“Dear Prudence” is the name of a Beatles song written by John Lennon.  It appears on the Beatles’ November 1968 double-disc White Album.  Lennon wrote the song earlier that year in India, inspired by a woman named Prudence Farrow, sister of actress Mia Farrow.  The Beatles and the Farrow sisters  were part of a larger group who were then visiting the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on a weeks-long retreat in Rishikesh, India.  It was February-March 1968.  Prudence Farrow, then focused on learning transcendental meditation (TM), stayed in her room for long periods of time.  Lennon, worried she was depressed, wrote the song “Dear Prudence,” inviting her — as his lyrics would say — to “come out to play.”

     “All the people around her were very worried about the girl,” Lennon would later say.  “…So, we sang to her.”  Lennon and George Harrison were delegated by the group to help bring Prudence out, as she had held up in her room for some time.  Farrow was intent on learning the TM technique well enough to be able to teach it herself.  “I would always rush straight back to my room after lectures and meals so I could meditate,” she would later explain.  “John, George and Paul would all want to sit around jamming and having a good time and I’d be flying into my room.  They were all serious about what they were doing, but they just weren’t as fanatical as me…” 

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     George Harrison later mentioned to Prudence as the Beatles were leaving India, that they had written a song about her.  Farrow, flattered at the attention, would not hear the song until it came out on the album. 

     The resulting song, in any case, is quite beautiful musically; with finger-picking guitar featured prominently throughout, along with some very nice, harmonic Beatle vocals.  The song’s lyrics offer simplicity and innocence while praising nature’s beauty:  “..The sun is up, the sky is blue, it’s beautiful, and so are you…”.  Lennon is said to have considered it one of his favorite Beatles songs, and his son Julian has also named it his favorite.

Background

     In the time period leading up to and including the Beatles’ trip to India – 1967-1968 — there had already been, and would continue to be, significant change in both the Beatles’ musical growth and the cultural milieu of that time.  The Beatles by then were nearly four years removed from the hysteria of “Beatlemania” in 1964.  They had produced more mature and complex music by then, adding the album Rubber Soul in December 1965 followed by Revolver in 1966. Beatles music gained more global reach in the sum- mer of 1967, when they were featured in the first live, satellite-fed, global TV broadcast singing “All You Need is Love.” And just as the “summer of love” was taking form in San Francisco in 1967 – kicking off the whole hippie-counterculture movement – the Beatles produced their highly inno- vative album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, released in June 1967.  That same month, the first live, satellite-enabled global television link occurred when the BBC in London featured the Beatles and others in a June 25th studio performance of the song “All You Need Is Love.”  The BBC’s production, which included a longer two-hour show linking 26 nations entitled Our World, had the largest television audience ever up to that point – some 350 to 400 million people.  The most famous segment, however, starred the Beatles plus a 13-piece orchestra performing “All You Need Is Love,” a song written by John Lennon.  During the live telecast from the Beatles’ Abbey Road studios, other notable U.K. musicians, including the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Marianne Faithfull, Keith Moon, Graham Nash, and others joined the Beatles, some singing along.  “All You Need is Love” was so well-received that the Beatles released it as a single in the U.K. in early July, rising to No. 1 on the U.K. charts and remaining there for three weeks.  In the U.S., the song hit No.1 on the Billboard charts August 19th.  The Beatles and their music were then at a peak globally; they were attuned to their times, changing music and culture as they went.

The Beatles & India

     Not long after the Beatles had performed “All You Need Is Love” on their global broadcast, they met the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi for the first time in London at a lecture.  George Harrison and his then wife, former model and photographer Patti Boyd, had become interested in Indian culture.  George had discovered the sitar, an Indian musical instrument, and had visited India in the fall of 1966, where he first heard the Maharishi speak.  The Beatles, at the time, especially Lennon and Harrison, were looking for more cosmic awareness and had been experimenting with LSD.  The Maharishi’s transcendental meditation promised an alternative to hallucinogenic drugs.

     In late August 1967, the Beatles attended a weekend retreat with the Maharishi in Bangor, Wales.  While there, they received news that Brian Epstein, their manager, had died of a drug overdose.  The Maharishi helped them through the Epstein tragedy with Hindu philosophy, and in February 1968, the Beatles decided to join him for a retreat at Rishikesh, India, a major center to study yoga.  Among others in a group attending the retreat in India were: American actress Mia Farrow (then married to Frank Sinatra) and her sister, Prudence; Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan of “Sunshine Superman” fame (1966); American actress Candice Bergen; Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones; British singer Marianne Faithfull; Yoko Ono, artist; Mike Love and Al Jardine of the Beach Boys; John Densmore and Ray Manzarek of The Doors; and Patti Harrison, Jane Asher, and a number of others.

     The Beatles had planned to make it a three month retreat.  However, after about ten days, Ringo Starr returned home, reportedly because he couldn’t deal with spicey Indian food, heading back to the U.K. “for egg and chips,” as one account put it.  Paul left soon thereafter, with John and George leaving later.  Although the Beatles left the retreat before the course on transcendental meditation was finished, Prudence Farrow, Mike Love of the Beach Boys, and others stayed on and became TM teachers.  During the Beatles’ stay, however, they did a fair amount of song writing in their spare time, with McCartney and Lennon getting together frequently to compare notes.  “Regardless of what I was supposed to be doing,” Lennon would later say, “I did write some of my best songs there.”

     During the retreat, however, there was one alleged incident of sexual impropriety between Mia Farrow and Maharishi, which reportedly had upset Lennon and some others in the group, leading Lennon to later write a critical song about the Maharishi – though with changed lyrics in the final version; a song that became “Sexy Sadie.”  One of the original lines, later changed, went: “Maharishi  — what have you done?  You made a fool of everyone.”  Other accounts, however, report there was nothing to the allegations about the Maharishi.  And some reports say that the Beatles were asked to leave by the Maharishi because of some backsliding on drug use while attending the retreat.  In any case, Beatles historians credit the India trip as a spur to the Beatles’ creativity; reviving their song-writing fortunes.  When they returned to England they came home with at least 30 new tunes, in rough form.  They then went to work on these, including “Dear Prudence” and other songs that would become the White Album.  “Whatever shortcomings the Beatles’ interaction with the Maharishi may have had,” observes New York Times reporter Allan Kozinn, “the experience… seems to have opened a floodgate of creativity and got them out of what threatened to be a creative rut.”

Song & Album

     In May 1968, a week before they were to begin work on what would become the White Album, the Beatles gathered at George Harrison’s house in Esher, England.  There, they ran through the songs they had worked up in India and made a tape of the ones they would consider for formal recording in the studio.  In all, some 30-to-40 songs were at least initially compiled during their trip to India, and many, though not all, would appear on the White Album.  Some of the songs would surface years later, including in various bootleg versions.

     In late August 1968, as the Beatles continued their studio work on the White Album – most of which was done at the Abbey Road studios in London – the work on “Dear Prudence” began.  The work on this song, took place over a three-day period at Trident Studios in London.  This studio had new eight-track recording equipment, which the Beatles used on the “Dear Prudence” song.  The basic track, recorded on this first day, featured Lennon on finger-picked guitar, George Harrison on lead guitar, and Paul McCartney on drums, as Ringo Starr had temporarily left the group.  On the following day, McCartney recorded a bass part, and Lennon manually double-tracked his lead vocals and backing vocals.  Handclapping and tambourine were performed by McCartney and Harrison with other contributions from others at the studio.  On the final day of recording, McCartney added a piano track and a very brief flügelhorn section.  “Dear Prudence,” of course, was only one of many songs on the White Album.  The Beatles and their studio producer, George Martin, continued with work on the full album.  The finished, two-disc White Album with 30 songs – double anything the Beatles had done in previous albums – was not released in the U.S. and U.K. until late November 1968.  In the U.S. by then, Richard Nixon had been elected to his first term as president.

     “Dear Prudence,” meanwhile, was not released as a single.  It was likely first heard on the radio airwaves in late November and early December of 1968 as the album began to receive play on FM radio stations and through individual sales.  On the album, “Dear Prudence” directly follows and bleeds in from the first song on side one, “Back in the U.S.S.R,” a more raucous tune, which at its ending has “jet landing” sounds that run over the early acoustic guitar lead for “Dear Prudence.”

     In the U.K., the White Album debuted at No. 1 on December 1st,1968, spending a total of eight weeks at the top of the U.K. charts and holding in the Top Ten for another four weeks.  In the U. S., the album debuted at No.11, reaching No. 1 in its third week, spending nine weeks there and remaining on the Billboard 200 album chart for 155 weeks.  The White Album sold more than 1 million copies in its first two weeks on the market.  In the U.S., it became the Beatles’ all- time best-selling album at “19 times platinmum” — i.e., selling 19 million copies and ranking tenth among all best-selling U.S. albums.

     “Dear Prudence,” meanwhile, has had its fans over the years, one of whom was fellow musician Jerry Garcia, a founder of the famed Grateful Dead rock group.  Garcia is said to have marked the song as one of his all-time personal favorites.  Starting around 1979, his Jerry Garcia Band was known to have covered the song regularly at concerts until Garcia’s death in 1995.  The song also appeared on the 1991 album, Jerry Garcia Band.  The Garcia performance version of “Dear Prudence” – as with much music in “the Grateful Dead tradition” and their 1970s-era style – was often extended and improvised, some exceeding ten minutes.

Prudence Farrow …Since 1968      After India, Prudence Farrow went on to teach TM for about 37 years.  She also received a BA, MA and PhD in South and Southeast Asian studies from University of California at Berkeley and raised three children – and now four grandchildren.  Prudence Farrow also worked in film production, with credits including The Muppets Take Manhattan of 1984 and The Purple Rose of Cairo of 1985, with Mia Farrow and director Woody Allen.  She also conceived and co-produced the 1994 film Widow’s Peak.  In this latter film – set in an Irish town of the 1920s – Prudence’s mother, actress Maureen O’Sullivan, was initially intended to play the role of Miss O’Hare.  However, O’Sullivan declined due to her advanced age with the part going instead to O’Sullivan’s daughter and Prudence’s sister, Mia.  The late Natasha Richardson was also in that film.

     “Dear Prudence” has also been covered by a range of other groups.  English post-punk/ alternative rock band, Siouxsie & the Banshees, released their version of “Dear Prudence” in 1983, a song that became one of that group’s biggest hits, peaking at No. 3 on the U.K. singles chart.  In commercial advertising, Cellular South, a wireless phone company based in Mississippi, began using portions of a “Dear Prudence” cover version for a TV commercial in mid-2008.

     “Dear Prudence” memorabilia has come to the fore in at least one instance.  In 1987, nearly 20 years after the song first appeared, Lennon’s original handwritten copy of the 14 lines of verse from “Dear Prudence,” was sold at auction to an unidentified investor for $19,500.  Prudence Farrow, meanwhile, would work as an elementary school teacher along with her husband, both continuing to practice transcendental meditation (see box).  For the Beatles, the trip to India and what had preceded it — including  Brian Epstein’s death — began a process of unraveling that would lead to the group’s demise.  Athough India had provided them with a temporary spur to their musical output, differences and strains within the group had become apparent during the White Album recording sessions; differences that would lead to the Beatles’ break up in 1970.

     Stay tuned to this website for other stories on the history of music in contemporary culture. Other Beatles and Beatles-related stories at this website include: “Beatles’ Closed-Circuit Gig, March 1964,” “Nike & The Beatles, 1987-1989,” “Nike’s Revolution Ad, 1987-1988″ (video), and “Michael & McCartney, 1980s-2009.”

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Date Posted:  27 July 2009
Last Update:  29 July 2009
Comments to:  jdoyle@pophistorydig.com

Article Citation:
Jack Doyle, “Dear Prudence, 1967-1968,”
PopHistoryDig.com, July 27, 2009.

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Sources, Links & Additional Information

Steve Turner, A Hard Day’s Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song, New York: Harper Paperbacks, updated edition, 2005.

Allan Kozinn, “Meditation on the Man Who Saved the Beatles,” New York Times, February 7, 2008. p. E-1.

“The Beatles & Maharishi,” Snuh.LiveJour-  nal.com, viewed, July 2009.

Richie Unterberger, “Dear Prudence,” Song Review, AllMusic.com.

“Dear Prudence,” BeatlesBible.com

“Dear Prudence,” Wikipedia.org.

“The Beatles in India,” a photo collection, Child of The Moon, Blogspot.com, September 14, 2008.

“The White Album,” Wikipedia.org.

Ian MacDonald, Revolution in the Head: The Beatles’ Records and the Sixties (2nd Revised Edition, London: Pimlico (Rand). 2005, pp. 310-311.

Sara Rimer, “The Beatles and Youth At Auction,” New York Times, Sunday, June 28, 1987.

Mark Lewisohn, The Beatles Recording Sessions, New York: Harmony Books, 1988, p. 152.

James Wolcot, Blog, “A Bliss Before Dying,” Vanity Fair, February 6, 2008.

Search “Beatle bootlegs” for: “The Beatles – Acoustic Masterpieces – The Esher Demos.”

     A large bronze memorial bust of Robert F. Kennedy, former U.S. Senator and U.S. Attorney General in the 1960s, sits in the center of Brooklyn, New York, at Columbus Park.  Kennedy, a Democrat, served as New York’s U.S. Senator from 1965 to the time he was assassinated in June 1968 while running for his party’s Presidential nomination.  The Kennedy memorial in Brooklyn, shown at right, is there not only for his service to New York and nation, but also for what he did for Brooklyn and the local community.  More on that in a moment.

     Robert F. Kennedy was born in 1925, the third son of Joseph Kennedy, the patriarch of the powerful Kennedy family of Boston, Massachusetts.  His older brother, John F. Kennedy (b. 1917-d. 1963), served as the 35th President of the United States.   “Bobby”  Kennedy was close to his brother Jack,  had directed his political campaigns, and served in his brother’s administration as U.S. Attorney General.  The November 1963 assassination of president Kennedy rocked Bobby for a time, but he soon recovered.  By September 1964, he resigned from his post as U. S Attorney General, moved into an apartment at United Nations Plaza in Manhattan, and decided to run for New York’s U.S. Senate seat.  Although the Massachusetts born and bred Kennedy was accused of being a “carpetbagger” by running for a seat in New York, he mounted a successful campaign in the 1964 national elections and won the election, becoming New York’s junior U.S. Senator.  President Lyndon Johnson that fall — the former vice president who had filled President Kennedy’s term following the assassination — had won a landslide victory as president over Republican Barry Goldwater.  Kennedy assumed his office as a U.S. Senator in January 1965.  National events would later move him to make a run for his party’s 1968 presidential nomination.  But what endeared Kennedy to many in Brooklyn was the work he undertook in a community called Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Statues & Icons Series      This story is one in an occasional series that will explore how America, and other countries, honor their icons – from famous politicians and military leaders, to movie stars, TV celebrities, and sports heros.  Societies have been erecting statues or otherwise commemorating their famous and beloved figures for thousands of years.  But in modern times, even fictional characters, their ranks swelled by cinema and television, are now joining those up on the pedestal, some for purely commercial reasons.  As statues and busts, the famous personages are typically cast in outsized proportions, some placed in parks or other public spaces.  Still others are found on postage stamps, murals, buildings, near sports arenas, or used in various place names.  Not all of those so honored, however, meet with public approval, though some have broad and continuing support.  The stories offered in this series will include short sketches on some of these figures – past and present – providing a bit of the history and context on each and how the proposed honor came about.

     America in the mid-1960s was in the thick of the Vietnam War abroad, and grappling with civil rights at home.  Robert Kennedy as U.S. Attorney General in the early 1960s, had become directly engaged in the civil rights struggle, though somewhat schizophrenically – approving J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI wiretaps on Martin Luther King on the one hand, yet helping protect King and his family on other occasions, pushing voter rights registration in the south, and dispatching federal marshals for anti- discrimination protection.  President Lyndon Johnson, meanwhile, had embarked on his ambitious Great Society domestic agenda at the outset of his reelection and was instrumental in pushing the 1964 voting Rights Act.  But soon, Johnson found that the political and financial demands of the Vietnam War would detract from and undermine his domestic agenda.

Senator Kennedy

     In the early and mid-1950s, as a young U.S. Senate lawyer, Robert Kennedy did a stint on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations during the reign of Republican Senator Joe McCarthy when the hunt for communists in the Federal government was at its peak.  He had also run his brother Jack’s 1952 campaign for the U. S. Senate.  By the late 1950s, Robert Kennedy had made a name for himself as the hard-charging chief counsel of the Senate Labor Rackets Committee and his investigations of labor and organized crime.  But when he became U.S. Attorney General in 1961, his politics began to change as he dealt with civil rights issues.  And by 1965, as a U.S. Senator, he continued his political metamorphosis, gradually becoming a more vocal and aggressive champion for minority rights for African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and immigrant groups.  He aligned himself with the leaders of civil rights and social justice campaigns, becoming a voice within the Democratic party for a more aggressive agenda on eliminating discrimination on all levels.  He supported busing to desegregate schools, integration of all public facilities, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as well as anti-poverty programs to increase education, provide job opportunities and health care.  By the time he ran for president in 1968, he had become one of the nation’s most prominent spokesmen on behalf of those he called the “disaffected, the impoverished, and the excluded.”

     During his time in the Senate, Kennedy also served as a member of the committee reviewing the effectiveness of Lyndon Johnson’s ‘War on Poverty’ programs.  But he was also looking for other ways to make progress on the nation’s urban and poverty problems.  One of Kennedy’s key initiatives, however, was not a government program per se, but a public-private initiative he would help instigate in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant, a neighborhood that had severe housing and other urban problems in the 1960s.

Bedford-Stuyvesant

     During and after World War II, large numbers of African-Americans, migrating from the South, came north to New York and other cities.  Some came to Brooklyn and moved into the neighborhood known as Bedford-Stuyvesant.  A series of problems there soon led to a long decline in the neighborhood – unemployment, a decline in public facilities and services, inability to deal with increasing crime, and difficulties in municipal government all took their toll on Bedford-Stuyvesant.  In the 1960s one of the first urban riots took place in this neighborhood following tensions over charges of racism in local school districts and following police actions.  In addition, by 1965, a lawsuit under the Voting Rights Act had been brought charging racial gerrymandering; claiming that Bedford-Stuyvesant was divided among five congressional districts, each represented by a white member of Congress.  The suit later resulted in the creation of New York’s 12th Congressional District and by 1968, the election in of Democrat Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman ever elected to the U.S. Congress.

     Prior to this, Robert Kennedy had been thinking about what might be done to address the nation’s urban problems.  In January, 1966, he gave two speeches entitled “Problems of the Urban Negro.”  The riots in Bedford-Stuyvesant in 1964, and those in the Watts district of Los Angeles, California in 1965, had convinced Kennedy that a new approach was needed to deal with the problems of the urban ghetto.  In early February 1966 Kennedy made a visit to Bedford-Stuyvesant.  At the time, “Bed-Sty” as it was called, had a population of about 450,000 that was 82 percent African American and 12 percent Puerto Rican.  New York’s Harlem district then was known for its tenements.  But Bedford Stuyvesant’s streets had Brownstone homes.  And 15 percent of the population owned their homes as opposed to 2 percent in Harlem.  Still, “Bed-Sty” had poorer conditions – fewer unified families, higher unemployment, little job history, much lower income, and no federal aide.  Its decay seemed nearly irreparable.  On Kennedy’s walking tour of February 4th, 1966, he saw it all:  burnt out buildings, vacant lots teeming with garbage and trash, abandoned vehicles rusting on the street.

RFK Quotations _________  [ Engraved on the granite surface surrounding the RFK monument at its base are four quotes from Kennedy, which appear, respectively, front, right, left and rear. ]  * * * * * * *      “Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.” * * * * * * * * * * * * * *      “All great questions must be raised by great voices, and the greatest voice is the voice of the people speaking out – in prose, or painting or poetry or music; speaking out – in homes and halls, streets and farms, courts and cafes – let that voice speak and the stillness you hear will be the gratitude of mankind.” * * * * * * *        “What we require is not the self-indulgence of resignation from the world but the hard effort to work out new ways of fulfilling our personal concern and our personal responsibility.” * * * * * * *        “We must get our house in order. We must, because it is right.  We must because it is might.” * * * * * * *

     After the tour, Kennedy met with community activists, and they were cynical and irritated.  “You’re another white guy that’s out here for the day,” said one.  “You’ll be gone and you’ll never be seen again.  And that’s that.  We’ve had enough of that.”  Heading up this delegation was state supreme court judge Thomas R. Jones, the top political leader in the area.  And Jones too, was skeptical.  “I am weary of study, Senator.,” he said.  “Weary of speeches; weary of promises that aren’t kept…  The Negro people are angry, Senator, and, judge that I am, I’m angry, too.  No one is helping us.”  Elsie Richardson was a leader of the Central Brooklyn Coordinating Council, the group that brought Kennedy to the neighborhood.  Ms. Richardson, too, asked him to go beyond what previous visiting officials had done.  And in terms of federal money, the Vietnam War was first in line.

     After leaving the meeting with the activists in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Kennedy, too, was irritated; upset over the reception he had received; feeling a bit besieged and blamed for something he did not create.  But at the same time it ate him, and he wondered if Bedford-Stuyvesant might be the place to try to do something different.  Still, his aides were at a loss to see that much of anything could be undertaken there to make a difference.  Kennedy started thinking in terms of those he knew in the private sector and at foundations who might help.  His idea was to establish something non-partisan and nonpolitical, as far as that was possible.  One by one, he was soon enlisting folks to help: McGeorge Bundy at the Ford Foundation; Vincent Astor at the Astor Foundation; the Taconic Foundation who had helped on a black voter registration drive in the south when he was Attorney General.  By September 1966, Kennedy and his team were also recruiting business leaders – Thomas J. Watson of IBM; William Paley of CBS; J.M. Kaplan of Welch Grape Juice; James Oates of Equitable Life Assurance, George Moore of National City Bank; and Andre Meyer of Lazard Freres.  He also recruited an old line New Dealer, David Lilienthal, who had helped with Tennessee Valley Authority, as well as Douglas Dillon and Roswell Gilpatric.

     A later recruit was a skeptical Republican businessman, Benno Schmidt, a partner in J. H. Whitney & Co., who had voted for Nixon in 1960 and Kennedy’s U.S. Senate opponent in 1964, Kenneth Keating  ( “so much the better,” Kennedy would later say, under- scoring his effort to make the entity non- partisan).  New York’s Republican mayor, John Lindsay – a potential competitor  for  Kennedy in the future – was also recruited, along with New York’s senior U.S. Senator, Jacob Javits.  Working with Javits in the Senate, Kennedy secured passage of an amendment to the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 that established the Special Impact Program, allowing for federal funding of community development projects in urban poverty areas.  That provision became law in November 1966.

Kennedy Delivers

     On December 10, 1966, ten months after he had taken his walk through “Bed-Sty”, Kennedy along with New York Mayor John Lindsay and Senator Javits, presented his plan to the some 1,000 or so people assembled at a Bedford-Stuyvesant school.  The new entity would come to be known as the Bedford-Stuyvesant Development and Service Corporation.  There would be two separate corporations: one for the people to decide on the programs and the development, and one comprised of business leaders and mangers who would bring in the investment dollars and help make management decisions.

     “The program for the development of Bedford Stuyvesant will combine the best of community action with the best of the private enterprise system,” said Kennedy at the meeting.  “Neither by itself is enough, but in their combination lies our hope for the future.”

     Franklin A. Thomas, a black lawyer, headed the community group, and John Doar left the U.S. Justice Department to head up the Development and Service Corporation in early 1967.  Kennedy himself would stay involved with the project, and he occasionally attended meetings.  But by 1968 he became involved in his run for the Democratic presidential nomination, which tragically ended with his assassination in June 1968.

     Through the 1960s and 1970s, the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, as it is known today, had its fits and starts, along with the typical battling and in-fighting that comes with any such project.  Corporation and community had their ups and downs over the years.  Still, 40 years after its creation, the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corpo- ration is seen as helping the community.  Elsie Richardson, one of those who was there with Kennedy in February 1966 told the New York Times in 2009 that the project’s work paid off.  “It did a lot for the neighborhood,” she said.  “The neighborhood developed a spirit of being able to do things for itself.”

Bed-Sty Today

     As of early 2009, the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation  — located at Restoration Plaza south of Fulton Street  — comprises a one-block complex of several buildings, including one that was once an abandoned milk-bottling plant.  Colvin Grannum, president of the Bed-Sty Corporation, explained to the New York Times in 2009 that the entity has become a vehicle for “resident-driven revitalization.”  Since 1967, the Bed-Sty project has catalyzed important improvements throughout central Brook- lyn. From the beginning, he explained, the Corporation aimed to address neighborhood problems broadly – through the arts, educational programs, employment counseling, job training, tax preparation, etc. Since 1967, the Bed-Sty project has catalyzed important improvements throughout central Brooklyn.  It has constructed or renovated 2,200 units of housing; provided $60 million in mortgage financing to nearly 1500 homeowners; attracted more than $375 million in investments; and placed over 20,000 youth and adults in jobs. It also established a Youth Arts Academy offering classes in dance, martial arts, music, visual arts, and theater to approximately 400 students ages 3-19 each year, and its Billie Holiday Theatre offers a 36-week season that serves 30,000 people annually, also providing a training ground for aspiring theater professionals.  A primary and continuing goal still remains – what Grannum calls “placemaking,” and having residents value their community and its services.  Forty years later, the Bedford-Stuyvesant experience is still a model for other communities across the country.

     For Robert Kennedy, Bedford-Stuy- vesant became part of a larger national effort to address the needs of the dispossessed and powerless – the poor, the young, racial minorities and Native Americans.  He sought to bring the facts about poverty to the American people, and he visited urban ghettos, Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta, and migrant workers’ camps, sometimes with the national press following.  “There are children in the Mississippi Delta whose bellies are swollen with hunger,” he would tell the press in the 1960s. “…Many of them cannot go to school because they have no clothes or shoes.  These conditions are not confined to rural Mississippi.  They exist in dark tenements in Washington, D.C., within sight of the Capitol, in Harlem, in South Side Chicago, in Watts.  There are children in each of these areas who have never been to school, never seen a doctor or a dentist.  There are children who have never heard conversation in their homes, never read or even seen a book.”  Kennedy had also traveled to South Africa in 1966, where he spoke out against the practice of apartheid.  A quote from an address he gave there at the University of Cape Town appears on his gravestone at Arlington National Cemetery — “Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope…”  By 1968, Kennedy had also called for a halt in further escalation of the Vietnam War.  All of these issues became part of his run for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1968, which ended tragically with his assassination in June of that year.

Kennedy Memorial

     At some point in the late 1960s or early 1970s, it was decided that a memorial be created to honor New York’s former U.S. Senator, Robert Kennedy.  Sculptor Anneta Duveen, a native of Brooklyn and also a writer, was commissioned to create a large, oversized bust of Kennedy.  Duveen’s piece was completed in 1971 and was dedicated in 1972.  It features a polished granite pedestal with four quotes from Kennedy inscribed at the statue’s base (see earlier sidebar, above).  The four excerpts from Kennedy are meant to inspire community action, whether at the local, national, or global level.  On November 2, 1972, Robert F. Kennedy’s widow, Ethel Kennedy, attended the ceremony unveiling the sculpture of her late husband, marking New York City’s first memorial to its former Senator.  The bust is located in Columbus Park in front of the New York State Supreme Court building east of the Borough Hall subway station.

     For more on Kennedy’s run in the 1968 Democratic presidential primary, see at this website, “1968 Presidential Race – Democrats.”

Please Support this Website Donate Now Thank You

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Date Posted:  20 July 2009
Last Update:  20 July 2009
Comments to:  jdoyle@pophistorydig.com

Article Citation:
Jack Doyle, “RFK in Brooklyn, 1966-1972,”
PopHistoryDig.com, July 20, 2009.

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“Robert F. Kennedy Monument, Columbus Park,” New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, December 1, 2001.

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy and His Times, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002, pp. 786-788.

“The Personal Papers of Thomas M.C. Johnston (1936-2008),” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum, National Archives and Records Adminis- tration, Boston, MA.

“History - Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration,” Restoration Plaza.org.

“Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn,” Wikipedia.org.

Steven V. Roberts, “Redevelopment Plan Set for Bedford-Stuyvesant; Brooklyn Ghetto Gets Revival Plan,” New York Times, Sunday, December 11, 1966, p.1.

Steven V. Roberts, “Rebuilding Effort Helps Street In Slums to Become Untypical; After a Year, Tangible Signs of Change in Bedford-Stuyvesant Are Few, but Organizers Are Confident,” New York Times, Monday, December 25, 1967, p. 27.

Jake Mooney, “Examining the Kennedy Legacy in Brooklyn,” New York Times, January 30, 2009, p. CY-1.

Jake Mooney, “Star Power, Still Shining 40 Years On,” New York Times, January 29, 2009.

Francis X. Clines, “Bust of Robert Kennedy Unveiled by His Widow,” New York Times, November 3, 1972, Friday, p. 43.

RFKMemorial.org.

From Hell movies

     In 1982, Sylvester Stallone, Hollywood movie star and producer of the Rocky film series, donated a statue of his Rocky Balboa movie character to the City of Philadelphia.  It  was left near the entrance to the Philadelphia Art Museum, where it touched off a 20-year controversy over its location and artistic merit. 

     In the first Rocky movie of 1976-77 – which won the Academy Award for Best Picture – Rocky Balboa, South Philly’s “Italian Stallion,” is a down-and-out heavyweight boxer who is unexpectedly given an opportunity to fight in a world championship bout.  In his training for the big fight, he runs the long series of steps that rise up to the entrance plaza at the Philadelphia Art Museum.  The steps climb to a location that also offers one of the finest views of Philadelphia’s skyline.

     In the film, Rocky, the underdog and out-of-shape contender, does a daily, pre-dawn “battle with the steps” while the city sleeps.  Rocky is “beaten” by the steps day after day, but he keeps at it.  Finally, in one scene he triumphs – now becoming fit – shown sprinting to the top of the steps with energy to spare.  Arriving there, he does the “champ dance” with relish, arms raised in victory as the camera moves around him capturing the early morning city skyline over his shoulders.  It’s a memorable film scene, and one that has survived in the hearts and minds of millions of filmgoers.

     In fact, even today, many tourists who come to Philadelphia go to the museum not for the art, but to run “the Rocky steps,” as they are called.   Some of those Rocky imitators, reaching their goal,  also do the “champ dance” at the top of the steps.  Back in 1982, however, when it came time to finally place the donated “Rocky” statue, the top-of-the-steps location seemed to be the obvious choice – but not for everyone.

Statues & Icons Series      This story is one in an occasional series that will explore how America, and other countries, honor their icons — from famous politicians and military leaders, to movie stars, TV celebrities, and sports heros.  Societies have been erecting statues or otherwise commemorating their famous and beloved figures for thousands of years.  But in modern times, even fictional characters, their ranks swelled by cinema and television, are now joining those up on the pedestal, some for purely commercial reasons.  As statues and busts, the famous personages are typically cast in outsized proportions, some placed in parks or other public spaces.  Still others are found on postage stamps, murals, buildings, near sports arenas, or used in various place names.  Not all of those so honored, however, meet with public approval, though some have broad and continuing support.  The stories offered in this series will include short sketches on some of these figures – past and present – providing a bit of the history and context on each and how the proposed honor came about.

“Not Art”

     The 12′ - 8″ bronze “Rocky” statue had been commissioned by Sylvester Stallone in 1980 for use in a subsequent Rocky film – Rocky III, which came to theaters around Memorial Day, 1982.  In the film, the statue makes its appearance atop the museum steps as part of the film’s storyline, as the fictional Rocky champ is honored by the city with a statue dedicated to him at that location.  When the filming for Rocky III was completed, Stallone left the statue in place as a gift to the city.

     As noted above, the top-of-the-steps location at the Philadelphia Art Museum is a choice spot, offering a commanding view of Eakins Oval at the bottom of steps directly in front of the museum (named for Philadelphia resident and artist Thomas Eakins) and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway stretching out toward Philadelphia City Hall.  The Rocky statue remained at this location in 1982 for several months following its use in the Rocky III film.  And that’s about when the debate erupted over whether the statue at that location was boon or bane, art or something less than art.

 

“Movie Prop” 

     Philadelphia Commerce Director Dick Doran was thrilled with the statue.  In fact, he said that Stallone had done more for the city’s image “than anyone since Ben Franklin.”  Others were not similarly enthused.  The Philadelphia Art Museum and the Philadelphia Art Commission had some differences over the meaning of “art”.  Some regarded the statue as nothing more than a movie prop.  Others saw it as kitsch; something garish or as sentimental art; not usually considered in good taste – or as one put it, “should be nowhere near a museum.” 

     Some museum officials worried the statue could impugn the museum’s international reputation.   But others saw a silver lining with the Rocky statue at the museum.  “People who had never been inside the museum,”  noted one observer, “at least got close to the entrance.”  Still others found inspiration in the likeness, pride in their city, a booster for tourism, etc.  So, a running debate over the statue’s location continued off and on over the course of 20 years, especially as the statue was moved around.

     After it was left on the museum’s steps in 1982, the city considered various alternate locations.  Several months went by, but the city then settled on an outside location at the front of the Spectrum, an indoor sports arena in South Philadelphia where the Philadelphia 76ers professional basketball team and Philadelphia Flyer’s ice hockey team then played.  Rock concerts were also held at the Spectrum.  Across the street was Veterans Stadium, home to the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team and Philadelphia Eagles football team.  The Spectrum location seemed to make sense since this was the sports area of the city.  So, in 1982, after a brief few months at the art museum, the Rocky statue was moved to the Spectrum.  Photo at right shows the statue outside the Spectrum front entrance facing Veterans Stadium.

     Over the next decade, there were a few temporary filming excursions that brought the Rocky statue back to its museum location, one of which was the filming for the 1987 movie Mannequin with Andrew McCarthy.  In 1990, the Rocky statue was again temporarily placed atop the museum steps for the filming of Rocky V.  Renewed debate about the location ensued as well.  In 1993-94, it was moved there briefly again for the filming of the movie Philadelphia with Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington.  But afterward, on each occasion, the statue was returned to the Spectrum.  However, one complaint about the Spectrum location was that it was too far off the beaten path for tourists; too far away from the Art Museum.  Confused tourists couldn’t find it.

     By 2002, the Rocky statue was put into storage during the demolition of Veterans Stadium and it remained in storage.  In August 2005, filming began on the sixth Rocky movie, Rocky Balboa, which was slated for release in 2006, the 30th anniversary of the first Rocky film.  Again, folks started talking about moving the Rocky statue back to the Art Museum location.  The statue continued to have its supporters and detractors.  “If a film about Donald Duck in Philadelphia comes out, do we put a Donald Duck statue in our park system?” asked E. Harris Baum, the city’s park commissioner.  “Rocky is fine.  But other films have relevance too.  Where do we stop?”  Scott Weinberg, a lifelong Philadelphian and self-described “movie geek,” posted this view on the continuing debate in 2006:

“…Give Rocky the spotlight.  Sure he’s a fictional character, but this character has done more for this city than the last 11 mayors combined.  Ask a guy from California what he knows about Philly, and ‘Rocky’ will be one of his top five answers, guaranteed.  So what if the statue was initially created as a movie prop?  It’s a pretty impressive piece of work all the same.  More importantly, it’s a well-known, well-established, and well-admired symbol of this city, regardless of what the Art Experts have to say on the matter…”

     In September 2006, the Philadelphia Art Commission approved a plan to return the statue to the steps near the Philadelphia Museum of Art, off to one side, near the bottom – but not at the top of the steps.  On September 5th, 2006, by a 6-2 vote, the commission voted to move the statue, to a street-level pedestal in a grassy area off to one side of the museum steps.  “We’re thrilled,” said City Commerce Director Stephanie Naidoff.  “What more wonderful a symbol of hard work and dedication is there than Rocky?”

     But two Art Commission members had voted against the move – Moe Brooker, artist and professor at Moore College of Art and Design, and University of the Arts President, Miguel Angel Corzo.  Both said the move was inappropriate.  “It’s not a work of art, and …it doesn’t belong there,” said Brooker.  Corzo, who suggested he might resign from the commission over the vote, said placing the statue near the museum ran counter to the commission’s desire to “raise the standards of the city.”

     On September 8, 2006, the Rocky statue was installed at its new location.  The unveiling ceremony included live music, the debut of the first full trailer for the Rocky Balboa film, and a free showing of the first Rocky movie from 1976.  A cheering crowd of a couple of thousand Rocky fans attended the affair, some traveling quite a distance to be in attendance. 

     Jason Yun, 28, drove eight hours from Columbus, Ohio.  He was among the first at the barricade surrounding the statue, having slept in his car.  “I love Sly,” he told Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Michael Vitez.  “He’s my hero,” Yun said.  “He’s inspired me to change my lifestyle.”  Pamela Weicht, 35, and her husband, Tim, 41, took the day off work and drove to Philly from Camp Hill, PA, near Harrisburg.  This couple had played the Rocky III tune, “Eye of the Tiger,” at their wedding.  Chet Jelinski, 51, a self-employed carpet cleaner from Bloomfield, New Jersey, and a loyal fan of the Rocky film series, also took day off to come to the event.

     At the ceremony, Mayor John Street said that the Art Museum steps were one of Philly’s biggest tourist attractions, and that Stallone, a native New Yorker, had been gladly adopted by Philadelphia.  Stallone  — who agreed to pay for moving and maintaining the statue – thanked the Mayor, the Fairmount Park Commission, and the Art Commission for allowing the statue to be moved to its new location.  He also spoke to the crowd.  “All you want is a slice of the American dream,” Stallone said during his remarks.  “…That’s what Rocky was about,” he said.  “Having the opportunity.  Not to win.  Not to set records.  Not someday to be made into a statue.  But just the opportunity to run the race and see if you can finish.”  The statue, he said, “is not about me.  It’s about you.  Because inside of every one of you, there’s a real Rocky.”

     Long-time Philadelphia Inquirer writer Clark DeLeon, posted the following observation after attending the unveiling ceremony:

     “…Among the thousands who crammed into the green leafy area on the north side of the front steps of the Art Museum Friday evening, dodging rush hour traffic to see and hear Sylvester Stallone speak at the unveiling of the Rocky statue, I must have heard five foreign languages spoken by those who eagerly sought to get a glimpse.

     “I heard Chinese, I heard German, I heard what could have been Serb or Croatian, I heard Philippino….

     “I’m not saying that Philadelphia isn’t a cosmopolitan city, but in my lifetime of walking its streets, I’ve never heard so many different foreign languages in such a short time.  They were Rocky fans.  And for the first time I realized in a personal way that Rocky belongs to the world, not just Philadelphia.

     “And in any language, the chant is the same — Roc-KY! Rah-KEE! Wa-QI! Ya-CHEE!…”

A Philadelphia jogger does a ‘Rocky’ imitation on the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum looking out on center city, November 2006. Photo, Ryan Donnell, New York Times.

No Downside

     By mid-November 2006, a few Philadelphians, including some with resume in the arts, were speaking pretty positively about the Rocky statue’s new location.  Stephanie Naidoff, who was the founding president of Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, a hall built in 2001 as home to the Philadelphia Orchestra, seemed pretty positive about the Rocky statue’s value to the city.  “It is unbelievable what an icon it is for visitors and residents alike,” she explained to New York Times reporter Robert Strauss.  Naidoff by then was Philadelphia’s director of commerce.  “There is no doubt that lots of people are now coming just to see the statue,” she continued, “ – and then a good number of them are attracted to the museum.  I can’t see any real downside to it.”  Naidoff added that if the museum could showcase the wedding dress of Philadelphia’s famed movie star and princess of Monaco, Grace Kelly, then it could also have a Rocky statue outside.

     James Binns Sr., a former Pennsylvania boxing commissioner and a friend of Stallone’s, put it this way:  “Look, if art is supposed to inspire, then this is it.  Rocky was a winner, and now he’s a winner in his proper place, by the steps he made famous.”  Binns says he sees visitors at the Rocky statue at all hours. “I’ve driven past there at 2 a.m. and seen people taking photos with it,” he said.  “…When I go by on a good Saturday afternoon, they are waiting in line.”  And then there was Miller Redpath from Minneapolis, visiting Philadelphia with his two sons that November 2006: “I only came for Rocky, but, heck, why not go inside? Who figured Rocky would lead me to culture?”

Rocky in Serbia August 2007 Rocky statue at evening unveiling ceremony, Zitiste, Serbia, August 2007. (AP Photo/Srdjan Ilic)      The fate of the Rocky statue may well have been debated in Philadelphia for more than two decades, but in one small Serbian village, a similar version the Rocky statue was received with opened arms.  On August 18th, 2007, in the town square of the small Serbian village of Zitiste some 55 kilometres north of Belgrade, a ceremony was held dedicating a statue of the Hollywood boxing underdog.  The village had experienced some hard times, was buffeted by crime, and was getting no respect.  The town’s people were in some despair and needed something to feel good about.  “For years, only negative reports on farm disease, monstrous murders, floods and landslides have been coming from our village,” explained Mayor Zoran Babic. Rocky statue in town square, Zitiste, Serbia. (Reuters photo)      So in February 2007, the town council voted to undertake something uplifting in hopes of enhancing the town’s self image.  A local resident and Rocky movie fan, Bojan Marceta, is credited with advancing the idea of doing something to pay tribute to his favorite film hero while doing something good for the village.  “I felt as if Rocky has come from our village, and had to fight to win his place in society,” said Marceta.  The town council hired Croatian artist Boris Staparac to create the statue.  On August 18th, 2007 in the town of 3,000 people, a small ceremony was held to unveil the three-metre, bronze-and-concrete sculpture in the village square.  “This is the chance to give a better, more positive image to Zitiste,” said Mayor Babic.  The residents of Zitiste say they like Rocky’s underdog, overcoming-the-odds image and want the world to know that they’re not beaten.  “Our idea has really stirred the public,” said local official Zoran Kasalovic.  “Now, no one in Serbia can say they don’t know about Zitiste.”      The Rocky statue that now graces the village square of Zitiste is similar to, but is not a copy of the Rocky Balboa statue at the Philadelphia Art Museum.

     Back in America, the original Rocky statue was initially commissioned by Sylvester Stallone in 1980.  Sculptor A. Thomas Schomberg of Denver, Colorado, created the statue.  It stands 12 feet 8 inches from the bottom of the pedestal to the top of the boxing gloves and weighs 1,400 pounds.  An earlier plaque at the base of the Philadelphia Rocky statue (since removed) had labeled it “Rocky,” crediting A. Thomas Schomberg as its sculptor.  And for a time, it also carried the following additional inscription:  “Thunder In His Heart.  The Character Who Represents The Courageous Spirit of the Great City of Philadelphia and The Brotherhood of It’s [sic] People.”

     Two other large Rocky statues were also created by Schomberg.  One was reportedly installed in the private collection of Robert Breitbard of San Diego, California, a local football hero and former high school classmate and friend of baseball great Ted Williams.  Breitbard, a successful local businessman and sports enthusiast, built the San Diego Sports Arena in 1966 and also created the San Diego Hall of Champions Museum where his Rocky statue is housed.  The third large Rocky by Schomberg was also planned but not cast, as it was listed on eBay at various times in 2003-2005, being auctioned to raise funds for a proposed International Institute for Sport and Olympic History at State College, PA.  The eBay notice initially listed a starting bid of $5 million, then later at $3 million, with subsequent listings at $1 million.  It is not known if the third Rocky statue was finally cast and/or sold.

     In addition to the monument-scale Rocky statues, a number of smaller replicas were made available through a collaborative venture between Schomberg and MGM film studios.  In 2006 at the 30th anniversary of the first Rocky film, two smaller sizes of the Shomberg Rocky were made available:  a 12-inch sculpture cast in resin and hand painted for $98; and a 20-inch sculpture cast in resin, bronze plated and hand painted at $468.00.  In addition, a limited number of the 20-inch sculptures, cast in traditional bronze and mounted on a black marble base, were also made available, signed and numbered, at $2,600.00 each.

“Rocky Dollars”

The Rocky Films Global Box Office 1976-2006 Rocky (1976) $225 million Rocky II (1979) $200 million Rocky III (1982) $125 million Rocky IV (1985) $300 million Rocky V (1990) $120 million Rocky Balboa (2006) $156 million

     The Rocky name and business franchise, meanwhile, have done quite well over the last 30 years.  The six Rocky films alone have had a worldwide box office of more than $1.2 billion, with about half of that generated in the U.S. Rocky IV, with its $300 million global box office, is considered the most financially successful sports film of all-time.  In addition to box office revenue, there is probably at least another $100-to-$200 million from sales of  books, soundtracks, DVDs, video games, and other Rocky-related merchandise over that same time period.  Rocky music and the film soundtracks, all by Bill Conti, have also done well.  The main theme song in the 1976 Rocky, “Gonna Fly Now,” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early July 1977.

     Back in Philadelphia, meanwhile, the Rocky statue appears to be earning its keep.  As one entry from the History.org website by Ron Avery explains:  “…[T]here is no debate among tour guides regarding the lasting fame the Rocky saga brought to Philadelphia and to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  Thousands still climb the steps and strike a Rocky-like pose.  And by now there are countless cellphone snaphots of visitors posing alongside the bronze boxer.  Few foreign visitors know or care about Betsy Ross, Carpenters’ Hall, or Oney Judge, but their eyes light up in recognition when they see the Museum’s steps and the statue of Rocky near the base.”

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Date Posted:  20 July 2009
Last Update:  16 July 2010
Comments to:  jdoyle@pophistorydig.com

Article Citation:
Jack Doyle, “The Rocky Statue: 1980-2009,”
PopHistoryDig.com, July 20, 2009

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Sources, Links & Additional Information

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W. Speers, “Stallone Resurrects That Statue Matter,” Philadelphia Inquirer, January 9, 1990.

Clark DeLeon, “Statues: Readers Rage Over Rocky,” Philadelphia Inquirer, February 21, 1990, p. B-2.

Mark Fazlollah, “Statue of Rocky to Leave the Art Museum - Again,” Philadelphia Inquirer, February 25, 1990, p. B-3.

Gloria Campisi & Mark McDonald, “Steps in the Right Direction, ‘Rocky’ Going Back to Museum, but Not to Famous Spot,” Philadelphia Daily News, May 11, 2006.

Stephan Salisbury, “Comeback for Rocky Statue,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 11, 2006.

“‘Rocky’ Statue May Fight Again,” Los Angles Times, May 12, 2006.

Editorial, “Has Rocky Found a Home?,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 12, 2006.

“Philadelphia Officials Reject Rocky Statue for Art Museum,” CBCNews.ca, Friday, August 4, 2006.

Scott Weinberg, “Rocky Wins Battle With Snooty Art Critics … Kinda,” Cinematical, August 24, 2006.

“Rocky Statue Returns to Philadelphia Art Museum,” CBC Radio, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Wednesday, September 6, 2006.

Editorial, “Rocky’s New Home,” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 9, 2009.

Ron Avery, “Philadelphia Oddities - Rocky Statue,” USHistory.org

“Rocky: The Monumental Statue,”Schomberg Studios.com.

A. Thomas Schomberg, Profile.

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Clark DeLeon, “Obstructed View of Rocky,” The Daily Deleon, September 9, 2006.

Associated Press, “Rocky Statue Headed Back to Museum Steps; Philadelphia Art Commission Votes to Return Boxer to Original Locale,”MSNBC.com, Wednesday, September 6, 2006.

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     “Ohio” is the name of a song that marks one of America’s darkest moments on the home front during the Vietnam War.  The song came in reaction to the May 1970 shooting deaths of four students at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio – students shot by National Guard troops sent there to quell student unrest over the Vietnam War.  The song – by the rock group Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young —  is both a commemorative tune and a protest song that became popular, rising on the music charts following the shootings.  More on the song in a moment.  First, the events leading up to the shootings.

     On April 30th, 1970, U.S. President Richard Nixon addressed the nation in a televised broadcast in which he explained that American military troops, engaged in the Vietnam War, had been sent into neighboring Cambodia.  This action — perceived by many as an expansion of the war and an invasion of another country — came in the midst of an already contentious national mood over the Vietnam War.  Student protests over the war had already occurred on many college campuses.  With the Cambodian invasion, more protesting ensued, including protests at Kent State University, located in the town of Kent in the northeastern Ohio, not far from the Pennsylvania border.  In the town of Kent, on Friday evening, May 1st, following daytime demonstrations on campus, some store fronts were damaged, leading to a call to Ohio Governor James Rhodes and his activation of a National Guard unit.

     On Saturday, May 2nd, some students helped clean up the damage that had occurred in town.  However, that evening, an Army Reserve Officer Training (ROTC) barracks on campus was surrounded by some 1,000 pro- testors, with a few setting it on fire.  Tensions mounted on all sides along with misunderstandings.  The National Guard, meanwhile, herded students into dormi- tories.  On Sunday morning, Ohio’s Republican Governor James Rhodes, in a press conference also broadcast to the troops on campus, vowed to “eradicate the problem” of protest at Kent State.  Later that day, some impromptu demon- strations occurred in the streets with tear gas being fired by the Guard.  As Monday’s planned demonstration on campus proceeded, about two thousand students gathered on a commons area.  The National Guard assumed a position nearby with loaded weapons and fixed bayonets.  The students were ordered to disband and things soon got out of control, resulting in the Guard firing on the students.  It was later determined that the Guard fired between 61 and 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds.  Four students were killed – two men and two women; two of whom were 19 years old and two 20.  Nine other male students were also wounded, one left with permanent paralysis.  Most of the injured were also in their early 20s.  Among those shot, not all were demonstrators; some were simply innocent bystanders.  The incident sparked national outrage  (see “Sources” below for links to more detailed accounts).

     The press and national media covered the story in detail, with many front-page newspaper accounts using what would become the iconic photograph of the event –  a young girl with arms outstretched screaming over the body of one of the slain students.  In the immediate aftermath of the shootings, protests and a student strike ensued across the country.  Two days after the Kent State incident, police wounded four demonstrators at the University of Buffalo.  On May 8th, some 100,000 protesters – angered over Kent State and the Cambodian invasion – gathered in Washington.  Another 150,000 protested in San Francisco.  Nationwide, four million students and 450 universities, colleges, and high schools would become involved in the student strike, which included mostly peaceful protests and walkouts.  However, on some campuses, ROTC buildings were attacked or set on fire, and 26 schools witnessed clashes between students and police.  National Guard units were mobilized on 21 campuses in 16 states.  Public opinion polls, meanwhile, supported Nixon’s actions, with 50 percent of the American public backing him in polls taken during the second week of May.  Fifty-eight percent blamed the students for what had occurred at Kent State.  In one pro-Nixon demonstration in New York City on May 8th, some construction workers supporting the President’s actions rioted and attacked demonstrating students.

     Following the Kent State tragedy there were extensive investigations that went on for years, with long-running legal proceedings and numerous books and articles written, some offering conspiracy theories.  The event was dissected from beginning to end to determine who was responsible, but debate continues to this day regarding what some believe are still unanswered questions (see “Sources” below for more detail & links).  But particulalry prominent among reactions to the shootings at the time of the incident was the song “Ohio” by the rock group Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – a song that reached the airwaves quite soon after the event.

Song History

     David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash – each a singer, songwriter and guitarist – had formed their group, “Crosby, Stills & Nash” in 1968-69.  Their debut album, Crosby, Stills & Nash, released in mid-1969, became quite popular among young listeners and especially on college campuses across the country.  The group became known for both their lyrics and melodic harmonies, and particularly the songs of that first album, such as, “Marrakesh Express,” “Suite For Judy Blue Eyes,” “Guinnevere,” “Wooden Ships,” and “Helplessly Hoping.”  Another song on that album, “Long Time Gone,” by David Crosby, was a response to the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.  “Marrakesh” and “Judy Blue Eyes”also became successful Top 30 singles.  By the summer of 1969, the group began touring and Neil Young, another singer-songwriter, had joined them.  Young would later write the song “Ohio.”

“Ohio” Music Player Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. The Basketball Diaries psp

     By March 1970, now a foursome, Crosby Stills, Nash & Young (CSN&Y) released a second album, Déjà Vu.  In addition to having advance orders for more than 2 million copies (it eventually sold more than 7 million copies), this album included additional songs that marked the group as speaking for their generation and the unsettling times.  Among these was “Woodstock,” a song commemorating the giant gathering at the August 1969 music festival in New York’s Hudson Valley north of New York city ( “Woodstock” was written by singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell who performed her own somewhat different version).  “Teach Your Children,” was another “message” song from the Déjà Vu album.  Both became top 20 hits as singles.  Then came the Kent State shootings in early May 1970.

Two Famous Photos      In May 1970, Howard Ruffner was a second year student at Kent State University majoring in broadcast communications.  Before attending Kent State, he had spent four years in the Air Force where he had learned photography.  At the university, Ruffner was on the staff of the Daily Kent Stater newspaper and had captured some of the events that occurred during the shootings on May 4, 1970.  One of his photographs ended up on the Life magazine cover above, with others used in the cover story that ran inside the magazine.  Of the students who suffered that day, Ruffner stated, “I saw their faces and I could feel their pain, and I took their pictures so that no one would ever forget what happened at Kent State and the trauma that it caused for our nation.”      Another Kent Stater on May 4th, 1970 was John Filo, a young undergraduate working in the Kent State photo lab.  As the protest ensued that day, he decided to grab his camera and see if he could get an interesting picture.  He saw one student waving a black flag on the hillside, with the National Guard in the background.  He took that photograph, believing he had recorded the moment.  As he wandered through a parking lot where a lot of the students had gathered, the National Guard suddenly opened fire.  Filo thought they were shooting blanks, and started taking pictures.  A second later, he saw Mary Vecchio crying over the body of one of the students who had just been killed.  He took the picture.  A few hours later, he started to transmit the photos he had taken to the Associated Press from a small newspaper in nearby Pennsylvania.  The photograph won him a Pulitzer Prize.

     Neil Young by then had already demon- strated his singer-songwriter talents on previous work and he brought an important dimension to the group’s sound and message.  His song “Ohio,” about the Kent State shootings, captured some of the anger and frustration felt by many young people at that time.

     According to the story behind this song, Young was given an early copy of the Life magazine issue that had run the dramatic cover photo of a shot student being attended on its May 15th, 1970 issue (photo at top of page, above).  David Crosby had given him the magazine copy, and after Young looked at the photos and read the story, he reportedly disappeared for several hours, returning later with his song.

     The four musicians then rehearsed a version of the song which was then recorded on the evening of May 15th, 1970 at the Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles.  The foursome, with other back-up musicians, recorded it live in just a few takes.  During the same session they also recorded what would become the single’s B-side, Stephen Stills’ ode to the Vietnam war’s dead, “Find the Cost of Freedom.”

     The record was then mastered and rush-released by the Atlantic record label soon after its recording.  It was being sold on the market as a 45 rpm single in June and was being heard on the radio even before that, within weeks of the shootings.  But the new song wasn’t welcomed everywhere.  In some parts of the country it was banned from radio playlists – especially AM radio, the mainstream pop radio in those days.  The song was held off the air at a number of those stations because of it’s “anti-war” and “anti-Nixon” sentiments.  Meanwhile, FM radio, then regarded as underground radio, played the song without hesitation.  In any case, the song’s lyrics – especially the refrain, “four dead in O-hi-o” – became a ringing anthem for a gener- ation angered by the war and what had happened at Kent State.

“Ohio” Lyrics by Neil Young Tin soldiers and Nixon coming, We’re finally on our own. This summer I hear the drumming, Four dead in Ohio. Gotta get down to it Soldiers are cutting us down Should have been done long ago. What if you knew her And found her dead on the ground How can you run when you know? Gotta get down to it Soldiers are cutting us down Flipper video Should have been done long ago. What if you knew her And found her dead on the ground How can you run when you know? Tin soldiers and Nixon coming, We’re finally on our own. This summer I hear the drumming, Four dead in Ohio. Four dead in Ohio. Four dead in Ohio… [ fade...] …How many more…?  Why?…

     Bill Halverson, who was the engineer in the studio for the recording of “Ohio,”and had worked with the group on their other music, later explained of the AM/FM radio issue: “… I do recall that AM wouldn’t play it, and it was very controversial that AM wouldn’t play it.  And FM, the underground – all the FM stations started playing it… And it got up in the 30s or so [on the music charts] just with FM play. …At that point, FM was pretty underground and AM was the deal.  But they tried to ban it.”

     In any event, “Ohio” entered the music charts on July 11th, 1970 and reached No. 14 at its peak, remaining in the Top 40 for about seven weeks that summer.

Presidential Commission

     Following the tragedy at Kent State University — and also at Jackson State College in Jackson, Mississippi, where two students were killed and at least twelve wounded during May 14th demonstrations that followed the Kent State shootings — President Nixon established the President’s Commission on Campus Unrest on June 13, 1970.  The Commission conducted a series of hearings and an investigation,  issuing its findings in a formal report September 1970. That report concluded the Kent State shootings were “unnecessary, unwarranted, and inexcusable.”  The report also added: “Even if the guardsmen faced danger, it was not a danger that called for lethal force.  The 61 shots by 28 guardsmen certainly cannot be justified…. The Kent State tragedy must mark the last time that, as a matter of course, loaded rifles are issued to guardsmen confronting student demonstrators.”

     Meanwhile, years later, Crosby, Stills, and Nash visited the Kent State campus on May 4, 1997, attending the 27th annual commemoration of the shootings.  When asked about the song “Ohio” on this occasion and why the group was attending the commemoration, Graham Nash responded:  “Four young men and women had their lives taken from them while lawfully protesting this outrageous government action.  We are going back [to Kent State] to keep awareness alive in the minds of all students, not only in America, but worldwide…to be vigilant and ready to stand and be counted… and to make sure that the powers of the politicians do not take precedent over the right of lawful protest.”  Crosby, Stills, and Nash performed “Ohio” at the end of the commemoration ceremony.

The CSN&Y Sound

     Even though they performed together as a group for only a few years, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young had a significant impact on the music scene of the late 1960s and 1970s.  In 1969, their first album in particular, Crosby, Stills & Nash, proved very influential in advancing the singer-songwriter movement of that era, and helped define a kind of “California” or “soft rock” sound subsequently heard throughout the 1970s in groups such as The Eagles, Jackson Browne, Fleetwood Mac, and others.  The album has been rated among the top 300 all time by Rolling Stone, and it has been issued on compact disc three times: the mid-1980s, again in 1994, and most recently as an expanded edition in 2006.  Their second album as well, Déjà Vu, which was a No. 1 album at its release in March 1970, has also been named as one of the top albums of all time by Rolling Stone, VH-1, and others.

     CSN&Y’s “Ohio” is perhaps the most well-known song associated with the Kent State shootings.  However, at least a dozen other artists have made lesser-known Kent State tribute songs, including Dave Brubeck, the Beach Boys, Steve Miller, Bruce Springsteen, and Joe Walsh (see “artist tributes.”).

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Date Posted: 13 July 2009
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Sources, Links & Additional Information

“Inquire, Learn, Reflect: May 4, 1970,” Kent State University Website with Links.

“Kent State Shootings,” Wikipedia.org.

Photos - “Four Dead Students and Nine Injured,” May 1970.

I. F. Stone, The Killings at Kent State; How Murder Went Unpunished, New York: Vintage Books, 1970.

I. F. Stone, “Fabricated Evidence in the Kent State Killings”, The New York Review of Books, Vol. 15, No.10, December 3, 1970.

“At War with War” (cover story on student protest & Kent State shootings), Time, Monday, May 18, 1970.

“New Trial Called in Kent State Suit That Seeks Damages in ‘70 Killings; Governor Told Not to Talk,” New York Times, Tuesday, September 13, 1977, p. 16.

“Ohio Approves $675,000 to Settle Suits in 1970 Kent State Shootings; Governor Rhodes and 27 National Guardsmen Offer Their Regrets for Deaths of 4 and Injuries to 9; Earlier Trial Finding Deep Emotions Over Years,” New York Times, Friday, January 5, 1979, p. A-12.

“May 1-4, 1970: Why and How It All Began.”

James Renner, “The Kent State Conspiracies: What Really Happened On May 4, 1970?”, Cleveland Free Times, Vol 14, No. 3, May 2006.

“Ohio,” Wikipedia.org.

William A. Gordon, Four Dead in Ohio, North Ridge Books, 1995.

Photos from Kent State shootings, May 1970.

The Ohio Historical Society, “Kent State University: May 4, 1970,” Ohio Historical Marker, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio. See for example: “Kent State University Shooting 2.”

The Report of the President’s Commission on Campus Unrest, Wash., DC: U.S. Govern- ment Printing Office, September 1970.

Henry Diltz and Dave Zimmer, Crosby Stills & Nash: The Authorized Biography, St. Martin’s Press, 1984

“Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young,” in Holly George-Warren and Patricia Romanowski (eds), The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, Rolling Stone Press, New York, 3rd Edition, 2001, pp. 224-225.

The Tony Bittick Interview: Text of Interview with Bill Halverson About the Recording of ‘Ohio’ and the Events at Kent State.

Scott Bills, Kent State/May 4: Echoes Through a Decade, Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1988.

National Geographic Channel documentary series, How It Was: Kent State Shootings, 2008.

Gary Tuchman, “Kent State Shootings Remembered,” CNN.com, May 4, 2000

Suzanne Goldenberg, Washington Bureau, “Tape Reveals Order’ to Shoot Vietnam Protesters; 37-Year-Old Recording of Kent State Killings Found,” The Guardian (U.K.), Wednesday, May 2, 2007.

Christopher Maag, “Kent State Tape Is Said to Reveal Orders,” New York Times, May 2, 2007.

Extensive On-Line Kent State University Photo Archive, at: University News Service, Photographs, April 30, 1970 - May 4, 1977 (bulk May 4, 1970).

     In 1972, John Hall was a founding member of the rock ‘n roll group Orleans.  Thirty-four years later he was elected to the United States Congress.

     Hall was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1948 and later lived many years in New York’s Hudson River Valley.  In high school he was three-time National Science Foun- dation scholar.  At Notre Dame University he studied physics, but later transferred to Loyola College.  After a time at Loyola, he left school to pursue a full-time career in music.  By 21 he was writing and composing music for Broadway and off-Broadway productions.  He then became a session musician and songwriter, spending time with artists such as Janis Joplin, Seals & Crofts, and Bonnie Raitt.  Then in January 1972, at about age 24, Hall became a founding member of Orleans, forming the group at Woodstock, New York in Ulster County.  Other members at the time included Wells Kelly and Larry Hoppen.  Lance Hoppen, Larry’s brother, joined the band later that year.  Another member Jerry Marotta, also joined later.  Hall served as the group’s songwriter and as one of its guitarists.

     Orleans soon became a top 1970s American rock band turning out hits such as: “Dance with Me”(1975), “Still the One”  (1976), and “Love Takes Time” (1979).  Orleans had started out touring clubs and colleges in the northeast U.S.  However, the group soon had a recording contract with ABC Dunhill Records, releasing Orleans, a debut album in 1973.  Their first Billboard Hot 100 hit came in early 1975 with “Let There Be Music” on Asylum Records.  “Dance With Me” followed, rising to No. 6 on the pop charts.  “Dance With Me” placed the group in a “soft-rock” category, and they toured with Melissa Manchester, but also with bands such as Little Feat.

 

     In 1976, another big hit came with “Still the One.”  The single peaked at No.5 on the charts as Orleans then did a major cross-country tour with Jackson Browne.  The ABC television network, meanwhile, made “Still The One” its theme song for a 1977 promotional campaign, giving the song continuing and wide exposure to a large national audience.  The song was also used in TV advertising spots and movie soundtracks.  However, within Orleans, some internal stresses emerged, and John Hall left the group to pursue a solo career.  He formed the John Hall Band and released two albums, but this venture disbanded after limited success.

Celebrities in Politics      This story is one in an occasional series that will periodically feature famous people – sports stars, Holly- wood actors, musicians, TV personali- ties, and others – who are not initially involved in politics, but who later, given their fame or other public notoriety, enter or influence politics at the national and/or state levels.  Among those profiled in this series will be those who run for and/or attain political office – from U.S. President, Congress, and the U.S. Senate, to various state-level races and governorships – as well as those who may receive political appointments, judgeships, ambassadorships, and other similar posts.  Celebrities who rise to positions of national political influence, though unelected, may also appear in this series, as well as notable leaders in other countries who come to their posts via celebrity or other media fame.

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Orleans - “Still the One”

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John Hall, Activist 

     John Hall, meanwhile, during his music career,  had become active in the anti-nuclear movement, co-founding Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE).  He co-produced “No Nukes” concerts that were held in Madison Square Garden in the late 1970s.  He was also involved in successfully fighting a proposed nuclear power plant site on the Hudson River in Greene County, New York. Living in Saugerties, New York, he co-founded Saugerties Concerned Citizens and helped write the town’s first zoning law.  When Ulster County announced plans for a 200-acre solid waste dump to be sited on a historic farm, Hall led the opposition.  By 1989, Hall was elected as an Ulster County legislator.  In the late 1990s he was twice elected to the Saugerties Board of Education, later becoming Board president.

     During this time, however, Hall had not abandoned his music.  He continued writing songs for other artists and reunited with Orleans in 1990, 1996, and 2000.  In 2005, he released Rock Me on the Water, an album of songs inspired by an extensive sailing trip he’d taken.  He also formed another band named Gulf Stream Night.  But politics soon became John Hall’s central gig.

Bid For Congress

     In 2006, Hall set his sights on higher public office, then concerned for the future of the Hudson River Valley and disillusioned with the war in Iraq.  He ran in the Democratic primary for a seat in the U.S. Congress representing New York’s 19th congressional district.  He won the primary with 48 percent in a four-way race and then faced incumbent Republican Sue W. Kelly in the fall elections.  In October, the New York Times – noting he was a musician, but “not a posturer or political dabbler” – endorsed Hall for Congress.  “His platform is ambitious and coherent,” said the Times, “with calls for universal health coverage, a return to fiscal discipline and a full-bore national effort to achieve energy independence. He blends a deep-blue idealism with a crisp command of details…”

     However, his opponent, Republican Sue Kelly, had been a popular, six-term incumbent, who was well funded in her races.  She had won handedly in 2004 with 73 percent of the vote.  Nevertheless, Hall defeated Kelly in November 2006 with 51 percent of the vote, beating her in her home county of Westchester to help pull off an upset victory.  He was only the third Democrat elected in the district since WWI. 

     John Hall was helped in his election win by 1,200 volunteers who did door-to-door work and manned phone banks prior to the election.  Some of Hall’s old rock ‘n roll fans turned out as well – a few amazed at the novelty of voting for a former rock star.  Offered one New York blogger at “Fred Sez,”Hembeck.com, in the run up to the 2006 election: “Tomorrow, I get to do something I’ve never had a chance to do before: vote for someone who I first saw perform live on stage back in the mid-seventies, and then whose records I bought…”  But there was also a separate $500,000 campaign by businessman Adam R. Rose that also contributed to Hall’s victory.  Rose, an openly gay real-estate developer bankrolled the Majority Action group which ran negative advertisements against Hall’s opponent, Sue Kelly, because of her support for the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would ban same-sex marriage.

Muscians Help

The Basketball Diaries full      In his campaign, Hall also had the support of fellow musicians, some of whom helped raise money for him (see box below).  Others gave concerts on his behalf.  Singer Jackson Browne, for example, gave concerts for Hall.  Browne did four benefit concerts for Hall in New York, June 2-4, 2006, which also included Dar Williams and Pete Seeger.  On August 20, 2006, Browne again performed on behalf of Hall in New York city, along with Rosanne Cash, Steve Earle and Nanci Griffith.

Rockers for Hall 2006      In the spring of 2006, musicians Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, and Bonnie Raitt, wrote a fundraising letter on behalf of John Hall’s bid for Congress.  Here’s the text of that letter: Dear Friend,      Our longtime friend, fellow No Nukes/MUSE artist, John Hall, whom you may also remember as a leader of Orleans (Dance With Me, Still the One) is running for Congress in the 19th District of upstate New York. John’s been a lifelong activist and right out of the starting gate, is emerging as a very welcome and successful candidate in debates and testing so far. He’s up against a very tough contender, the six-term incumbent Republican (and Tom DeLay crony) Rep. Sue Kelly, and of course needs to raise as much money as possible early in this primary race.      A bunch of us MUSE folks and other music industry friends have already lent our support and I’m writing to ask if you would consider contributing to help get John Hall elected. John is extremely smart, articulate, committed and in our minds, would absolutely bring a much needed fresh and clearheaded voice to our muddled political quagmire. Please spread the word if you agree and thank you so much for your support.      You can check out his positions and background at http://www.johnhallforcongress.com/, contribute on line at http://www.actblue.com/page/johnhallforcongress/ or send your contributions to “John Hall For Congress,” PO Box 377, Dover Plains, NY 12522.      As you may know the limit for personal contributions during the primary period is $2100 (MARCH 31st is the end of the 1st Quarter FEC filing period so act quickly please), and an additional $2100 may be sent to his General Election Escrow Account, which will be returned with interest if he does not win the nomination.      We think it’s fantastic that John has decided to set aside his music career for the time being and dedicate himself to politics for the better of us all.      Thank you for your support. We can make a difference,      Bonnie Raitt, Graham Nash and Jackson Browne P.S. Any amount that you contribute will help. If 2000 people send $50 each, John’s campaign will receive a $100,000 boost. This will keep him in the game to carry the message of peace and diplomacy, economic justice, government and corporate accountability, healthcare for all, environmental protection and alternative energy.

     Once in Congress, John Hall served as a progressive Democrat.  He became a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and in his first term, among others things, he voted to raise the minimum wage and supported federal funding of stem cell research.  He also became engaged in the daily work of serving his constituents on a variety of fronts, from veterans’ rights to help for public schools.  Nor did Hall forget the issues in his home state that had brought him into politics, calling for closing the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant, for example, and continuing that fight and others in Congress.

Nuke “Bailouts”

     In October 2007, during his first term, Hall also took part in a gathering of rock ‘n roll artists who came to town to lobby against federal loan guarantees for nuclear power plants.  In his younger days in the late 1970s, in the wake of the nuclear plant accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, Hall had joined with rock musicians Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and Graham Nash and others to organize the “No Nukes” concerts at Madison Square Garden that helped stir public opposition to nuclear power at that time.   In October 2007, these musicians and others reconvened to hold a press conference and lobby Congress to oppose the loan guarantee provisions in a pending energy bill.  ”Thirty years ago, we felt that this monster was dead,” Graham Nash told an Associated Press reporter.  On Capitol Hill in Washington, the musicians warned that a Senate version of the energy bill contained the loan guarantees provisions, which they called a “virtual blank check from taxpayers” to help build more nuclear plants.  They noted, however, that the bill as a whole contained some very good provisions, including those for renewable energy sources and improved energy efficiency standards.

     The musicians’ group had also launched a petition drive and a YouTube music video as part of their campaign.  A number of environmental groups lent their support, along with dozens of other music artists and rock banks, including R.E.M., Ben Harper, Maroon 5, Pearl Jam, Patti Smith and Wynton Marsalis.  Their petition drive had collected more than 120,000 signatures to present to Congress.  The Nuclear Energy Institute, meanwhile, dismissed the effort, saying nuclear energy was on the brink of a revival due to increased energy demands and concerns about global warming.  “It’s almost as if they’re in a time capsule [from the 1970s] and they’ve been transported forward,” said Steve Kerekes of Nuclear Energy Institute.  But Reps. Edward Markey (D-MA) and John Hall said they expected that the musicians group would provide more positive lobbying muscle on the energy bill.  The nuclear power industry continued to push Congress to expand federal loan guarantees for building new nuclear power plants.

Targeted in ‘08

     In the 2008 election campaign, meanwhile, John Hall drew numerous potential challengers for his re-election bid, including former Rep. Sue Kelly and Emily Pataki, daughter of former popular Republican Governor George Pataki.  At one, point, Republicans had sought former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer to oppose Hall, but Fleischer declined.  Hall had also been targeted by the National Republican Congressional Committee in the fall election.  A Republican newcomer, Kieran Lalor, became Hall’s opponent.  On November 4, 2008, John Hall was re-elected, defeating Lalor with 58 percent of the vote.

     Hall’s Congressional website as of July 2009 notes that he opposes privatization of Social Security, and supports a swift and orderly withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq combined with a renewed emphasis on diplomacy.  He supports intensive efforts to produce more renewable energy, better funding of veterans’ programs, universal health care, and full funding of the No Child Left Behind legislation.  Hall currently serves on three House Committees – Transportation and Infrastructure, Veterans’ Affairs, and The Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.  Hall is married to Pamela Bingham Hall, a graduate of Vassar College and an attorney who has worked as General Counsel to the Tennessee State Treasurer and as Tennessee Assistant State Attorney General.

Man-Thing movie download      One final item on a musical note.  During the national presidential campaign in 2008, Hall took a shot at Republican Presidential candidate John McCain for using the Orleans song “Still The One” in his presidential campaign without asking for permission.  Four years earlier as well, in late October 2004, Hall had criticized the campaign of President George W. Bush for using the same Orleans song at his campaign events without permission (Bush had a similar problem with a Tom Petty tune).  In the case of Bush, formal cease-and-desist letters went out to the Republican National Committee and the Bush-Cheney ‘04 Campaign and the song was later dropped from the campaign’s playlist.

     Stay tuned to this website for future stories on politics, music, and culture.

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Date Posted:  10 July 2009
Last Update:  10 July 2009
Comments to:  jdoyle@pophistorydig.com

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Awake ipod

Sources, Links & Additional Information

Website of U.S. Rep. John Hall, U.S. Congress.

“Orleans,” Wikipedia.com.

“John Hall,” Wikipedia.com.

“An Endorsement for Congress,”(Westchester), New York Times, October 22, 2006.

Katrina vanden Heuvel, “He’s Still the One,” The Nation, Wednesday, October 25, 2006.

John Hall for Congress.

Andrew Miga, Associated Press, “Rockers Renew 1970s Anti-Nuke Theme,” USA Today, October 23, 2007.

Harvey Wasserman, “No-Nukers Sing a New Green Tune,” The Nation.com, November 9, 2007.

Margaret Menge, “Cornwall Lays KJ Pipeline Issue at Feet of Freshman Rep. John Hall,” Cornwall LocalOnline.com, Saturday, February 23, 2008.

Union of Concerned Scientists, “Massive Federal Loan Guarantees for New Nuclear Power Plants Would Put Taxpayers, Ratepayers at Risk,”March 4, 2009.

Abby Livingston, NBC / Domenico Montanaro, First Read, “Rep. To McCain: Stop Using My Song!,” MSNBC.com, Friday, June 13, 2008.

     After the Beatles had broken up in 1970, they each went their separate ways musically.  Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison each began careers making music on their own, and sometimes with other artists.  After John Lennon was killed in 1980, the three remaining Beatles came to- gether briefly for George Harrison’s song, “All Those Years Ago.”  But for the most part, they each continued working solo, with occasional col- laborations.  In the early 1980s, Paul McCartney and pop star Michael Jackson came together briefly to produce a few songs and videos, projects undertaken jointly between 1981 and 1983.  McCartney by then already had a decade of success with his group Wings, releasing a number of singles and albums between 1971 and 1981.  Michael Jackson at that time was just hitting his stride, having released his first solo album Off the Wall in 1979, and then his blockbuster, Thriller, in 1982.  In the McCartney/Jackson collaboration of the early 1980s, the two artists produced a few singles together that were also used on each other’s albums and for music videos.  However, this collaboration became a very interesting pairing given what would later transpire between McCartney and Jackson in terms of their respective business interests.  More on that in moment.  First the music.

 

“The Girl Is Mine”

     The first single released jointly by Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson was “The Girl is Mine,” a 1982 duet by the two artists.  The song was written by Jackson and produced by Quincy Jones for Jackson’s epic Thriller album, his sixth studio album.  “The Girl is Mine” was recorded in Los Angeles in April 1982.  It was released as a single on the Epic label in mid-October of that year with “Can’t Get Outta the Rain” on the B side.  It soon topped the R & B singles chart, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and rising to No. 8 in the U.K.  By 1985, it had sold 1.3 million copies, and was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of at least two million units.  Jackson stated at one point that the recording of the song was one of his most enjoyable moments in the studio.  “One of my favorite songs to record, of all my recordings as a solo artist, is probably ‘The Girl Is Mine,’ because working with Paul McCartney was pretty exciting and we just literally had fun.  It was like lots of kibitzing and playing, and throwing stuff at each other, and making jokes.  We actually recorded the track and the vocals pretty much live at the same time, and we do have [film] footage of it…”  The footage of the pair recording the song was later shown at The Paul McCartney World Tour.

Visit With Paul

     The second song released jointly by McCartney and Jackson was “Say, Say, Say,” which would also appear on McCartney’s fifth solo album, Pipes of Peace, released in 1983.  The history of this Jackson/McCartney collaboration actually predates “The Girl is Mine” single of 1982.  And it was during this recording visit that Jackson would be introduced to the financial value of the music publishing business.  “Say, Say, Say” was recorded at Abbey Road Studios from May to September 1981. During one of Michael’s visits to the McCartney home in 1981, Paul  pro- duced a thick booklet of  song publishing rights he owned.  “This is the way to make big money,” he told Jackson. Michael Jackson had come to the U.K. as a guest of Paul, as the two had agreed to explore joint music projects.  While there, Jackson stayed at a nearby hotel, but often had dinner at the home of Paul and Linda McCartney, a Tudor estate on hundreds of acres about an hour’s drive from London. During these visits, Jackson and the McCartneys developed a friendship, sometimes hanging out in the McCartney kitchen for informal conversation.  One night at the McCartney dinner table, Paul produced a thick booklet displaying all the song and publishing rights he owned, such as those of 1950s’ rocker Buddy Holly and others.  “This is the way to make big money,” he told Jackson.  “Every time someone records one of these songs, I get paid. Every time someone plays these songs on the radio, or in live performances, I get paid.”  McCartney was then reportedly earning about $40 million a year from other people’s songs.  Jackson became quite interested as McCartney paged through his booklet.  He wanted to know more about owning songs, and how they were acquired and put to use.  This dinner-table vignette of Paul advising Michael on the lucrative world of music publishing and song ownership, would later play out in a somewhat ironic way, as Jackson would come to own a number of Beatles songs.

     Meanwhile, the McCartney/Jackson recording of “Say Say Say” was completed in February 1983 with former Beatles’ producer George Martin helping with its studio production.  “Say, Say, Say” proceeded to have a good run on the music charts, hitting No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and staying there for six weeks in late 1983 and early 1984.  A fairly elaborate music video for “Say Say Say” was also produced, at a cost of $500,000, which featured Jackson and McCartney, with appearances by Linda McCartney, LaToya Jackson, and Mr. T.  Another McCartney/ Jackson song that appears on McCartney’s Pipes of Peace album is “The Man,” co-written by Paul and Michael, but not released as a single.  Paul and Michael, meanwhile, continued their friendship and musical relationship through the 1980s – that is, until some mutual musical and financial interests came between them.

Jackson Invests

     In 1983-84, having taken Paul McCartney’s advice to heart about making money with music publishing rights, Michael Jackson was soon on the hunt to buy music catalogs and song copyrights.  Within a year or two, he spent about $1 million buying up some available collections – the Sly Stone collection, which included songs such as, “Everyday People”(1968) and “Everybody Is a Star” (1970).  He also acquired Len Barry songs such as “1-2-3″ (1965), the Soul Survivors’ “Expressway to Your Heart” (1967), as well as two 1961 songs by Dion DiMucci – “The Wanderer” and “Runaround Sue.” Jackson continued his search for more music catalogs to buy, but only those with songs that meant something to him.  He was shown dozens more catalogs, approaching 40 or so, but he only bid on a handful of these.  Then came the prize he wanted badly: a catalog of Beatles songs. First, a little history.

     In 1968-69, a U.K. company named ATV Music Publishing, a subsidiary of Britain’s Associated TeleVision, had become the owner of 250 or so Beatles’ songs – many of which were the most important “Lennon & McCartney” compositions from the 1960s.  How the Beatles’ songs made their way to these owners is a bit of another story which is covered at length elsewhere.  But essentially, for tax reasons, the Beatles put much of their music publishing rights into a public company, which they later lost control of.  ATV became the owner.  ATV Music Publishing had formed in the late 1950s after it acquired Pye Records, one of the major U.K. record companies at the time.  ATV and Pye were at the forefront of the 1960s music explosion in the U.K.  Among artists then on the Pye label were The Searchers, The Kinks, Donovan, The Moody Blues, and Petula Clark.  Through the 1970s, ATV remained the owner of the Beatles catalog and expanded its holdings to other songs.  By 1984, however, the ATV Music Publishing became the property of a new owner – an Australian investor and corporate raider named Robert Holmes a Court.  Holmes a Court was interested in turning quick profits on his investments and he soon let it be known that the ATV music catalog – then comprised of some 4,000 songs including those by the Beatles – was up for sale.  That’s when Michael Jackson entered the bidding.

     Paul McCartney, meanwhile, was also keenly aware of the ATV holding.  One account claims that McCartney had made it known to the owners that he would be willing to top any best offer by 10 percent.  However, McCartney is also on record saying that at one point he was offered the catalog for a price of £20 million (pounds).  But McCartney was hesitant to make that deal on his own, since it might be perceived by Beatles fans as a “Paul McCartney grab” of John Lennon’s property, and he didn’t feel comfortable with that.  So he called Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, and asked her if she wanted to split the bid at £10 million each.  That arrangement did not work out for whatever reason, and McCartney appeared to drop out of the process.  Michael Jackson, however, really wanted the catalog, and especially the Beatles’ songs, and he set about on a careful and thorough business course to acquire it.

     Jackson was first informed of the availability of the ATV catalog in September 1984 by his attorney John Branca, who put together the earlier catalog acquisitions that Jackson had already made.  That September, Branca, Jackson, and his manager, Frank Dileo, were in one of their regular business meetings during Jackson’s Victory tour with his brothers in Philadelphia.  Jackson was very excited at the news of the ATV/Beatles catalog becoming available, but Branca warned him it would be a tough fight as other investors were also interested, and Holmes a Court was a tough negotiator.  Branca also reportedly contacted an attorney for McCartney, who said McCartney was not interested in bidding for the catalog as it was “too pricey”.  Branca and his associates then set out on a careful course of “corporate due diligence” checking out their quarry and later spending $1 million over some months to verify the validity of ATV’s claims about earnings and song ownership.

     By November 20th, 1984, Jackson and Branca sent a Telex to Holmes a Court with a $46-million bid for the ATV catalog.  They were aware of another bid of $39 million, and had spent time determining the value of the ATV catalog.  They believed their $46 million was a good bid, and that it had cushion enough to be above the rest.  In addition to McCartney as a possible rival in the contest, the other investors and music industry executives competing for the ATV catlog were: Charles Koppelman and Marty Bandier’s New York-based The Entertainment Co., Virgin Records of London; New York real estate tycoon Samuel J. Lefrak, and financier Charles Knapp.  John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, had been contacted but did not enter the bidding.

“We Are The World” 1985      During the time Jackson’s team of lawyers and music specialists were trying to acquire the ATV/Beatles music catalog, Jackson was also involved with his music for a good cause.  He teamed up with fellow singer Lionel Ritchie to write a song for Ethiopian charity relief that became “We Are The World.”  The song was produced and conducted by Quincy Jones and became notable for the “supergroup” of 45 popular musicians who performed it – from Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and Diana Ross, to Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles – and dozens of others.  The charity single was intended to raise funds to help famine-relief efforts in Africa, which had unusual drought in 1984/1985.  The recording was produced in January 1985 and released in March 1985.  It became one of the fastest- selling singles in the modern pop era, reaching No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 17, 1985 and remaining there for four weeks.  The single eventually sold 7.5 million copies in the U.S. and also spawned an album and a video – all of which raised over $63 million for famine relief.  The song also inspired millions of people to help, and many lives were saved.  The song went on to win four 1985 Grammys.  Michael Jackson performed the song at the World Music Awards in November 2006.

     In the end, Jackson would win the prize – but only after a long and protracted chess game with Holmes a Court that went on for some 10 months or more, and who for a time, erroneously suspected that Jackson was a front man for a Paul McCartney purchase.  In any case, for Jackson’s camp, the process of putting the deal together, and verifying the assets, businesses, and copyrights, etc. was not a casual process, as Los Angeles Times reporter Robert Hilburn explained in 1985:

Dead Man on Campus

     …One team of Jackson’s lawyers was sent to the United States Copyright Office in Washington to check on the authenticity of every significant composition in the nearly 4,000-song catalogue.  Meanwhile, other teams were at work in London and at ATV offices around the world to certify legal documents in those countries.  In total, an estimated half a million to a million pages of contracts were examined.

     At the same time, the L.A.-based accounting firm of Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman was overseeing a team of 20 people who were checking ATV books in London, Los Angeles, Toronto, Sydney, Munich and Amsterdam.

     The contract for the prospective deal had gone through eight drafts.  But then, negotiations broke off for a time and the deal seemed doomed.  In June 1985, Branca and Jackson learned that Holmes a Court had signed a tentative $50-million deal with Charles Koppelman and Marty Bandier’s Entertainment Co.  Talks then resumed between the Jackson and Holmes a Court negotiating teams.  Jackson raised his bid to $47.5 million.  Holmes a Court accepted Jackson’s bid over the higher $50 million from Koppleman/Bandier presumably because Jackson’s was more liquid and could be consummated quicker.  Jackson also reportedly threw in a charity concert in Perth, Australia.  An announcement was made in mid-August 1985 that Michael Jackson had acquired the ATV music publishing catalog with the Beatles songs.  Michael Jackson was a happy camper.

     With the deal done, Jackson spoke with Los Angels Times reporter Robert Hilburn in September 1985 at the Jackson family house in Encino, California.  He was quite excited about the Beatles’ songs he now owned.  “The melodies…are so lovely…(and) structured so perfectly,” he said.  Coaxed to name some of his favorite Beatles songs, Jackson  said “Yester- day” was his favorite, though he quickly ticked off others — “Here, There and Everywhere,” “Fool on the Hill,” “Let It Be,” “Hey Jude,” “Eleanor Rigby” and “Penny Lane.”  He couldn’t name just five; he liked them all.

     Meanwhile, Paul McCartney, who had wanted the ATV Beatles’ songs, apparently was unable or unwilling to raise enough money or pay for the entire 4,000 song ATV catalog.  As noted earlier, McCartney at one point urged Yoko Ono to join him in a joint bid, but she declined.  Ono did comment upon hearing that the rights were acquired by Jackson.  “Michael Jackson is a fellow songwriter,” she said, “so I just think it’s a nice thing to happen.”  McCartney, however, did admit to feeling somewhat undercut by his one-time friend and collaborator.  “I think it’s dodgy to do things like that,” McCartney reportedly said, “– to be someone’s friend and then buy the rug they’re standing on.”

     The publisher’s rights that Jackson acquired were distinct from those of the songwriter.  McCartney still had those, of course, as royalties for “Lennon & McCartney” songwriting still flowed to McCartney and to John Lennon’s estate regardless of who held the publisher’s rights.  Still, publisher rights could be quite lucrative – as Paul had shown Michael back in 1981.  The Beatles songs, in particular, would be especially valuable resources that could be mined for years with possible uses in film, television, advertising, stage productions, video games, and more.  The prize that Jackson had won would become a very valuable asset indeed.  In fact, it would prove to be one of the best investments Michael Jackson would ever make.

The Mothman Prophecies movie download

Nike Ad

     The first unpleasantness between McCartney and Jackson over the use of  Beatles music came in 1987 when Nike struck a deal to use the Beatle’s song “Revolution” in one of its athletic shoe television commercials.  At the time, Nike reportedly paid $500,000 to use the song, half to EMI-Capitol Records and half to Jackson.  The three surviving Beatles, along with their record label, Apple, filed a lawsuit objecting to Nike’s use of the song.  The suit was aimed at Nike, its ad agency, and Capitol-EMI Records – not Jackson.  The Nike TV ad with the Beatles music – and there were at least three versions – ran from 1987 through early 1988, even as the litigation proceeded, with former Beatles George Harrison and Paul McCartney objecting in the press.

     By March 1988, although still in court, Nike decided to discontinue airing the ads as its music right for using the song expired.  In November 1989, although the case had spawned more lawsuits by then, an undisclosed out-of-court settlement was reached among all parties.  McCartney, meanwhile, had reportedly asked Jackson to increase the share of his writer royalties for the Beatles’ songs that Jackson held as publisher, but Jackson refused.  In 1990, McCartney and Jackson appeared together in a photograph to allay fears – publicly at least – that there was no bad blood between them.  Jackson was soon confronting problems of a different kind, as charges against him for molesting a 13-year-old boy were settled out of court in 1994.

     Then in early November 1995 George Harrison and Paul McCartney made comments in the U.K.’s Elle magazine about Jackson’s use of Beatles songs in advertising.  Harrison made remarks similar to those he had made during the 1988 fight over Nike’s use of “Revolution” in their TV ad.  “Unless we do something about it,” said Harrison, referring to the merchandising of their songs, “every Beatles song is going to end up advertising bras and pork pies.”  McCartney added that Jackson had “cheapened” the songs released.

Financial Problems

     Jackson by then was beginning his descent into serious financial difficulty as he began to leverage his assets for cash and credit.  On November 9, 1995 it was reported that Jackson had sold a 50 percent stake in the ATV/Beatles song catalog for about $100 million – money used by Jackson, according to one adviser, to help shore up his “wobbling accounts.”

     Although Jackson was a smart guy when he wanted to be, and was on top of his financial situation for a good part of his career – and actively involved with his business interests – by the mid-1990s things started to slip pretty badly.  Jackson’s exorbitant and quirky life style — coupled with legal battles and lower music revenues – would soon eat away at his assets and push him into big-time indebtedness.  In the 1980s, he had made a ton of money, with top-selling albums and concert tours.  But he spent it as fast at it came in, and then some, often in bizarre ways, chartering jets and renting hotel suites for his entourages, or traveling with a pet chimpanzee.  In his work too, Jackson spared no expense, hiring the best at premium rates.  In 1987, for example, he hired noted film director Martin Scorsese for $1 million to direct a video for his album Bad.

     Jackson’s Santa Barbara County, California estate, “Neverland” – which he had purchased in 1987 for $19.5 million – was a continuing and considerable expense.  Neverland – named for the island of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys who never age – covers some 2,600 acres.  Jackson spent $35 million making it a wonderland complete with amusement park, small-car race track, miniature railroad, a pet zoo, ornate landscaping and flower beds, a 50-seat cinema, and two helicopter landing pads.  At its peak, Neverland had a staff of 150, and cost $10 million a year to maintain.

     In 1993, Jackson was accused of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy.  An out-of-court settlement was reached in 1994, reportedly in the neighborhood of $20 million.  However, Jackson’s reputation – and some say his earning power as well – began taking big hits in the media and the tabloids.  Headlines such as, “Peter Pan or Pervert?”, run by the New York Post in August 1993, hit Jackson hard.  Some close to Jackson say the incident marked beginning of a downward spiral for him – emotionally, financially, and legally.  In the mid-1990s, Jackson undertook to answer his critics in part with feisty song lyrics and a $30 million publicity and promotion campaign for his 1995 HIStory album, part of which included the use of nine giant Michael Jackson statues, one of which was floated down the Thames River through London.  In the 1990s Jackson was also married twice and divorced twice, with costly settlements – first to Elvis Presley’s daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, and then his dermatologist’s secretary, Debbie Rowe, who bore two of his children.  Meanwhile, music sales for Jackson in the 1990s, although still formidable, were not at the level they were in the 1980s.

     By the late 1990s he had taken out hundreds of millions of dollars worth of loans.  He used some of the loan money to invest in risky ventures.  “The leading drain on Mr. Jackson’s ample resources may have been monumentally unwise investments that apparently produced equally colossal losses,” wrote New York Times reporters Jeff Leeds and Andrew Ross Sorkin in a later story on the evolution of Jackson’s financial troubles.  Among the unwise investments was $50 million or so for deals that never panned out – amusement-park ideas and global-scale entertainments featuring giant Marvel comic-book type characters.  Jackson was getting bad advice.  By early 2000, Jackson’s biggest burden began shifting to his enormous monthly interest payments on his debt.  At one point in 2000, Jackson’s finances were so shaky that one of his financial advisers warned that Jackson’s control of the rights to his own music catalog and that of the Beatles was at risk.

Sell The Beatles?

     In early 2001, there had been rumors that Jackson was putting the ATV/Beatles catalog up for sale to cover the maintenance of his Neverland ranch in California as well as legal bills relating to cancelled concert tours.  Jackson then made a statement to the press in May 2001 about the status of the Sony/ATV/Beatles catalog.  “I want to clarify a silly rumor,” he said in a May 9, 2001 statement, “the Beatles catalogue is not for sale, has not been for sale and will never be for sale.”  Still, the catalog was becoming less and less his to control as he diminished his share to hold off his creditors.

Comeback In 2001?       In the fall of 2001, it appeared there might be a re-emergence of Michael Jackson.  In September he made a surprise appearance at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards, as he joined ‘N Sync on stage near the end of their act and performed some of his dance moves.  At the end of October 2001, Jackson’s new album, Invincible was released, rising to the top of the charts.      In November 2001, Michael Jackson appeared on the cover of TV Guide.  The Guide touted his upcoming TV special on its cover — “Michael Jackson: The Star Studded TV Special, The New Album (at last), The Famous Friends, The “Wacko Jacko” Image – Does it Add Up to Comeback?”       In 2002, however, Jackson had some legal troubles.  His longtime concert promoter Marcel Avram, sued Jackson for $21.2 million for canceling two Millennium concerts.  A court ordered Jackson to pay Avram $5.3 million in damages.

     Meanwhile, there appeared to be little change in Jackson’s spending habits.  In September 2001, he paid a $1 million fee to Marlon Brando to appear at a Madison Square Garden event and in a video honoring Jackson.  In the spring of 2002, he racked up a $100,000 hotel bill on a brief trip to New York.  And he could still drop $1 million at a time on any number of shopping expeditions, for antiques, automobiles, paintings, or other luxuries.  Forbes scored him as owing a Beverly Hills jeweler $2 million for a watch, and once on a whim he spent $10,000 on a bottle of perfume for his friend Elizabeth Taylor.

     By November 2003, it didn’t appear that Jackson was in imminent danger of going broke, as Forbes magazine placed his net worth at $350 million.  But he then had heavy liens against his property and his spending was characterized as “out of control”.  Forbes also noted of Jackson: “for the first time in four decades, he finds himself without a record contract.”  The magazine described him as “a franchise in decline.”  Number Ones, a Jackson greatest-hits album, released in 2003, would sell about 1 million copies, considerably less that other Jackson albums.

     By 2005, a turn for the worse occurred, especially with Jackson’s very public trial on charges of molesting a young boy.  Although acquitted, more of Jackson’s financial turmoil surfaced in the trial.  An accountant testified that Jackson spent up to $30 million per year more than he earned.  His loans were soon becoming his major liability, with crushing interest payments.  By 2005, Jackson was reportedly making monthly payments of about $4.5 million on $270 million in debt, which works out to an annual interest rate of about 20 percent, a rate that usually signals high risk.

Sony Steps In

     Jackson’s partner in the ATV/Beatles catalog, Sony, was now concerned about the prospect of a Jackson bankruptcy.  They also wondered who they might have to negotiate with as their partner, especially since Jackson by then had established that his share would be represented by a trust.  For Sony, that added to the uncertainty, and they remained attentive to Jackson’s situation.

     By April 2006, Jackson was living temporarily in Bahrain after his child molestation trial.  Needing money, Jackson again turned to the Sony/ATV/Beatles catalog to help with creditors.  It appeared he would have to sell some portion of his share in the catalog to raise funds.  Instead, Sony came to the rescue and sent two executives to Bahrain.  The Sony executives negotiated a deal for Jackson that resulted in Jackson getting a lower interest rate on his $300 million debt through a refinancing arrangement.  In return, Sony gained more authority to operate Sony/ATV/Beatles catalog, and also retained an option to buy a further half of Jackson’s share.  This meant, if the option was exercised, Jackson would then only retain a 25 percent share of the Sony/ATV/Beatles catalog.

     There were also a few wealthy patrons who came to Jackson’s aide during his financial troubles, each also looking for a piece of business from Jackson or his related assets.  Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the second son of the king of Bahrain, who took Jackson and his family in for a time following his trial, also helped Jackson keep the lights on at Neverland and paid some of his legal bills in 2005.  Al Khalifa thought he had made a business deal with Jackson to do an album and write an autobiography; Jackson claimed the $7 million he received was a gift.  Al Khalifa sued.  Thomas Barrack, chairman and CEO of Los Angeles-based real estate investment firm Colony Capital set up a joint venture with Jackson to take ownership of Neverland, yielding a $23 million loan.  Barrack believed a spruced-up Neverland could fetch as much as $80 million.  Colony and Barrack – also involved in Las Vegas nightclubs and casinos – had been talking with Jackson about repackaging his image and beginning a comeback, with the prospect of  multiple-year, Céline Dion- type performances in Vegas ( she had grossed $400 million in 4 years), and/or a Cirque du Soleil- type musical production like the Beatles Love production.  Then there was Philip Anschutz, whose concert promotion company, AEG Live, had started work with Jackson, planning to do 50 shows featuring him in London beginning in July 2009.  AEG also hoped to generate a further $400 million in business with Jackson through tours and merchandizing over the next few years.

     Jackson, meanwhile, had laid off workers at Neverland by 2006.  In 2008, he defaulted on a $24.5 million loan and narrowly escaped foreclosure there.  By early 2009 an auction had been scheduled to sell off some of Jackson’s personal property to raise funds.  Nearly 1,400 items from his Neverland Ranch were assembled by Julien’s Auction house and set for a sale in April 2009, but the auction was cancelled.  A five-volume, 900-page catalog of items had been prepared by Julien’s and was posted at their website for a time.

     Through all of Jackson’s difficulties and financial woes, however, his music publishing interests were a key asset, anchored by the 251 Beatles songs.  He was personally involved with that business, and the idea of doing more with it in the future appealed to him.  In addition to his share of the Sony/ATV/Beatles catalog, he also held his own publishing catalog, called Mijac.  That catalog is estimated to be worth $50 million to $100 million, but it too has an unknown amount of debt attached.

Catalog Grows

     The Sony/ATV/Beatles catalog, meanwhile, had grown significantly in size and value since Jackson first acquired it in 1985, especially in recent years.  Between November 2001 and May 2007, Sony/ATV had made at least four acquisitions of other music catalogs.  There were now more than 500,000 songs in the Sony/ATV catalog – including tunes by Elvis Presley, the Drifters, Little Richard, Hank Williams, Roy Orbison, Taylor Swift, and the Jonas Brothers.  At Jackson’s death, the Sony/ATV/ Beatles catalog was said to be worth $1 billion and held more than 500,000 songs.  Among songs now found in this catalog, for example, are “Blowin’ in the Wind” by Bob Dylan, “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond, “E-Pro” by Beck, “Crazy” by Willie Nelson, and “No Such Thing” by John Mayer.  The works of a number of songwriters are also included, among them: Stevie Nicks, Sarah McLachlan, Destiny’s Child, Garth Brooks, and Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi.  Still, in terms of earning power, the 251 Beatles songs are the most significant group, whether in terms of generating regular or “mechanical” royalties from CD sales, or future use in advertising and other commercial ventures.  Bachman Turner Overdrive’s “Takin’ Care of Business,” is one example of a Sony/ATV song licenced for a major advertising campaign, in this case, for Office Depot.

     At Jackson’s death in June 2009, the Sony/ATV/Beatles catalog was said to be worth $1 billion.  How much of that would accrue to the Jackson estate, however, was unclear given his indebtedness and other possible liabilities.

Paul McCartney

     Paul McCartney, of course, had not forgotten about his old friend’s ownership of the Beatles tunes.  In recent years, it still bothered McCartney that someone else held the publishing rights to the Beatles’ songs, and he said as much in 2006.  “You know what doesn’t feel very good, is going on tour and paying to sing all my songs,” he said.  “Every time I sing ‘Hey Jude,’ I’ve got to pay someone.”  That someone, of course, was Michael Jackson/Sony/ATV.

     After Jackson’s passing in June 2009, McCartney publicly offered his respects and condolences, commenting on his time working with Jackson.  “I feel privileged to have hung out and worked with Michael,” McCartney said, calling him “massively talented” and a person with a gentle soul.  “His music will be remembered forever and my memories of our time together will be happy ones,” he said.  With Jackson’s passing, there had come rumors that Jackson had planned to give the rights back to the Beatles.  In fact, it was rumored that Jackson had intended to do so in his will, in order to make amends with Paul McCartney.  But when the will surfaced, there was no mention of such a transfer.  And Sony stepped in to say that the Beatles portion of the Sony/ATV catalog was going nowhere and would remain in their custody.  McCartney, for his part, seemed to be mellowing somewhat on the whole matter, explaining that with time, certain rights would revert to him anyway.

     McCartney, in any case, was doing pretty well for himself without the Beatles tunes that Jackson had acquired.  Since the Beatles broke up in 1970, McCartney had become a major music publisher himself, going well beyond what he showed Jackson at the McCartney dinner table back in 1981.  McCartney’s music publishing business uses the name MPL Communications and has bought or secured publishing rights to hundreds of songs, including a few early Beatles songs issued as singles that were separate from the others – such as “Love Me Do,” “P.S. I Love You,” “Please Please Me,” and “Ask Me Why.”  He also holds other rock ‘n roll songs such as those by Buddy Holly.

     MPL stands for “McCartney Productions Limited,” the company that operates out of London and New York.  MPL has grown over the years and is now comprised of 25 subsidiary companies, some with names such as Desilu Music Corp, ARKO Music Corp., and others.  MPL owns a wide range of copyrighted material stretching over 100 years, including songs such as, “Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody” made famous by Al Jolson, to show tunes, pop music, and rock ‘n roll songs such as 1960s classics from the Four Seasons, “Sherry” & “Big Girls Don’t Cry.”  There are also standards in the MPL collection such as “Autumn Leaves,” “Sentimental Journey,” and “Stormy Weather.”  MPL also represents musicals and their songs such as: “How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying” by Frank Loesser, and “A Chorus Line” by composer/arranger Marvin Hamlisch and lyricist Edward Kleban.

The Jackson Legacy

     Michael Jackson’s own music catalog, meanwhile – including previously unreleased material – is likely to become one of the all-time most valuable music catalogs in modern music history.  Given the popular reaction to his music since his death, with his past albums dominating the charts in June and July 2009 — plus the prospect of all kinds of uses for his music in the years ahead — it is expected that a music business legacy equivalent to, or exceeding that, of Elvis Presley, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Frank Sina- tra, the Beatles, and other famous music names will be quite possible.  Only time will tell, of course, with history as the final judge.

     Stay tuned to this website for future stories on the Sony/ATV catalog and related topics. To read other Beatles stories at this website see: “Nike & The Beatles,” “Nike’s Revolution Ad,” and “The Beatles Closed-Circuit Gig, 1964.”  For a related Michael Jackson story, see, “The Jackson Statues, 1995.”

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Date Posted:  7 July 2009
Last Update:  23 August 2009
Comments to:  jdoyle@pophistorydig.com

Article Citation:
Jack Doyle, “Michael & McCartney, 1990s-2009,”
PopHistoryDig.com, July 7, 2009.

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Sources, Links & Additional Information

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