The death of Jerry Ragovoy seems to have gone unnoticed by the media. This is surprising, given the incredible catalogue of hits he wrote or worked on. “Time is on My Side” was an iconic hit for the Rolling Stones. Janis Joplin made a classic out of “Piece of my Heart”.

Ragovoy was in the music business from the age of 23, writing and producing for The Castelles and The Majors. He co-wrote “Time is on My Side” (as Norman Meade) for the queen of New Orleans soul, Irma Thomas in 1963. It was slowed and became a huge hit for the Rolling Stones one year later and again in 1982. Ragovoy also produced recorded work by Bonnie Raitt and Milkwood.

Ragovoy died of a heart attack at the age of 80 on July 13, 2011.

I’ve often deplored the death of the protest song. So it was stunning to see how big a role music and chanting is playing in the Arab Spring. Shots of men chanting and punching the air in Arabic all sounded alike to me. The horrific murder of Ibrahim Qashoush, however, puts a face and a voice on the aspirations of millions of people.

Qashoush was a Syrian whose incredible powerful chanting galvanised crowds of up to 200,000 with his performances. The chants are simple rhythmic couplets known as dabke, to which the audience replies with gusto. In the hands of the right singer, it’s simple and hugely effective. Qashoush played with the genre by adding couplets where least expected and then breaking into known songs. The words are blunt and, given the level of oppression in Syria, courageous to say the least. The chant that has gained the most popularity is “Yalla Irhal Ya Bashar (Depart Bashar)”.

You lost all your legitimacy

Depart depart, Bashar

Bashar, you are not one of us

Take Mahir [Basher’s brother] and depart from here

Depart depart, Bashar

Bashar, you are lying

You had bad speech

Freedom is very near

Depart? depart, Bashar

Ibrahim Qashoush was found dead in the river near his home town of Hama on July 4. He had been tortured by the authorities and his throat cut, perhaps symbolically. Hama has been the location of previous atrocities by the Syrian regime, but is refusing to bow to the current attacks.

The American ambassador Robert Ford and French Ambassador Eric Chevallier traveled to Hama recently to show solidarity with its residents. The visits have been interpreted as a strong diplomatic warning against escalating violence in the central city, which has been surrounded by tanks for a week.

It would be nice to think that Qashoush’s death caused outrage. But the sheer number of people dying in Syria at the moment makes grief for individual cases almost impossible.

However, as a lyricist I can only salute an electrifying performer who paid for his singing and commitment with his life. His chants will clearly outlive him.

Additional reading on the Index of Censorship


There are songs out there that have seemingly always been there. What would Christmas be without the sounds of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”?

However, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times, the songwriter and lyricist Hugh Martin Jr, who penned the song in 1944 died at his home on March 11, 2011 at the page of 96. The song became famous through Judy Garland’s rendition in “Meet me in St Louis” (whose title song he also wrote).

It’s interesting to note that the song received two re-writes. In the first, the line “Have yourself a merry little Christmas, it might be your last…” to “Have yourself a merry little Christmas, let your heart be light…” The song had originally been written in the depths of World War 2. When Sinatra subsequently covered the song in 1957, the line “Until then we’ll have to muddle through somehow,” became “Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.” The song has since become a standard covered hundreds of times.

Mea culpa, I missed this completely. US songwriter David Weiss died late August of natural causes at the age of 89. Weiss was a prolific writer who wrote or co-wrote classics such as “Can’t Help Falling in Love” and “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”. His songs have been used by Frank Sinatra, UB40, Elvis Presley, The Stylistics and Perry Como. His signature tune (and the one that will see his grandchildren through college) is “What a Wonderful World” co-written in 1968 with George Douglas, immortalised by Louis Armstrong and still a popular choice amongst advertising people. He also wrote the lyrics for the jazz standard ‘Lullaby of Birdland’, which was a hit for Ella Fitzgerald. Weiss was president of the Songwriters Guild of America

There is much talk at the moment about the George Harrison “track” that was featured on British radio recently. The story is that Beatle biographer Hunter Davies came across a scrap of paper with some Harrison lyrics, “Silence (Is Its Own Reply)”, speculated to be about his relationship with John Lennon. During a radio show, the presenter Spencer Leigh suggested that Liverpool musician Dean Johnson could provide a melody for the lyrics, that you can find here. There has been considerable talk about this – lots of it pretty negative. Why?

It must be said: Johnson was either naive or brave to take on the task. There is something perceived as sacred about The Beatles, with George in particular seen as Mr Nice Guy. So it would have to be one hell of a melody to live up to the expectation. Based on the one acoustic version sung live on radio, it isn’t. Even though it’s hardly fair to judge it under these conditions, I can’t help wondering what it would have been like if Dave Stewart or ELO’s Jeff Lynn had been given the lyrics.

Yet this is not the first time that a song has been re-constructed from fragments. Woody Guthrie’s family spent considerable time seeking out composers to take Guthrie’s large catalogue of unsung words and make songs out of them. Is it fair to take scraps of a dead man’s song and fill in the gaps? Apparently, the estates of George Harrison and Woody Guthrie think so.

George Harrison: “All Things Must Pass” mp3

Mercedes Sosa, the Argentinian singer who became the voice of the nueva cancion movement of the 60s and 70s, has died at the age of 74. Sosa was an outspoken singer, who used her voice and art to champion the causes of the poor in South America, even though she tried to distance herself from specific political movements. She was harassed in her native Argentina (once even receiving a body search by a policeman on stage), but remained steadfast. After a period of exile in Europe, she returned to a hero’s welcome just before the fall of the Argentinian dictatorship.

Sosa did not write herself, but worked closely with people such as Chilean writer Violeta Parra, who composed her signature tune, “Gracias a la Vida” (Thanks to Life).

Although I mostly cover pop music on A-Lyric, I deeply regret that there is not more room for protest or politically-committed performers. Where have their audiences gone?

The infobahn is alive with Susan Boyle’s rendition (nice word, eh?) of the Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses”. There is an overwhelming opinion that Boyle has now recorded one of the definitive versions of the song. This, however, is seen as sacrilege by others, who cling to memories of the Stones and Gram Parsons. This sort of fuss is frequent when someone decides to cover a song. Why? What’s the issue?

One of the most enduring myths in pop culture is the myth of the auteur. There is a strange obsession about artists singing their own lyrics. I think it comes from our desire to associate the performer with the song – as if most men could actually love you “all night long” or Marilyn Manson was as dark and twisted as he tries to make out (which I doubt – he’s remarkably well-read and articulate). To burst the bubble, all one has to do is think of some absolute defining moments in pop and ask: who cares who wrote them?

Who cares that Elvis Presley didn’t write “Hound Dog” (Lieber & Stoller)? Who cares that Edith Piaf didn’t write “Je ne regrette rien” (Doumont & Vaucaire)? Who cares if Jimi Hendrix didn’t compose “Hey Joe” (Billy Roberts)? Each made history and moved countless millions of people with their versions. What’s more, how would those songs sound if sung by their respective authors? The answer is easy: disappointing in most cases.

If it’s worth singing, sing it well
So I can’t knock people singing “covers”. It’s a tribute. If a song is worth writing, it is worth singing well. And for me, the better the singer the happier we should be. Yes, even if that singer is Celine Dion, Nana Mouskouri or in this case the winner of a TV show.

Coming back to “Wild Horses”, Boyle has indeed created a superb version. Yes, it’s a bit incongruous Susan Boyle slipping into a song made famous by Mick Jagger. But she breathes new life into the song. When you look at it from a songwriting perspective, “Wild Horses” is basically a magnificent melody and structure with dubious lyrics. I’m not sure how Boyle manages to put such emotion into Jagger’s mild misogyny, but she does. Being a nice guy at heart, I salute verses such as:

I watched you suffer a dull aching pain
Now you decided to show me the same
No sweeping exits or offstage lines
Could make me feel bitter or treat you unkind

Wild horses couldn’t drag me away
Wild, wild horses, couldn’t drag me away

But I’ll pass on the rest. We should be thanking Susan Boyle for her voice and heart. We need more of both in the charts.

Susan Boyle: I Dreamed a Dream

Another face behind the hits has passed, with the death of songwriter and producer Ellie Greenwich in New York at the age of 68. Although many music fans might not know her name, she is the writer and co-writer on a string of all-time classics that include “Be My Baby”, “Da Doo Ron Ron”, “River Deep, Mountain High” and “Leader of the Pack”. Phil Spector played a part in many of these, but Greenwich also had hits with a range of record companies and publishers. Elton John, Cher, Tina Turner, Mariah Carey, Bette Midler, Celine Dion, U2 and Twisted Sister are just some of the performers that have covered her songs, with performers such as Neil Diamond crediting her with his early success.

For more about Greenwich, visit Ellie Greenwich.com.

I’m not going to add much to the obits flowing in about Michael Jackson. To be honest, I’m kind of dreading the flood of revelations that will inevitably surface about a man who could do nothing like anyone else for better or for worse. His death was obviously unexpected and is strangely an anti-climax to his roller-coaster career. Last word goes to producer Quincy Jones: “He was the consummate entertainer and his contributions and legacy will be felt upon the world forever. I’ve lost my little brother today, and part of my soul has gone with him.”

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• Quincy Jones Remembers Jackson (idiomag.com)

It’s a sad fact that Norman Whitfield was not better known at the end of his career. When he died of complications due to diabetes, the obituaries mostly mentioned the fact the wrote “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” with longtime lyric-writing partner Barrett Strong for Marvin Gaye. But I’d argue that Whitfield was perhaps one of the most influential writers and arrangers of his time.

Whitfield’s first break came when he worked in Motown’s “quality control” department, effectively choosing the songs that were to be released. He then joined the writing team, but really hit his stride when he started producing the songs he wrote.

He continued to strike gold as both a writer and producer, with classics such as “Ain’t no Sun Since You’ve Been gone” (for Diana Ross and the Supremes) and “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg”. He later started writing and recording darker material with a direct connection to the changes in society, leading to further landmark tracks such as “Cloud Nine”, “Psychedelic Shack”, “Ball of Confusion” and Edwin Starr’s “War (What is it Good For?)” which was later covered by Bruce Springsteen.

By combining lush soul production values with distorted guitars and funk, he created an instantly recognisable sound that was later put to good commercial use in the soundtrack to “Car Wash” featuring Rose Royce, who later had a hit with his “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore”.

Whitfield died on September 16, 2008. As a good example of his musical vision and writing talents, check out the aptly-named “Masterpiece” by The Temptations in 1973. Visit his page on the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame.

Rick Wright, one of the founders of Pink Floyd, died of cancer on September 15 at the age of 65. Wright was a renowned musician, providing the distinctive Hammond organ playing for Pink Floyd, as well as being a songwriter. He provided tunes for several early Floyd tracks, including ‘Paintbox’, ‘Remember A Day’ and ‘Summer ’68′. He also added vocals to the band’s 1971 23-minute classic ‘Echoes’. His standout track, however, is without a doubt the magnificent ‘The Great Gig In The Sky’, the epic tune on 1973′s million-selling ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’.

For a statement from Pink Floyd, visit Brain Damage.

Try also The Dub Side of the Moon

My, my how times change. This item covered in journals such as Forbes and the International Herald Tribune, no less, is an indication of two things. The first is the importance of words. The second is the increasing number of women in armies around the world. The story they are covering is the announcement of the US Army’s West Point military academy to accommodate the many women that have attended it – and died in action. PC? A fair tribute? Here’s what I think…

The army has traditionally been the reserve of men. But perhaps starting with armies such as Israel and later Iran, women have been taking a far greater role over the past few decades. But what to do about army songs such as “Alma Mater” and “The Corps”. After attending the funeral of a female, Superintendent Lt. Gen. Franklin “Buster” Hagenbeck felt that singing, “Guide us, thy sons…” was a little inappropriate. At a ceremony commemorating the 30th anniversary of women being admitted to West Point, he listened as the female alums sang lyrics that included, “We sons of today, we salute you.”

So Hagenbeck has been considering changing expressions such as “the men” to “the ranks” and “we sons” to “the corps”.

It doesn’t seem much to ask for the contribution women are being asked to make, and doesn’t change the core message. I salute the idea.