I'm really not in the mood this morning (if you can't tell -- first clue is I dig through e-mails). Ellie Greenwich passed away yesterday. I thought about pulling from obits but I can't even bring myself to read them.
*To all the High School students performing "Leader" across the country, don't be shy about contacting me (See link on the Home Page), you'll get my personal response; just give me some time.
No, that is not a common message. Carole King is rightly an industry giant with a legacy to envy. But before she was the woman on stage at the piano, she was the songwriter working with Gerry Goffin (and others, including Howie Greenfield, but she and Gerry were a team). Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann were another team and then there was Ellie and Jeff Barry. In each team, there's been an attempt by one to do as Carole did (and, like Carole, they were recording in the sixties). But Carole had the special magic that has made her stand out as performer. As songwriters, those three groupings really changed the musical sound in the US and around the world. Later greats like Lennon & McCartney and Ashford & Simpson would also make huge contributions. But it's a long (and winding) road from "How Much Is That Doggie In The Window" to, for example, "Chapel Of Love," among the compositions Ellie co-wrote. Grasp that your baby might do the hanky panky, but would you know to call it that without Ellie having co-written the song?And then I go to Google to find some more news about Greenwich:
Hit Sixties songwriter Ellie Greenwich dies aged 68
Daily Mail - 4 minutes ago
By Mail Foreign Service Songwriter Ellie Greenwich with then-husband Jeff Barry. The couple penned some of the Sixties' biggest hits Ellie Greenwich, ...
Early Rock'n'Roll Songwriter Ellie Greenwich Dies
Prefixmag - - 1 hour ago
You might not have ever heard of Ellie Greenwich, but you've no doubt heard her songs. There's "Be My Baby" and "Da Doo Ron Ron" recorded by the Ronnettes ...
Songwriter Ellie Greenwich Dies of Heart Attack
TheCelebrityCafe.com - - 1 hour ago
According to MTV.com, Greenwich was in the hospital for pneumonia when she had the attack. Her niece informed the press. Greenwich has a long list of hit ...
Remembering songwriting legend Ellie Greenwich
guardian.co.uk - 1 hour ago
Few will plump for Ellie Greenwich, the blonde-haired, bright-eyed New Yorker who co-wrote some of the decade's most extraordinary songs – Be My Baby and Da ...
Da Doo Ron Ron writer dies
musicweek.com - 1 hour ago
Ellie Greenwich, the songwriter behind River Deep, Mountain High and some of the biggest hits of the sixties has died. With her husband Jeff Barry (pictured ...
RIP: Songwriter Ellie Greenwich
The Frisky - - 2 hours ago
In addition to the passing of Senator Edward Kennedy on Tuesday evening, writer Dominick Dunne died yesterday, as did songwriter Ellie Greenwich. ...
And that Guardian one that went up an hour ago?
Jude Rogers wrote:
Touchingly, on Greenwich's website is a message to students performing her songs. "Don't be shy about contacting me," she wrote, "you'll get my personal response, just give me time." This enthusiasm is what we should remember about Ellie Greenwich. So the next time one of her most famous songs comes on the radio, or shimmers magically into your lives by any other means, remember to give her your own time, too.
Gee, if I 'discovered' a little over an hour after C.I.'s entry went up, I'd want to be sure I understood what I was writing about. Jude: "Greenwich's last contributions to pop were rather special, too. Right Track, Wrong Train was a brilliant B-side for Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Want to Have Fun, whereas Leader of the Pack became a children's musical that followed her most famous songs."
Uh, Jude, Leader of the Pack isn't a children's musical.
Which is why an obit from someone who knew the person (C.I. knew Ellie Greenwich) is usually better than a write up by someone trying to fill time and 'update'.
Here's C.I.'s section on Ellie in full:
I'm really not in the mood this morning (if you can't tell -- first clue is I dig through e-mails). Ellie Greenwich passed away yesterday. I thought about pulling from obits but I can't even bring myself to read them.
*To all the High School students performing "Leader" across the country, don't be shy about contacting me (See link on the Home Page), you'll get my personal response; just give me some time.
No, that is not a common message. Carole King is rightly an industry giant with a legacy to envy. But before she was the woman on stage at the piano, she was the songwriter working with Gerry Goffin (and others, including Howie Greenfield, but she and Gerry were a team). Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann were another team and then there was Ellie and Jeff Barry. In each team, there's been an attempt by one to do as Carole did (and, like Carole, they were recording in the sixties). But Carole had the special magic that has made her stand out as performer. As songwriters, those three groupings really changed the musical sound in the US and around the world. Later greats like Lennon & McCartney and Ashford & Simpson would also make huge contributions. But it's a long (and winding) road from "How Much Is That Doggie In The Window" to, for example, "Chapel Of Love," among the compositions Ellie co-wrote. Grasp that your baby might do the hanky panky, but would you know to call it that without Ellie having co-written the song?"Leader," referred to above is Leader Of The Pack was a Broadway show (yes, Ellie co-wrote that song). In 1984, it started at The Bottom Line and moved to Broadway in 1985, was nominated for Best Musical (Tony) and Best Cast Album (Grammy). The musical is about Ellie's life and it is performed across the country to this day. On YouTube, you can find a clip of Schenley High School's 2007 production of the musical where "Why Do Lovers Break Each Other's Hearts?" is performed.
Ellie's songs and others were noted in "2008: The Year of Living Hormonally (Year in Review)" and this appeared at the bottom:
Carole King and Gerry Goffin (Goffin & King), Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann (Mann & Weil) and Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry (Barry & Greenwich) are the three songwriting teams whose work is quoted throughout this. Phil Spector (like others) often took credit he didn't earn. The song credits listed above are the official ones but that doesn't mean they're the genuine ones. Noted because Cynthia and Barry have especially been publicly vocal about Phil's little theft stunt over the years. Nothing I've written above is meant to diminish the three songwriting teams' considerable talents. They were amazing song writing teams (and Cynthia and Barry remain an amazing songwriting team to this day). Their songs from (roughly) 1960 to 1964 captured an intensity of feelings on a regular basis, the sort of intensity that, prior, had only popped up every few months (for example, "Earth Angel"). Before Motown became the Sound of Young America, the three groups of writers were contributing to the soundtrack of young America.
She will be missed as surely as her songs will live on.
You can also see Stan's "Bob Somerby, Ellie Greenwich," Elaine's "Ellie Greenwich has passed away" and Kat's "Ellie Greenwich" which I'm sure are worth reading but I've avoided the same way I'm avoiding the obits.
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