Sunday, October 5, 2014

R.I.P. Paul Revere (of Paul Revere & the Raiders)

He fronted a band out of Boise, Idaho (yes, Boise, Idaho)--or was it Portland, Oregon?--but he wasn't the lead singer (Mark Lindsay was). His real name was Paul Revere Dick, but, for obvious reasons, the Dick was nixed. The band's recording of "Kicks," written by the Brill Building team of Mann and Weil (who had earmarked it for Eric Burdon and the Animals), was ranked  number 400 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. (Or, to put it more succinctly, Dick's nixed; "Kicks" hits.)

An interesting piece of trivia: "Kicks" was produced by the late Terry Melcher, son of the great Doris Day. Melcher is also remembered because of his brief dealings with Charles Manson, which ended badly, and which sparked the Manson family's murder of Sharon Tate and the rest.

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