Nick Ashford, who co-wrote “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing” with his wife Valerie Simpson, died today yesterday at the age of 70. Ashford and Simpson also did “Solid”, a staple of early 80s top forties radio, at least where I grew up (“the thrill is still ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-hot”).
I know there’s nothing more pathetic than an oldster cracking about how much better things were in the old days when songs (and movies) were produced by some autocratic (and, yes, probably exploitative) studio system, but they sure don’t make ’em like the great Motown hits anymore.
In one of my next lives, after I come back as a Baltimore detective, a hard-drinking Manhattan ad man, and a tough-as-nails small-city reporter, I’d like to be reincarnated as half of a husband-wife songwriting team.
Update. RIP Jerry Lieber too.
ChrisB
I have the same memories of Ashford and Simpson as you.
Which half would you rather be?
cleek
when I grow up, i want to be a principal or a caterpillar.
BD of MN
what, no love for Jerry Lieber?
SiubhanDuinne
Which half?
Elie
May he rest in peace…
Lots of great memories for me…thanks for posting this song…
Big Baby DougJ
@SiubhanDuinne:
Doesn’t matter.
Dennis SGMM
This is a definite sadness following the death of Jerry Leiber.
wasabi gasp
That guy always looked like the friendliest guy in the world. If I ever met him, I think I would’ve had to sit in his lap. Friendliest is a very strange word.
jo6pac
Never my bag until these 2 all I can say is thanks to them.
lamh34
This may surprise no one here, but I’m much more aware of Ashford and Simpson than Leiber if I”m being honest, I’ll admit, I really had no idea who he was.
Ashford and Simpson though, were the soundtrack to my early life and there were seriously an institution in the community. “Solid” was on anyone’s record player back in the day, and was the theme song for “black married” couple anniversaries and vow renewals.
BTW DougJ, just to nitpik, but Nick Ashford died yesterday not today.
long ago
you got the wrong video.
watch this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8IYJBbPEHE
and tell me that tammi was not one of the most adorable women ever.
and those two are *so* into each other! I mean–chemistry like you seldom see from hollywood stars.
jeff
“they sure don’t make ‘em like [X]” is pretty much false for any value of [X] (good screwball comedies are haerd to find, but other than that). It may take a bit of a Pandora or Youtube search to find someone playing with a particular sound, but there is much more diversity of artists these days than at any other time. Youtube and the “social media” have to a major extent broken the stranglehold that the studios had on artists, so they can play what they want and make a decent living.
You’re just not looking hard enough (or at all).
Kathleen
Sad day. Two giants gone. Damn!
Big Baby DougJ
@jeff:
Meh, that’s not what I want, I want to turn my radio on and hear the songs and then have everyone I know know the songs too. You youngsters will never understand what I mean.
Richard S
All correct – Tho Nick was not what I could call a friend he was that warm and nice – the upper west side is in mourning.
When he was remodeling the Sugar Bar he hung out with us next door and gave tours of the progress.
Pure class and will be sorely missed even by us who were just grazed by his talent.
wasabi gasp
@jeff: There is way too much crap on the lawn for an easter egg hunt.
Bruce S
“Another Side of Jerry Lieber”
I remember when I was a very little girl, our house caught on fire.
I’ll never forget the look on my father’s face as he gathered me up
in his arms and raced through the burning building out to the pavement.
I stood there shivering in my pajamas and watched the whole world go up in flames.
And when it was all over I said to myself, “Is that all there is to a fire?”
Is that all there is, is that all there is
If that’s all there is my friends, then let’s keep dancing
Let’s break out the booze and have a ball
If that’s all there is
And when I was 12 years old, my father took me to the circus, the greatest show on earth.
There were clowns and elephants and dancing bears
And a beautiful lady in pink tights flew high above our heads.
And as I sat there watching the marvelous spectacle
I had the feeling that something was missing.
I don’t know what, but when it was over,
I said to myself, “Is that all there is to a circus?”
Is that all there is, is that all there is
If that’s all there is my friends, then let’s keep dancing
Let’s break out the booze and have a ball
If that’s all there is
Then I fell in love, with the most wonderful boy in the world.
We would take long walks by the river or just sit for hours gazing into each other’s eyes.
We were so very much in love.
Then one day, he went away. And I thought I’d die — but I didn’t.
And when I didn’t I said to myself, “Is that all there is to love?”
Is that all there is, is that all there is
If that’s all there is my friends, then let’s keep dancing
I know what you must be saying to yourselves.
If that’s the way she feels about it why doesn’t she just end it all?
Oh, no. Not me. I’m in no hurry for that final disappointment.
For I know just as well as I’m standing here talking to you,
when that final moment comes and I’m breathing my lst breath, I’ll be saying to myself,
Is that all there is, is that all there is
If that’s all there is my friends, then let’s keep dancing
Let’s break out the booze and have a ball
If that’s all there is
– I love me some Big Mama, Coasters, Drifters and the rest, but Jerry and his buddy Mike covered a hell of a lot of territory in their 60 years as songwriters…
ruemara
They really don’t make them like that any more. And I say this as someone who wasn’t really a fan, but if I want go to romantic music, it’s either Beethoven or classic R&B like this. Modern R&B music, at least the popular stuff, has no subtlety, no romance, no class. Rest in peace, Mr. Ashford. And also Mr. Leiber, who also knew how to make a rock song that wasn’t a crass exercise in dumb audio porn. And get off my lawn, I’m gonna go LARP WoW.
punkdavid
Ashford, Lieber…
If I were Gerry Goffin I wouldn’t go outside for the next few days.
RIP.
Linkmeister
@punkdavid: Or Carole King. Or any of the Holland-Dozier-Holland team. Or, or. . .
Villago Delenda Est
@Big Baby DougJ:
I’m with you Doug. While breaking the stranglehold of the recording outfits is good, the fact is, a lot of good music is atomized into nothing now. A certain common touchstone has been lost.
Bruce S
By some weird coincidence I’ve been reading “Hound Dog”, the Lieber-Stoller memoir these last two days. Jerry’s death hit me really hard because their story was fresh in my head. There’s a great anecdote – among many – where the guys bring that song – Is That All There Is – which became a hit for Peggy Lee, to Marlena Dietrich. She listens and asks Jerry if he’s ever seen her perform. He hesitates…then goes “honest” and says, No! Dietrich tells him, I knew if you said Yes! you’d be lying, because that song you just played for me is who I am, not what I do.
Regarding the earlier genius and absolutely tone-perfect R&B stuff, Lieber learned black vernacular as a little kid, delivering kerosene and groceries for his mother, a Jewish immigrant who ran a corner store in the black section of Baltimore and was one of the few merchants who extended credit to black families. Jerry would run the grocery errands, get invited into black homes, get fed and sit and listen to folks talk, tell stories and play records. Stoller – also, not surprisingly a Jewish kid, who had jazz pretension early on – was immersed in Harlem social clubs as a teenager and took piano lessons from James P Johnson after getting hooked on “boogie woogie” listening to a black kid on keyboards at a “prematurely diverse” left-wing youth camp in upstate NY. They didn’t “cross-over” – they got “crossed over” at an early age. God bless America.
Linkmeister
@Bruce S: Huh. I didn’t know there was such a book. Thanks for mentioning it; I just reserved it at my library.
Jebediah
So no more Jerry Lieber, but still too much Lieberman. I feel crapped upon by the universe.
Big Baby DougJ
@Bruce S:
Amen.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@Bruce S: Pretty good reviews that say it’s too short!
Cain
@ruemara:
For some reason, I just thought of Frasier when I read your comment. :-)
BTW those two (Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell) are really one hot pair. Marvin Gaye looks a total Casanova and Tammi looks absolutely adorable.
I do like those songs.. but man, Marvin Gaye though.. that guy was something else.
Your right they don’t make em like that anymore.. I hate today’s R&B on the radio.. I need to start searching for some good stuff, I know it is out there. BTW I think Justin Timberlake is pretty awesome… if you listen to his music in a top 40 station, you’ll immediately hear the difference. Great talent, and a class act, and damn funny.
Dennis SGMM
Seems like it’s time for this again:
The Night Shift – The Commodores
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@Dennis SGMM: Ever hear Tom Joyner talk about his mother and wife making him quit the Commodores? “That group is going nowhere, especially that Lionel”!
Bruce S
Raven – yeah, it’s too short. But that’s a better review than “Too long!” In form, it’s just a dueling oral history thing, but I think it’s essential as part of the “American music” puzzle. One of the amazing things in the book is the stuff that’s been left on the shelf, mostly un-produced work for Broadway – including an Oscar Wilde musical! They also tried to line up Elvis for a Kazan-Shulberg film of Algren’s “Walk on the Wild Side” – but got shot down by that shit Col. Parker. Good stuff…
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@Bruce S: I’m on it like a duck on a junebug. After that fucking Zevon nightmare I need this.
Big Baby DougJ
@Cain:
I agree with you. I say JT Is good because he understands the greatness of Michael Jackson so he aims for that.
Steeplejack
My favorite Ashford & Simpson was “Any Street Corner.”
Shlemizel - was Alwhite
Saw Ashford & Simpson in person at the Dakota Club a year or so ago & it was a great show. Its pretty impressive when you can do a really long set of nothing but number 1 hits.
But I’m really old & nobody can come close to the work of Lieber and Stoller. The work they did, particularly for the time they were crushing the charts, is spectacular.
Too bad there is that ass that claims he writes the songs that make the whole world sing. He is unfit to lick the floors either of these to giants walked on.
gbear
You should probably give a listen to this Fresh Air interview with Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil then. It’s an entertaining listen.
Dennis SGMM
@Raven (formerly stuckinred):
I’ll have to find that. Back in the Eighties, when I was still a machinist, one of my co-workers invited my wife and I to dinner at his home in Pasadena. When we walked into the living room I saw that he had a very professional keyboard setup. After dinner, while we were getting stoned, I remarked that the KB, amps, etc., looked pro grade.
He had gone to High School with Eddie Van Halen in Pasadena and joined Van Halen’s band. Shortly after graduating, he left the band and went to a vocational school to learn machining. “You left the band?” I asked him. “Yes,” he answered, “I didn’t think they were going anywhere.”
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
i was going through some ashford and simpson songs on youtube, they loved to start song titles with ain’t. the other thing, i am shocked that i knew so many of their songs. not just by title, but as soon as they played a bit, word for word.
Mike in NC
Those guys were national treasures. RIP.
rikyrah
as long as people still want good music, there will always be someone listening to a Nick Ashford/Valerie Simpson song.
RIP Mr. Ashford
Elie
@Dennis SGMM:
well done, well done…
AxelFoley
Peaceful Journey, Mr. Ashford.
Solid…solid as a rock…
AxelFoley
@Dennis SGMM:
Man, if I could rec this post a million times, I would.
AxelFoley
@rikyrah:
Another + million rec.
CT Voter
Late to this thread.
Loved this era of music. LOVED. Burned into my brain in a way unlike any other genre.
70 seems pretty young. As in, HOLY COW! HE WAS ONLY HOW OLD WHEN THEY WROTE THAT SONG?
Cat Lady
Today is my birthday and all of this music makes me happy and sad, and then there was an earthquake and other strange stuff happened. Weird day.
Jebediah
@Cat Lady:
Happy birthday!
Libby
Oldster is in the eye of the beholder, kid. And no, they don’t make ’em like the grand old Motown hits anymore. Sadly the low tech, high talent era is pretty much over.
Libby
Happy birthday Cat Lady and many blessings in your next orbit around the sun.
Quiddity
Re:
It’s definitely different. Much less melody, harmony, and rhythm. That’s partly due to the overwhelming influence of rap, which is basically poetry.
The elevation of the spoken word (again, largely due to rap) and the diminution of vocals as an instrument, has brought us to our current situation.
Of note: Commercials rarely use contemporary music because of this development away from hummable tunes. And it’s not because conservative ad agencies always use decades old music. They didn’t do that in the 60’s and 70’s. They used contemporary music frequently back then.
Quiddity
@Libby: Motown hits, especially by Holland-Dozier-Holland, were remarkable because frequently the longish intro had its own hook. You got two rushes in a single song! That was great.
Anne Laurie
@Cat Lady: Happy (slightly belated) birthday!
Mnemosyne
@Quiddity:
I’m not sure what commercials you’ve been seeing, but I hear contemporary music in them all the time. French pop band Phoenix hit the big time here in the US because Cadillac used their song in their ads. Chrysler has a whole campaign built around Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.” Etc.
If you were going to say that they don’t build commercials around vocal music anymore, that would make sense, but “contemporary” is definitely the wrong word to get that across.
Yutsano
@Mnemosyne:
30 Seconds To Mars haz a sad.
MJ
@wasabi gasp:
You know what? You are totally right. I knew Nick Ashford. (I am friends with one of his daughters and had countless sleepovers at their house in NYC back in the day.) Nick really was one of the coolest, friendliest, gentlest men that I knew.
He was just as awesome, funky, over the top, and fabulous in person as he appeared on TV. But in private he also was a really sweet, very humble and completely down to earth dude who loved his wife, family & friends (and even his kids’ little friends) with all of his heart.
Thanks for taking out a minute to honor him here, y’all. Nick will really be missed!
RIP Mr. A.
Jeff
@Big Baby DougJ @ 14:
I’m probably older than you are, so.
But that’s not what you asked for. You said “they sure don’t make ‘em like the great Motown hits anymore”, which, to me sounds like you want new songs that sound like classic Motown. I say, there probably are bands doing that, simply because there are bands doing EVERYTHING (Rule 34 for music?). What happens when you key some classic Motown into Pandora? You might discover something new (or newish — Pandora’s playlist seems to be about 5 or 10 years old) that you like.
Jeff
@Quiddity @ 49:
What HAS Annie Lennox been up to lately? (Recording, it turns out — I just haven’t heard her recently. I know what I’ll be YouTubing tomorrow! Joan Baez, too.)
============================
Even if we don’t have a great Motown talent today, back in the 70s, they didn’t have Annie Lennox, or the Offspring, or Social D, or…. I like the music of the 70s, but I like the music of today too.
Rihilism
@Jeff: Yes, well, I’m old enough to ask, “What the hell is Pandora?”,;)…
dj spellchecka
don’t forget this: a great early ashford and simpson song [written for ray charles] that took on a bigger, second life as a hard rock staple..”i don’t need no doctor.”
Big Baby DougJ
@Jeff:
I like that Girl Put Your Records On song if that makes you happy.
jeff
@Rihilism:
Pandora takes one or more songs and attempts to find songs “like” them (“busy horn section”, “antiphony”, “subtle use of vocal harmony”, etc). It’s a fun way to find artists who do the kind of music you like (shining a black light on the easter eggs and hiding the crap on the lawn, to use a previous analogy).
You can share your “channels” (I have 11 for whatever mood I’m in) and thus share artists with your friends.
jeff
Corinne Bailey Rae has a GREAT voice (and she is quite cute, too). Thanks for the recommendation.