all those rumors you've heard about me? I started them all
The Magic of the 60's.
So my cousin was the President of the Johnny Crawford Fan Club.
She lived near Bobby "Boris" Pickett of The Monster Mash fame in Somerville
I always liked the song, but 57 years later I truly understand what absurdly great pop confection is within the melody, production and performance.
1)John Ernest Crawford (born March 26, 1946) (from Wikipedia)
Rumors was released in 1962 so Johnny was around sixteen years of age. Stunning work for someone so young, and it doesn't sound like the irritating early Donny Osmond records, it sounds sophisticated and adult.
Sure, he was an annoying brat on The Rifleman, which he co-starred on from the age of 12 to 17, the show ending a year after "Rumors," but don't hold that against him, this song offers him redemption.
And like the original "Osbornes" show, Ozzy and Harriet, television gave a great platform to Ricky Nelson for his music (and chart success) as it did Johnny Crawford.
Crawford's voice is amazing on this record. Yes, it sure sounds like it is double tracked, replete with echo chamber and effects, but the kid could sing with soul, blue eyed soul, from the gifts of Gene Pitney to Sedaka to the crooners of the day - Vic Damone and Tony Bennett, this material fit right in. And yes - it hit the same year as Neil Sedaka's "Next Door To An Angel" - songs which have a connection to each other beyond the sonic comparisons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxWvZy4By_g
Howard Greenfield co-wrote "Next Door to An Angel" as he did "Rumors," so Crawford had this amazing hit-making crew which polished this gem to perfection. Sedaka's hit was Arranged and Conducted (let's face it, "produced") by Alan Lorber - production credited to Nevins-Kirshner but my opinion is, much like the money guys in film are the "producers," in the record biz the money guys are usually the executive producers. So let's give credit to Lorber for putting the magic into key Sedaka hits.
Not a minor point, in my opinion, again.
What is fascinating to note here is that with such an incredible resume' Mr. Lober recorded Boston area artists to purportedly participate in the Bosstown Sound, the record labels of the day attempting to make Boston the next San Francisco in regards to pop music.
Like, having Moulty & The Barbarians, the G Clefs, Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon and later on the Modern Lovers, Aerosmith, Boston, The Cars etc. etc. on to New Kids on the Block and Medford / Malden's Extreme, you really needed a "Bosstown Sound?"
so back to the masterpiece that is "Rumors"
2)"Rumors" was produced by the late, legendary Gerry Goffin (married to Carole King back in that time period) - it was an honor to have my review of a Goffin lost classic published and getting good attention that the album deserves
Gerry Goffin's name was spelled "Jerry" on Rumors, but rest assured, it is the man purported to be the subject matter of Carole King's smash "It's Too Late" who deserves the credit for making such a memorable hit recording.
Unlike Lorber, Nevins/Kirshner actually credited Mr. Goffin with the production.
Listen to the adult lyrics, the smooth vocal, the amazing piano work way in the background ("The Monster Mash" piano was more in your face, but had a similar tonal quality...perhaps the same session man, perhaps the same piano!)
Goffin simply must have worked with Crawford to get such an indelible imprint onto the tape.
This is the invisible magic many listeners do not know about.
Producer Jimmy Miller got one of the best vocals out of me on "I Want You Sexually" (1985)
https://soundcloud.com/joe-viglione/i-want-you-sexually
having the guiding hand of a major hit-maker - and Medford's own Joe Petruzelli on drums - this song I wrote in the studio with legendary Phil Greene engineering (guitarist with Warner Bros. group Sparrow) still packs a punch decades later.
I fully understand the process, and there's no doubt Gerry Goffin helped get Crawford's amazing vocal to exactly where it sits in these grooves.
Rumors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzMYqLjnak8
Of course being 1962, Johnny Crawford didn't get to blurt out "Look at that man, real slut material over there, think I'll go over and say "hi."
HA HA --- and the married fellow I wrote "Sexually" about (he lived in Stoneham for you archaeologist types. with a wife and kids...!!!) bumps into a roommate of mine and said to him: "he writes dirty songs about me." HA HA HA! Oh the eighties were so much fun! in those gay bars.
Should title an album "All the Married Men in Gay Bars that We Knew and Loved" HA!
"Rumors" is far more innocent
"People jealous of/a boy and girl in love/started rumors...
and ominous "Everyone in town just wants to put me down, but they're rumors...rumors..."
You won't hear Crawford singing "Got a wife and kids? Don't tell me your fxxxng problems I don't want to know" as I do on the fade out of "I Want You Sexually." Oh, Donny, why did you have to go and die on me, we could've tracked down the dude 30 years later and had that threesome that you deep sixed on us! But we'll always have it tucked neatly in the grooves of this song!
Those chicks in the background on "Rumors" certainly aren't Jo Jo Laine. And who the hell else are you going to get to sing on a song called "I Want You Sexually" but Ava Electris and Jo Jo Laine (and the third woman will not be named...she's too nice a lady!!!)
Ava: "Joe, come see me at work tonight."
Joe V: "Ava, I'm your friend. I simply cannot go to some club and see you take your clothes off!"
Ava: "It's only flesh."
Ahem. Yes, I picked the perfect women to sing on "I Want You Sexually." Johnny Crawford was not afforded that luxury, but did he ever get credited for such a wonderfully soulful performance?
After Johnny Crawford's Living in the Past, Jethro Tull hit with a song by the same name.
Living in the Past
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=267C6vMij-I
just felt like writing about this great song at 2:20 am...enjoy
Copyright (C) Joe Vig etchings, all rights preserved like Uncle Bob's bad hairdo
when a critic savaged him, Liberace retorted, ″I cried all the way to the bank
