Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 9-18-22

Today’s playlist celebrates the September 18 birthdays of The Ramones’ Dee Dee Ramone, Dizzee Rascal, The Jayhawks’ Mark Olson, Noname, Bell Biv DeVoe’s Ricky Bell, Frankie Avalon, Xzibit, Dodgy’s Nigel Clark, Kira Isabella, Friends’ Samantha Urbani, and Jimmie Rodgers; and the September 19 birthdays of Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker, Chic’s Nile Rodgers, Mama Cass Elliot, The Righteous Brothers’ Bill Medley, Skepta, 10cc’s Lol Creme, Billy Ward, Tegan and Sara, Marshall Jefferson, Brook Benton, Les Savy Fav’s Tim Harrington, Jay Electronica, The Springfields’ Mike Hurst, Eamon, Lit’s A. Jay Popoff, Lita Ford, Rex Smith, Austin Roberts, and Teddybears’ Patrik Arve.

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Ten Things You May Not Know About Mama Cass

1. She was born Ellen Naomi Cohen on September 19, 1941. Per bandmate Denny Doherty, she may have chosen the new first name Cass after actress Peggy Cass. She later assumed the surname Elliot in memory of a deceased friend. In 1965 she became Mama Cass after joining The Mamas & the Papas. In 1971 she became Baroness von Wiedenman, when she married Baron Donald von Wiedenman. The marriage lasted just six months.

2. Prior to marrying the baron, Cass married James Hendricks, a bandmate of her pre-Mamas and the Papas groups The Big Three and The Mugwumps, to help him avoid being drafted into the Army during the Vietnam War. The marriage wasn’t consummated and later was annulled.

3. Cass dropped out of high school her senior year. She moved to New York City to pursue an acting career. She toured with a production of The Music Man. In 1962 she went for the part of Miss Marmelstein in I Can Get It for You Wholesale, but lost out to Barbra Streisand.

4. She reportedly had an IQ of 165.

5. The Mamas and Papas’ John Phillips was reluctant to let Cass join the group, because of her size and because she couldn’t hit the high notes. While walking past a construction site, a metal pipe fell and conked Cass on the head, knocking her to the ground. She spent three days in the hospital with a concussion. After being released, she joined the group at one of their rehearsals and amazingly, was able to hit the high notes. Phillips then made her a member of the group.

6. Per writer Julia Phillips, Mama Cass owed the IRS $10,000, which she paid via a truckload of pennies. The government cited her for contempt.

7. She was attributed with the following quote: “I would say the world’s in terrible shape, but I’m afraid the world would say, ‘Look who’s talking.’”

8. In 1967 Cass posed nude for Cheetah magazine.

9. On July 29, 1974, following two sold-out concerts at The London Palladium, Cass retired to her hotel room. That night she died in her sleep of heart failure.

10. She died in room no. 12 at 9 Curzon Place in London. Four years later, The Who’s drummer Keith Moon died in the same room.

Tunes du Jour remembers Mama Cass Elliott on her birthday with this twenty-track playlist.


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Ringo + Righteous

Who Is Barry Mann?

Ringo + Righteous
During yesterday’s Grammy Awards, the songwriting team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil received the Trustees Award, whatever that is. The honor was introduced by Tom Jones and Jessie J, who performed the most godawful rendition of “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” that has ever been foisted upon an unsuspecting world. Lost that loving feeling? More like lost their hearing, based on the way Jones and J yelled and screamed at each other. Do they not understand the concept of microphones? No need to shout, people.

To unwrong this heinous assault on the ears of the show’s viewers, Tunes du Jour presents to you a collection of twenty tunes co-written by Mann, most with his wife of 54 years, Weil. Along with the husband-wife songwriting team of Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil helped shape the sound of American pop music beginning in the early 1960s. Coincidentally, both Mann and King celebrate their birthdays today. For more on King, click here.

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