SONG OF THE DAY

“Up, Up & Away” by The 5th Dimension (Up, Up & Away, Soul City Records, 1967). Written by Jimmy Webb.

WHY TODAY?

I’ve got some simple logic for today’s choice: I woke up singing it. It’s four hours later and I’m still singing it. So, i.e. to wit, this song is stuck in my head.

INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)

– Up, Up and Away is the debut album by American pop group The 5th Dimension, released in 1967.

– The title track was released as a single and became a major pop hit.

– The album reach #8 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart and #10 on the Billboard Black Albums chart (yes, apparently Billboard used to have that category).

– The single reached #7 on Billboard’s Pop Singles chart.

– The single also received the Grammys in 1967 for Song Of The Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

– The album also received 1967 Grammys, including Record Of The Year. [So, yeah, it was a big deal.]

– A canonical example of sunshine pop, themed around images of hot air ballooning, it cleaned up at the Grammy Awards of 1968, winning for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, Other Pop/Rock&Roll/ Contemporary Awards or Instrumental, and the big prizes of Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

– In the United Kingdom, it was the Johnny Mann Singers’ cover version that became the Top 10 hit, reaching No. 6 in August 1967. This version hit the US “Bubbling Under The Top 100” survey, as well as the Easy Listening chart.

– Diana Ross & The Supremes recorded a version of the song in 1967 for their album Reflections.

– Dionne Warwick recorded a version of the tune on her 1967 Valley Of The Dolls.

– The Impressions released their version on their 1968 album We’re a Winner.

– Mrs. Miller sang a cover version in 1968 on her LP record Mrs. Miller Does Her Thing. She has been known for her renditions of popular songs and singing out of tune.

- The 5th Dimension recording was used in the film Born on the Fourth of July.

– Fred Norris of The Howard Stern Show uses a sitar-only cover of this song when discussing or introducing a guest of South Asian heritage.

– Is used in the episode “9 Lives” of the television show Psych.

– This song is used as Alan Harper’s ringtone on Two and a Half Men.

– Homer Simpson sings a parody of this song in an episode of The Simpsons where Homer thinks he has won a free motor boat from the Springfield police.

– The 5th Dimension are an American popular music vocal group, whose repertoire also includes pop, R&B,soul, and jazz.

– The 5th Dimension were best-known during the late 1960s and early 1970s for popularizing the hits “Up, Up and Away”, “Wedding Bell Blues”, “Stoned Soul Picnic”, “One Less Bell to Answer”, “(Last Night) I Didn’t Get to Sleep at All”, and “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In”, as well as the eponymous 5th Dimension and The Magic Garden LP recordings.

– The five original members were Billy Davis, Jr., Florence LaRue, Marilyn McCoo, Lamonte McLemore, and Ron Townson.

– They have recorded for several different labels over their long careers. Their first work appeared on the Soul City label, which was started by Imperial Records/United Artists Records recording artist Johnny Rivers. The group would later record for Bell/Arista Records, ABC Records, and Motown Records.

– Some of the songwriters popularized by The 5th Dimension went on to careers of their own, especially Ashford & Simpson, who wrote “California Soul”.

– The group is also notable for having more success with the songs of Laura Nyro than Nyro did herself, particularly with “Wedding Bell Blues”, “Stoned Soul Picnic”, and “Save the Country”.

– The group also covered music by well known songwriters such as the song “One Less Bell to Answer”, written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

– And perhaps best of all, they became great interpreters of the songs and music of Jimmy Webb, who penned their original mega-hit “Up, Up, and Away”, including an entire recording of memorable Webb songs called The Magic Garden.

– In the early 1960s, Lamonte McLemore and Marilyn McCoo, a former beauty pageant winner, got together with two other friends from Los Angeles, Harry Elston and Floyd Butler, to form a group called the Hi-Fis.

– In 1963, they sang at local clubs while taking lessons from a vocal coach. In 1964, they came to the attention of Ray Charles, who took them on tour with him the following year.

– He produced a single by the group, “Lonesome Mood”, a jazz-type song that gained local attention. However, internal disagreements caused Butler and Elston to go their own way, eventually leading to their organizing the Friends of Distinction [ack! Another group I love!].

– Florence LaRue, had received training as a youngster in singing, dancing, and violin, and also won the talent portion, as McCoo had the year prior, at Miss Bronze California.

– About the same time she was approached to join the group, Lamonte recruited an old friend of his, Ron Townson, who at age six had started singing in choirs and gospel groups in his hometown of St. Louis. His grandmother fostered his career by arranging for private voice and acting lessons as he grew up. In his teens, he toured with Dorothy Dandridge and Nat King Cole, and also played a small part in the film Porgy and Bess. He demonstrated his considerable skill as a classical artist by placing third in the Metropolitan Opera auditions held in St. Louis.

– Lamonte’s cousin, Billy Davis, Jr., started singing in gospel choirs at an early age. He later saved enough money to buy a cocktail lounge in St. Louis, which he used as a base for experimenting with various musical groups.

– In 1975, McCoo and Davis, who married in 1969, left the group to do both collective and individual projects. They went on to have success singing as a duo with the chart topper “You Don’t Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show)”.

– McCoo also served a stint as the host of the TV show Solid Gold.

– McCoo and Davis continue to tour separately as their own act.

– As of April 2009, the group is actively touring as “Florence LaRue & The 5th Dimension”, led by LaRue with Willie Williams, Leonard Tucker, Patrice Morris, and Floyd Smith.

– The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2002.

– The group also has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame, inducted on March 18, 2010.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

I am still working on a better way to get the actual music to you, but for now I have to default back to my old youtube.com ways. Here’s the video for the song I found: