Ed – The Angry Brother

Ed Ames started off in Boston singing with his brothers while still in high school first known as “The Amory Brothers (their birth last name was Urick – and Ed was born Edmund Dantes Urick).

Ed and his brothers teamed up with band leader Art Mooney and soon underwent a name change “The Ames Brothers” landing a recording contract with Decca Records. They would move onto the Coral record label in 1947 – a subsidiary of Decca.

The brothers Ames would chart often while with Coral – placing 19 songs on the pop charts from 1949 into 1952 with scoring two number one’s with “Rag Mop” and “Sentimental Me”

In the summer of 1953 they switched over to RCA Victor and quickly chalked up their third number 1 with “You, You, You” remaining at the number 1 spot for 8 weeks.  That would be their final number 1 record but they did enjoy a very productive run with RCA with 21 hit recordings  – their final being “China Doll” (#38 in early 1960).

Of the four brothers – only Ed remains alive today – Joe – Gene and Vic all having passed on.

Mingo and Going Solo

Ed Ames actually recorded a few solo recordings for RCA Victor way back in 1956 while still with his brothers – tracks released as “Eddie Ames”.

Ed Ames also tried his hand at an acting career (he portrayed the native American character “Mingo” in the TV show “Daniel Boone”) and made a memorable TV appearance on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson on April 29th, 1965 – in doing so established a world record:

“During the course of the show, Ames and Johnny Carson were discussing Ames’ tomahawk throwing abilities. When Ames claimed that he could hit a target from across the room, Carson asked Ames if he could demonstrate this skill. Ames agreed, and a wood panel with a chalk outline of a cowboy was brought on to the stage.

As the studio band played a bar of the Adventures of Pow Wow theme, Ames proceeded to throw the tomahawk, which hit the “cowboy” square in the groin with the handle pointing upward. This led to a very long burst of laughter from the audience, which has been called the longest sustained laugh by a live audience in television history.”

His first h”hit” RCA solo recording was met with meager success “Try Too Remember” in early 1965 – only charting at number 73.  Seems like I heard that song on the radio a lot more than a number 73 would have warranted.  This was followed by three very modest hits and then Ed became angry.  Perhaps he felt it was time to step up to the plate with Sonny and Cher, The Turtles and Barry McGuire (among others) – Ed would pose the question “Who Will Answer?” which surprisingly (for me) reached number 19.

Who Will Answer? Sheila and Ed Will Answer

Ed Ames sort of stumbled into his biggest solo hit “Who Will Answer”.  The song started off as “Aleluya No. 1” a Spanish-language song composed by Luis Eduardo Aute (shown above).  The song charted number 1 in Spain in 1967 before coming to the attention of Nashville music producer Jim Foglesong and publisher Eddie Deane.

Lyric writer Sheila Davis took on the assignment of composing English lyrics took lines which translate from:

“A flash of dreams
Between whips and owners
An ocean of life
A suicidal tear
A spilled blood
The reasons for the sword
Hallelujah”

and…

“The nostalgia of a heartbeat
A love that has been lost
A thousand fireflies in heat
An ice bat
Some bodies that are knotted
Some souls that doubt
Hallelujah”

Seems something might have gone by the wayside in the translation to:

“From the canyons of the mind
We wander on and stumble blindly
Through the often tangled maze
Of starless nights and sunless days
While asking for some kind of clue
Or road to lead us to the truth
But who will answer?”

and….

“On a strange and distant hill
A young man’s lying very still
His arms will never hold his child
Because a bullet running wild
Has struck him down and now we cry
“Dear God, oh, why, oh, why?”
But who will answer?”

Oh well, such is life…. I remember really struggling with both symbolism in literature classes and my 101 college philosophy course……

Changing

“Changing, Changing” was yet another Sheila Davis lyrical composition gem

From the February 1st, 1969 Cash Box Ad:

“A lot of songs talk about our mushroom clouds and our illusions and our inequities – Here’s one that finally says something.”

Whew!   Now please tell me just what in the heck does this song mean?

My goodness Eddie!

Sir Richard and Mr. Webb – Baking in the Park

But not to be outdone by Ed Ames – Jimmy Webb and Richard Harris teamed up in the Spring of 1968 to give us:

“There will be another song for me
For I will sing it
There will be another dream for me
Someone will bring it
I will drink the wine while it is warm
And never let you catch me looking at the sun
And after all the loves of my life
After all the loves of my life
You’ll still be the one”

and…

“MacArthur’s Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don’t think that I can take it
‘Cause it took so long to bake it
And I’ll never have that recipe again
Oh no!”

I could just never figure out how Harris lost the recipe…. Very careless.

MacArthur Park would chart at number 2 and would test dj’s and radio stations with it’s 7-minute plus running time.   Changing, Changing failed to chart altogether.  Sheila Davis wrote a couple of books based on her word-smith talents, one being – “The Craft of Lyric Writing”!