No Brill Chill
I heard the Brill Building classic "On Broadway" yesterday on the radio. (The best book on the Brill Building takes its name from the song: Always Magic In The Air.) It was George Benson's version, which unfortunately has supplanted the Drifters' as the default.
I'll give credit to Benson for reimagining the song in 1978, it's just not as good as the original hit from 1963.
And there's another problem that's always bugged me. Here's the final verse:
They say that I won't last too long on Broadway
I'll catch a Greyhound Bus for home they all say
But they're dead wrong I know they are
'Cause I can play this here guitar
And I won't quit till I'm a star on Broadway
When Benson sings that he can play the guitar, the audience cheers. Why not? He's a great guitarist.
Which make nonsense of the song. The whole point is the singer is a loser who's fooling himself. But there's no question George Benson has the chops to make it.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:12 AM
5 Comments:
One thing always confused me (maybe this is the "Fame" effect)- I thought the song was supposed to be about dancers and singers-How many great dancing guitarists make it on Broadway?
Two songwriting teams, Leiber & Stoller, and Mann & Weil, wrote "On Broadway." Both of them were part of the Brill Building era, the last gasp of Tin Pan Alley. It all happened on the 1600 block of Broadway--to them, the street represented music, not musicals.
The point is that great guitarists can sing just about any words. Some of Stevie Ray's lyrics were utterly ridiculous, but who really cared?!?
Was Stevie Ray on Broadway?
I believe Stevie Ray played in some club on Broadway, though it might not have been New York's Broadway.
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