by Robert Wilkinson
Though most have never heard of this superstar producer who died young, you’ve heard his music since he wrote some immortal tunes. It’s a good day to dance! We have Van Morrison, the Isley Brothers, the Beatles, the Jarmels, the Stones, the Strangeloves, the McCoys, and a bunch more.
November 8 was the birthday of Bertrand Russell Burns (November 8, 1929 – December 30, 1967), aka Bert Russell or Russell Byrd. An amazing songwriter and producer in the 60s, he gave us 51 of the most famous hits of the era before he died of heart failure. It is said that he was a pioneer in “bringing Latin rhythms to soul music, and soul to rock and roll.” Founder of Bang Records, he produced and recorded some of the best of the best before he checked out.
So today we enjoy the work of a blazing star of pop music! I’ve mainly found the studio versions, since he either wrote and/or produced these legendary gems!
One of the ultimate attitude tunes was co-written by Burt! Here’s his iconic second hit, done as only the Isley Brothers could! “Twist and Shout” Since it’s such a great tune to dance to, here’s a live performance by the Isleys of "Twist and Shout."
Before the Isleys and the Beatles, in 1961 Phil Spector produced this strange arrangement of this song. Not much twisting and shouting, but certainly a novelty. "Twist and Shout."
Of course no tribute to this song would be complete without this gem from February 1964 which stayed at #2 for four weeks, performed by “the Lads” in one of the three highest television audiences in history at the time, "Twist and Shout." (The first two broadcasts still hold the all-time record for largest audiences tuning in to a regularly scheduled television series. The first show had 73 million, and over 45% of all televisions in the US!)
We now go back to two more early hits from the early 60s!
First, the studio version of Burt’s first hit which the Jarmels took to #12 on the charts in 1961, the classic “A Little Bit of Soap.” Here they are a few years ago at an oldies show still cranking it out, live and up close! “A Little Bit of Soap”
Here’s a very strange music video of the original Exciters doing their 1962 #4 hit penned by our birthday boy, “Tell Him.”
Here’s the 1963 #4 hit recording by Garnet Mimms and the Enchanters of “Cry Baby.” Of course the best known version was given to us by the divine Pearl, Ms. Janis Joplin! For your enjoyment, I found a very LIVE awesome performance by Janis in Toronto in 1970, who puts so much feeling into this song that it’s breathtaking! “Cry Baby”
I found four fantastic live performances of one of Bert Burns’ iconic hits!
First, we have a great live performance in 2003 by Solomon Burke, who originally took the song to the charts in 1964! “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love.” Of course, the more famous version was done by Jake and Elwood Blues! From The Blues Brothers movie, “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love.”We now go to three classic performances of the tune by the same band. First I found this clipped NME live performance by the Rolling Stones of “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love,” which we’ll follow with this obscure 1965 live television performance by the Stones of “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love.” We’ll close by going to Paris in 2003, where we have Mick and the Stones uniting with Solomon Burke in an ab-fab live video performance of “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love”
Both Solomon Burke and the Stones made this one written by Bert into a hit! Here’s Solomon’s 1962 version of “Cry To Me” and here’s the Stones’ 1965 version of “Cry To Me”
Bert “wrote” this one which became the Animals’ first single in February 1964! “Baby Let Me Take You Home” In fact, it’s a reworking of this song written by Eric Von Schmidt in 1961 made popular by America’s bard early in his career. You compare what you just heard with this Bob Dylan performance of “Baby Let Me Follow You Down”
Here’s an interesting (if primitive) early music video from 1964 of the Drifters performing a Bert Burns produced tune “Under the Boardwalk”
From 1965, another BB produced tune that Barbara Lewis took to #11 on the Hot 100, “Baby I’m Yours.” From the same classy lady, a great live television performance of another BB production that also went to #11 that same year, in this clip followed by another performance of her first hit, “Make Me Your Baby” and “Baby I’m Yours”
From the 1965 NME, a great live performance by Them (fronted by a very young Van Morrison!) of a tune written by Bert Burns, “Here Comes the Night.” Also from 1965, a television performance of another blues standard Bert produced that Them turned into a hit, “Baby Please Don’t Go”
So of course, when the Belfast Cowboy left the Isles for the new land, he and Burt got together for one of the best known songs in history, “Brown Eyed Girl”
Bert also put together (without Van’s knowledge) a bunch of singles which became Van’s first solo album Blowin Your Mind” Critics are all over the map about this album and its psychedelic artwork which misrepresented where Van was at. Still, I think it has some great songs, so judge for yourself.
Bert wrote this iconic garage rock classic that Rick Derringer and the McCoys took to #1 on the Charts in 1965! Here they’re obviously lip synching to the original. “Hang on Sloopy.”
These are two strange “live” performance videos by the McCoys of the song. The first looks like it’s the actual “performance” while the second looks like it’s footage from the same shoot, but focused on the dancer (a famous groupie named Liz Brewer) who was married to Rick Derringer, rather than the band. Here are the teenage McCoys cranking out “Hang on Sloopy.” From the same shoot with a different soundtrack, “Hang on Sloopy.”
Of course, no rendition of this classic would be complete without the Ohio State Marching Band version! For your enjoyment, two performances that must be heard to be believed! From Nov 2013, an indoor performance of "Hang On Sloopy." And out in the end zone, live and outdoors in Sept 2013, a great performance of "Hang On Sloopy."
Bert co-wrote this classic that the Strangeloves took to #11, complete with the Bo Diddley beat! (Sounds like at least one of the 4 writers was listening to “Willie and the Hand Jive” by the great Johnny Otis…) From Hullabaloo, “I Want Candy.” For the newer hit version, here’s Bow Wow Wow live in 1983 taking care of business! “I Want Candy”
Bert signed and co-produced Neil Diamond when he signed his first recording contract with Bang Records. For your enjoyment, his first big ones, recorded on Bert’s Bang Records label! Here’s a great early b/w video of Neil lip-synching to the original studio version of “Solitary Man,” and here’s his second big hit on Bang, a lip-synched performance of “Cherry Cherry.” We’ll close with his version of his third and last hit on Bang, performed at the Bitter End in the late 60s, "Kentucky Woman."
Here’s the original that was written and produced by Bert back in 1967, and made into a hit by Irma Franklin! “Piece of My Heart.” Of course, we must include several very live and passionate performances of the tune by Janis! First, from Germany in 1968, “Piece of My Heart.” We then go to Stockholm 1969 and hear Janis belting out “Piece of My Heart,” and we’ll close with a video from Frankfurt in 1969 of Janis backed by the Kozmic Blues Band cranking out a live performance of her signature tune, “Piece of My Heart.”
We’ll close this tribute to Bert Burns by returning to the most famous version of "Twist and Shout." This live performance on November 4, 1963 features one of the most famous lines in history, delivered in most cheeky style by John Lennon to the Royal Family. After brief interviews, the fun begins 50 seconds in. Enjoy the Beatles giving up “Twist and Shout.” At the beginning I gave you the iconic performance a few weeks later on their third Ed Sullivan Show appearance on 23 Feb 1964 (when their hair was longer), and so for our third Beatle performance of this tune, here’s the live performance in Oz in June of 1964 of “Twist and Shout.”
For a guy whose career was only 7 years, you did an awesome job of writing a dozen immortal songs and producing some truly classic performers. Thanks for the memories.
Copyright © 2023 Robert Wilkinson
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