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Post by Mevrouw Bee on May 15, 2021 13:52:22 GMT
A Twitter follower threw out an interesting theory this morning...that the song "Write On" may have been Clarkey's tribute to Bruce Springsteen?
The timing's right...and it makes sense...But any evidence?
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Post by stuball on May 15, 2021 19:43:51 GMT
Don't think so.
More likely it was Clarke appealing to his bandmates to keep forging ahead songwriting-wise, despite the poor sales of their recent, largely group-written Another Night LP, and the title single itself. I know I've told this tale here several years back, but for those who haven't heard it, here it is again. Back around '76/77, I had FM radio on, and a listener rang up and requested 'Sandy(4th of July Asbury Park) by The Hollies'. Without missing a beat, the DJ blurted out, 'Why listen to a cover-band version, when we can hear it from the Master himself?' and proceeded to play Springsteen's original. I think that's an prime example of what The Hollies were up against back then, from DJ's, Programme Directors and the rock media in general.
I'd like to think Clarke at the time was trying to buck up the rest of the group to believe in themselves and their songwriting abilities. So that they didn't sell themselves short, and fall back on depending almost totally on outside sources for material.
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Post by Mevrouw Bee on May 16, 2021 12:38:27 GMT
Don't think so. More likely it was Clarke appealing to his bandmates to keep forging ahead songwriting-wise, despite the poor sales of their recent, largely group-written Another Night LP, and the title single itself. I know I've told this tale here several years back, but for those who haven't heard it, here it is again. Back around '76/77, I had FM radio on, and a listener rang up and requested 'Sandy(4th of July Asbury Park) by The Hollies'. Without missing a beat, the DJ blurted out, 'Why listen to a cover-band version, when we can hear it from the Master himself?' and proceeded to play Springsteen's original. I think that's an prime example of what The Hollies were up against back then, from DJ's, Programme Directors and the rock media in general. I'd like to think Clarke at the time was trying to buck up the rest of the group to believe in themselves and their songwriting abilities. So that they didn't sell themselves short, and fall back on depending almost totally on outside sources for material. Ridiculous, isn't it? Did that DJ never play the Byrds greatest hits for the same reason? "All Around the Watchtower" by Hendrix? "Nah...you wanna hear Dylan..." That's just that same snobbery I read on Twitter by boomer classic rock fans...the Hollies were only a "pop" band who had two good songs and were shite after Nash left because they were only a "pop" band. Pffft.
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Post by anthony on May 16, 2021 14:04:00 GMT
Never felt the Hollies got the respect they deserved, sadly think a lot just thought of them as a 60’s group. The Hollies did a wonderful version of Sandy.
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