Growing up in the greatest time for variety shows was quite the blessing. The Smother's brothers, Ed Sullivan, Johnny Cash's show, Bobby Darin (Dusty John Dusty) and The Sonny and Cher Hour were great places to hear songs from all over. They all took chances on unheard of artists as well as the best known of the day. Included in that were the hosts themselves (okay, not so much the case with Ed Sullivan).

 With the Sonny and Cher hour, the format was pretty simple: Sonny was always set up as the foil and Cher would always come out the winner in the comedy bits. Nothing wrong with that. That formula was a guarantee in those days. It always seemed like he deserved it anyway, and Cher was the star.

Behind the scenes, Sonny was the gifted songwriter who wrote and produced most of the hits they would have in their career together. Considering he was of the old school writers like Paul Williams, Paul Anka, Neil Diamond and Goffin/King he nonetheless played around with meter and Key change.

I rediscovered this song from 1966 and it shows how much Sonny messed around with convention at the same time new artists like Zappa and Bowie were getting their feet wet.

Posted by: topmaker at 09:16 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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