Buddy Holly Disguised His Voice in Falsetto on “Don’t Cha Know”

dont cha know buddy holly

More than fifty years ago on September 30, 1958, Buddy Holly produced a record in New York for an unknown singer named Lou Giordano, according to Larry Lehmer’s book The Day the Music Died (p. 41). The B-side of the record was a song written by Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers called “Don’t Cha Know.”

According to Roger White’s book on the Everly Brothers, Walk Right Back, during the recording, Everly and Holly sang backup.  But they sang falsetto because they could not afford female singers.  Also, because the two singers were under contract with another record company, they did not want anyone to recognize their voices.

Give it a listen. Can you recognize the voices of Buddy Holly and Phil Everly?

The A-side of the Giordano record was a song written by Holly called “Stay Close to Me.” Holly never recorded the song himself, and below is Giordano’s version on YouTube.

Also here is an interesting cover of “Stay Close to Me” by a guy named Ritchie Mars, who plays it a little like Holly might have. Check it out.

Lou Giordano (Lou Jordan)

Giordano had a modest hit with the Holly-produced single, but it did not launch a successful singing career for him. A few websites confuse Giordano with a younger music producer with the same name.  The Lou Giordano that Buddy Holly produced changed his performing name to “Lou Jordan” after Holly died.

Giordano had a wonderful voice and the songs he recorded lead one to wonder why he did not become more popular than he did.  In 1961, Giordano (as “Lou Jordan”) recorded the record “Paradise for Two / Close Your Eyes” backed by the doo wop group The Chaperones.  In 1963, he released another single “Just to Look at You” with the B-side “My Baby.”[See comment below from Giordano’s nephew noting that Giordano passed away in December 1969.]

Giordano’s daughter noted in an article that Holly changed the singer’s life. Another website notes a mystery about the location of Beltone Studios, where the record was made.

Still, Giordano’s small body of recorded music gives us a little insight into another question. It tells us something about the work that Holly might have done as a producer of other artists were he still around today.

What do you think of Holly’s falsetto? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • Billy Grammer and Buddy Holly’s Opening Song, “Gotta Travel On”
  • The First #1 Hit By The Everly Brothers
  • “Peggy Sue Got Married”: The Record That Buddy Holly Never Heard
  • Eddie Cochran’s Car Crash
  • Elvis Goes Into the Army: March 25, 1958
  • Who Flipped a Coin With Ritchie Valens?: The Day the Music Died and the Coin Toss Controversy
    • (Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

    Buy from Amazon

    Low Budget Sci-Fi & Much More in “Robot & Frank” (Short Review)

    robot & frank There seems to be a small trend of some independent films using science fiction elements, usually with little special effects, to explore universal themes. Films like Another Earth (2011), Melancholia (2011), and The Man from Earth (2007), dwell in a setting that looks normal but with a small twist. Each shows that science fiction may be used to explore the human condition without a big blockbuster budget. The latest to join this trend is Robot & Frank (2012), directed by Jake Schreier and starring Frank Langella.

    Robot & Frank is set in the “near future,” so that easily explains why everything looks like today, except for fancier cell phones and some occasional robots, including the “Robot” in the title who is voiced by Peter Sarsgaard. Langella plays Frank, a former burglar who is gradually losing his memory. His son worries about him, so one day he brings him a robot to look after him. Frank is resistant to the robot but he gradually warms to the new house guest, who not only cooks and cleans but who also may be useful in some local thievery.

    The film is largely a character study with some meditations on aging, changing technology, and memory. Langella is excellent as always, as is Susan Sarandon. The movie may not bowl you over, and it did not go as deep into the themes as I might have liked. But it has a little suspense and subdued humor throughout. If you are looking for a sci-fi action film, you may want to look elsewhere. But if you are just trying to find a decent entertaining movie before the big Fall movies arrive, check out Robot & Frank.

    Other Reviews Because Why Should You Believe Me? Rotten Tomatoes has a respectable 89% critics rating and 87% audience rating for Robot & Frank. Jeff Meyers at MetroTimes enjoyed the film while noting, “The final act, in particular, feels rushed and formulaic, and a subplot with Frank’s daughter (Liv Tyler) goes nowhere — but it does benefit immensely from his underlying character study, which is rich, tender and artful.” Witney Seibold at CraveOnline writes “Robot & Frank is, all at once, an astute look at the near future, a chuckle-worthy heist movie, a pure exercise in science fiction, and a sweet little drama.

    What did you think of Robot & Frank? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • Is “Captain Fantastic” Fantastic?
  • Bryan Cranston As LBJ in “All the Way” (Short Review)
  • “Pawn Sacrifice” and the Tragedy of Bobby Fischer (Short Review)
  • Doing “The Time Warp” Since 1975

    • (Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

    Glen Hansard’s Tiny Desk Concert

    Earlier this summer, NPR featured Glen Hansard in its Tiny Desk Concert series, where you get Hansard alone with his guitar up close. Hansard, who recently released his first solo CD after recording with The Frames and with Markéta Irglová, has a great voice that comes through in this acoustic set. Of course, you may know him from his role in the charming film Once (2006) with Irglová.

    So check out this set of Hansard and his guitar, where he plays the songs: “Love Don’t Leave Me Waiting,” “Bird Of Sorrow,” “Come Away To The Water,” “Lucia,” and “The Song Of Good Hope.”

    Hansard’s new CD — Rhythm and Repose (2012) — features four of the songs he plays above.

    What do you think of Hansard’s tiny desk concert? Leave your two cents in the comments.

    Buy from Amazon

  • RIP: A Brief Encounter with Glen Hansard
  • “Falling Slowly” by Glen Hansard and . . . Eddie Vedder (Duet of the Day)
  • Springsteen and Hansard “Drive All Night”
  • Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale Team Up for a Tiny Desk Concert
  • Glen Hansard the Busker
  • ‘Fairytale of New York’ at Shane MacGowan’s funeral

    • What a French Film Would Look Like If It Starred a Cat

    henri le chat noir

    For our funny video of the week, check out this send up of foreign films about an existential crisis. If you like foreign films, ennui, or cats — or even if you hate those things — you will enjoy Will Braden’s short film, Henri 2 Paw de Deux:

    If you like that one, there is the original Henri film, as well as Henri 3, Le Vet. Henri, Le Chat Noir has his own Facebook and Twitter accounts, as well as his own store. Next thing you know, he will be coming out with a book. Oh, he already has his own book.

    What is your favorite line in the film? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • What Tarantino’s “Star Trek” Might Look Like
  • New Honest Trailer for “The Princess Bride”
  • Tina Turner: Simply the Best
  • Billy on the Street Thanksgiving Parade
  • Batman vs. Superman, Old School
  • 100 Cartoon and Film Impressions in Under Four Minutes

    • Buy from Amazon

    The Body of Gram Parsons and The Streets of Baltimore

    gram parsons
    On September 19, 1973, singer-songwriter Gram Parsons died from too much morphine and tequila in Room 8 of a motel room in California. It was not the end for Parsons, or at least his body, which then went on an odd journey.

    Parsons’ Body

    Before Parsons’s death, Parsons and his road manager Phil Kaufman made a pact.  They agreed that for whichever one of them died first, the other would take the friend’s body to Joshua Tree National Park, where they would cremate the body.

    So, after Parsons’s death, Kaufman and Michael Martin, a roadie, then stole the body and coffin.  They took the coffin while it had been en route to a burial in Louisiana.

    Kaufman and Martin then drove the body to Joshua Tree National Park.  There, they poured gasoline on the coffin and set it on fire with a match.

    But Gasoline is not enough to cremate a body, so some of Parsons’s body survived the burning.  After Kaufman and Martin were arrested, the charred remains of Parsons were buried in New Orleans.

    Because at the time stealing a body was not a crime in California, Kaufman and Martin were fined for stealing property: the coffin. Today, though, one may still pay respect to Parsons at Joshua Tree.

    Grand Theft Parsons

    The story of the body theft was told in the movie Grand Theft Parsons (2003), starring Johnny Knoxville. It has been awhile since I saw the film, but I remember being a bit disappointed by it.

    The story’s focus on the few days seemed stretched out for a movie. And maybe I was disappointed that the movie did not tell us more about the most interesting person related to the story: Gram Parsons.

    Rotten Tomatoes has a 44% critics rating and 53% audience rating for Grand Theft Parsons. But I suspect other fans, like me, will still want to see the film.

    “Streets of Baltimore”

    I do not know whether or not Parsons would be unhappy that his remains are in New Orleans. But one of his classic songs, “Streets of Baltimore,” is about a another journey and going some place you do not want to be.

    In “Streets of Baltimore,” the singer recounts leaving Tennessee on the train for Baltimore because his love wants to live in the city.  He gets a factory job and walks the streets with her.  But he soon realizes she loves the city lights more than she loves him.

    So in the end, the singer takes the train back to Tennessee alone: “Now I’m a going back on that same train that brought me here before / While my baby walks the streets of Baltimore.”

    There is little video footage of Parsons, but check out this rare grainy recording of him singing with Emmylou Harris.

    It is sad that there is so little video footage of Gram Parsons. Not only did he predate the music video era, but much of his fame came after his short life ended. So, he was never a regular on television.

    Even in this grainy black and white video of “Streets of Baltimore,” you can still tell he is a superstar, though.  And wherever his ashes and remains are, his music resides in our souls.

    What is your favorite Gram Parsons song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

    Buy from Amazon

  • Song of the Day: “Boulder to Birmingham”
  • Tompall Glaser RIP
  • Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell Discuss New CD
  • Great Song, Bad Name: Hot Burrito #1
  • “There’s No End to Grief, That’s How We Know There’s No End to Love”: The Story of U2’s “One Tree Hill”
  • “Satan’s Jeweled Crown” & Bruce Springsteen (Cover of the Day)