However, there's something to be said for Golden Earring’s longevity: The core four-piece stayed together up through 2021, retiring only after Kooymans announced his ALS diagnosis. By 1986’s The Hole, Golden Earring was clinging for dear life at No. The single "When the Lady Smiles," which featured a graphic and somewhat disturbing video (earning them an MTV ban this time around), peaked at No. Their next LP, 1984’s N.E.W.S., fizzled out at No. Golden Earring continued to tour and record over the decades, consistently faring well on the Dutch charts - but their mainstream success took a nosedive in the U.S. Usually, I’m not really sure about those things, but when George played it I knew it right away." "I knew it was going to be a hit the moment I heard it," Hay told the Georgia Straight in 1984, "and I’m saying this because it’s the truth. Hay later told Classic Rock Here and Now that the clip for "Twilight Zone" was "mutilated" in the process.) Still, this spy-thriller tale of a man "falling down the spiral, destination unknown" is memorable at any length. (MTV also made one notable alteration to the music video, censoring a scene with a topless woman. It was reissued at least once and may have also been used for other merchandise.Interestingly, like "Radar Love" before it, this shadowy, eight-minute track was edited down for the single version - sadly lopping off some of the mid-track instrumental work. Golden (and probably Barer) did another Little Golden Record called Walt Disney’s Happy Birthday featured Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella and the mice that also used the “Happy Birthday” music track, only it was intended for kids who were having birthdays.
The duo’s most famous success was the Off-Broadway smash Once Upon a Mattress with Carol Burnett, which was made into a TV musical twice.īarer’s script for Mickey’s birthday offers Chip, Dale and Pluto at their most humorously narcissistic, as they give presents to their friend that are obvious intended for themselves (this actually happened with a neighbor of mine when I was a kid and was a source of laughs for years). Stage and TV writer/lyricist Marshall Barer was responsible for numerous songs on early Golden Records, many with lyrics by Mary Rodgers (“Freaky Friday”).
These music beds can be heard on other Golden “Happy Birthday” records as needed, and “The Unbirthday Song” track-which we hear on side two when Goofy consoles a dejected Donald Duck–comes from the Anne Lloyd version of the tune that was done for Golden’s Alice in Wonderland series of records. This is one of many Golden Records of the period in which Jimmy Macdonald, Clarence Nash and Pinto Colvig recorded dialog in Hollywood that was mixed with musical material made in New York.
(Indeed, the Mickey Mouse side of this record was later reissued.) They played about four times as long as the Little Golden Records, so their material could be re-purposed on the smaller discs, too. Mitch Miller, who helped shape musical tastes in the 1950s and early 60s as the head of the popular music division at Columbia Records and hosted the hit Sing Along With Mitch TV show in the. Golden Records and its founder, Arthur Shimkin, were among the biggest players as merchandise licensees with Disney, so 1955 saw an avalanche of Golden/Disney audio rolling into stores (Doctor Who, where are you for collectors like us?)Īmong the most interesting new items were the “Big Golden Records.” Basically, these were ordinary 10-inch 78 RPM records, pressed in yellow plastic–but to kids who were used to 6-inch discs they were like discs from Mount Olympus. Voices: Jimmy Macdonald (Mickey Mouse, Narrator) Clarence Nash (Donald Duck) Pinto Colvig (Goofy), The Sandpiper Singers.Īs Golden Records had proven on the “Song Parade” albums we explored earlier this year, there was an effort to establish “Disneyland” in the public mindset as the world’s central location for all things Disney, from the moment Walt himself proclaimed it on the first episode of his TV series. Songs: “Happy Birthday” (Traditional) “The Unbirthday Song” by Al Hoffman, Mack David, Jerry Livingston. With the Original Voices of Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and Goofyīig Golden Records DBR3-98 (10” 78 RPM / Mono) When “Mickey’s friends from Disneyland” gather for a surprise birthday party, a sullen Donald needs a “Goofy Knows Best” moment on this disc from the mid-‘50s.