Here's a slice of pre-"me"-generation positivity that encourages you to pluck a feather (ouch!) from the bluebird of happiness. It's sung by Brook Benton, was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, and squeaked its way into the Billboard Top 100, making it to number 99 late in 1968 (on Cotillion records).



Y'all know Brook Benton, that handsome fella with the gorgeous voice who had a string of hits in the late '50s and early '60s -- "It's Just a Matter of Time" (which he co-wrote), "The Boll Weevil Song," "Hotel Happiness," and, with Dinah Washington, "Baby (You've Got What It Takes)," and "A Rockin' Good Way (To Mess Around and Fall in Love)." He had a big comeback in 1970 with "Rainy Night in Georgia." And he also wrote some songs ("A Lover's Question," recorded by Clyde McPhatter), and produced some records too.



But I want to focus here on the guys who wrote this song. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller were one of the most prolific and successful songwriting and producing teams in pop music history, and were responsible for many hit records in the 1950s and '60s. They wrote a long string of hits for the Coasters ("Searchin'," "Yakety Yak," "Charlie Brown," "Along Came Jones," "Poison Ivy"), and wrote hits for the Drifters ("Ruby Baby," "Fools Fall in Love," "There Goes My Baby" (co-writers)), and Elvis Presley ("Hound Dog," "Jailhouse Rock," "Bossa Nova Baby"). They also wrote such iconic songs as "Kansas City," "Smokey Joe's Cafe," "Love Potion No. 9," "Stand By Me" (with Ben E. King), "On Broadway," and "Only in America" (the last two co-written with Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, another great songwriting team).

Some lesser-known but also notable songs include "An Open Fire" (for Johnny Mathis); "Flying" (recorded by Carmen McRae); and "D.W. Washburn" (recorded by the Monkees). They also wrote "I'm a Woman" and "Is That All There Is" for Peggy Lee, for whom they also wrote and produced an entire album, 1975's Mirrors.



It's been enlightening to me to learn that this songwriting team, who were so closely associated with a particular type of R&B record, and especially with so many songs with a comic element, were also such accomplished composers of more musically complex songs. (That Johnny Mathis tune is especially suave (listen).) And this song, "Do Your Own Thing," is particularly beautiful! The chord progression is so subtle, the string arrangement gorgeous, and the trumpet (or is it a flugelhorn) and flute parts add to the mesmerizing mood. Learning about songs such as this has introduced me to an entire dimension of the Leiber and Stoller songbook of which I was previously unaware.

Oh, and you can hear how this song was used to sell Thom McAn shoes on AM radio here, sung by Neil Diamond, from a KYA-AM aircheck (courtesy of Gary Mitchell of Top Shelf Oldies, on whose show I first heard both the song and the commercial).


from Forgotten New York