Recently, on the blog by Sciptor Senex at www.scriptorsenex.blogspot.com , there was a post with beautiful photos of starfish. It instantly reminded me of a hit record from the 60's called Red Rubber Ball. "You're not the only starfish in the sea" was the line that reminded me of the song. After some research, I was surprised and pleased to find that Paul Simon wrote the song with Bruce Woodley of the Seekers. Paul Simon wrote it while he was living and working in England. This song was by the band The Cyrkle and they were discovered and managed by Brian Epstein. Also, The Cyrkle opened for the Beatles when they did their U.S. Tour. John Lennon even gave them the unique spelling of the band's name which was after the circular roundabout in the band's Pennsylvania hometown.
Red Rubber Ball sold over one million records. My sister bought one of those and we happily danced and sang along with the music. It amazes me how music and lyrics can go together in such a way that makes it into a hit song. Listen to this. It still sounds good today and I just know that you will be singing it all day too! The lead singers later went on to become professional jingle writers and I was pleased to know that one wrote "Plop Plop Fizz Fizz" the Alka Seltzer ad and the other wrote "7Up, the Uncola". I have always appreciated a good tune, no matter if it was on the radio or on TV.
Here's a story that I like... A storm washed a lot of starfish upon the beach. To save them, a woman starts to throw the starfish back into the sea and her husband says, "What are you doing? There are hundreds of these, you can't possibly make a difference!" She then picks one up, throws it into the sea, looks at him and says, "I made a difference to that one!"
see if this works
ReplyDeleteHey! I have been trying to leave a comment on blogs and have not been able to. I tried to leave one on this blog and it wouldn't work either! Just now, it worked, so I will go to some of my favorite blogs and try now. I'm wishing myself good luck!
ReplyDeleteI'll bet I can leave a comment about how great this post is.
ReplyDeleteIn the UK the song was sung by Judith Durham and the Seekers but I can't recall if it was a big hit or not - I suspect not as The Seekers (the original ones not the New Seekers) were regarded as a band singing for young children.
ReplyDeleteI love the starfish story. That could well have been Jo. Not only did she rescue the starfish but once there were thousands of sand eels washed up on the shore and we put as many of them as we could back in the sea. Obviously it was just a minuscule proportion of those that were washed up. Nearby mackerel fishermen were laughing at us but 'we made a difference to that one'. Thanks, a great post.
Just Googled it and discovered that Neil Diamond recorded it at the same time as the Seekers - 1966! You live and learn.
ReplyDeleteAs for comments - Google sometimes does that to me. I think it gets tired or just has a bad mood day. I keave it alone for a while and when I try again it usually works.
I love knowing background stuff about musicians and their work, so, thank you for this informative post!
ReplyDeleteTrying once again.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment and for the inspiration, Sciptor Senex! I didn't know that Neil Diamond also covered this song. There was a lot going on in the 60's! Also, love the story too about the rescue of the sand eels. Why would anyone laugh at someone helping another living creature?
ReplyDeleteLibrarian,
ReplyDeleteBefore my comment conks out on me...let me say THANK YOU for your comment. Do I remember that you husband's family from England had someone in a band? Am I thinking correctly? I get things mixed up sometimes...let me know.