Cinderella Rockefella
Saturday 9: Cinderella Rockefella (1968)
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.
Hosted by Sam!
1) This record and video were inspired by popular tunes of the 1920s. Looking over your lifetime, which decade produced more of your favorite songs?I would have to say the 1960’s which were my teen years, my coming of age decade, and as I was defining myself! I do believe that music has some power of defining our young minds .
2) "Cinderella Rockefella" topped the charts in England, yet barely broke into the Billboard Hot 100 here in the States. Still, the number was known to American audiences, performed as a duet on variety shows like The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (Tommy and Kate Smith), This Is Tom Jones (Cher and Tom) and The Dean Martin Show (Nancy Ames and Dean). Do you remember watching musical-comedy programs? Did you have a favorite? I really enjoyed the musical comedies of the 60’s as well. I really loved the Andy Williams Show, and Carol Burnett.
3) It was written by Mason Williams, a prolific composer and comedy writer, as well as a talented guitarist. He is best known for "Classical Gas," his 1968 instrumental. Do you enjoy instrumentals? Or does a piece of music need lyrics to become one of your favorites? Oh, I loved Classical Gas and the symphonic rock music that Mason Williams introduced which led to MacArthur Park and I believe the group Chicago that had such rhythmic symphonic instruments in their rock songs.
4) This week's featured artists, Esther & Abi Ofarim, were considered the Sonny & Cher of Europe. A married couple, they had hits in the 1960s in both the UK and Germany and were depicted in magazines as the perfect young husband and wife. Fans were disappointed when, in 1969, they quit performing together and divorced in 1970 after 12 years of marriage. Can you think of a couple you knew in real life whose split shocked you? Or can you usually see it coming? I really do not remember a divorce in my history of friends or family.
5) Comparisons to Sonny & Cher are apt because, as with the Bonos, the wife's show business career fared better than the husband's, post-divorce. Esther's BBC specials were "appointment TV" in the UK during the 1970s. Today, with the advent of streaming and DVRs, viewers don't have to make sure they're in front of the screen when their favorite show airs. Tell us about the last show you watched. Was it live, streamed, on DVR or DVD/Blueray? I watch a lot of YouTube streamed shows. I am quite disappointed by most regular tv.
6) She had a solo hit with Esther in Kinderland, a collection of children's songs. Can you recall the lyrics of a favorite song from childhood? Where did you learn it (home, church, Scouts ...)? My childhood songs were taught by my mother and many in church.
7) Abi continued performing after the split, but more often worked behind the scenes as a record producer and music publisher. Would you say you have a good head for business? Not really.
8) After they finished school, both Abi and Esther served in the Israeli Army, and Abi saw combat. Have you served in our military? Did you ever consider enlisting? No, but my fiancée was in the military and when we married I became a military wife straight away. That was an eye opener in many ways especially living in another country where we didn’t speak the language. We never dealt with combat, but I was trained to be vigilant civilian agent On the look out for unusual activity / because of the Cold War. We army wives were trained for what to be on the look out for as we were out and about the community.
9) Random question: How many keys are on your key ring, and do you know what each one is for.I have 5 keys and yesI do not use them much anymore due to our
keyless auto. But you still have to have them
with you!
#8: That sounds fascinating! I would love to hear more military wives' stories.
ReplyDeleteThat's really interesting and intriguing conjecture about Mason Williams and Chicago. I'd never thought about the progression, but it makes sense.
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