characteristic of the blue-eyed soul , as it was created especially at American Sound Studios. The Letter has been covered 52 times, according to Coverinfo ; the most successful cover version was that of Joe Cocker from July 1970. The original received a BMI Award .
Individual evidence
- ^ Roben Jones, Memphis Boys: The Story of American Studios , 2010, p. 79
- ^ Fred Bronson, The Billboard Book of Number One Hits , 1985, p. 230
- ↑ James Dickerson, Goin 'Back to Memphis , 1996, p. 154
- ↑ James Dickerson, Mojo Triangle: Memphis-Nashville-New Orleans , 2005, p. 149
- ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 236