Tag: David Letterman

Who Had a Hit with “He’s a Rebel”?

The Crystals On November 3, 1962, the song “He’s a Rebel” hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The single listed the song’s singers as The Crystals, and that is the name you will still see next to the song today. But the famous recording was actually made by another group.

Recording of “He’s a Rebel”

Back in the early 1960s, producer Phil Spector rushed to have one of his groups record “He’s a Rebel.” He was in a hurry because a competing artist planned to record the song too.

But at the time, Spector was in Los Angeles and The Crystals were in New York. So, Spector’s other option was to produce the song with another group.  He arranged for recording the song with the unknown group The Blossoms, headed by Darlene Love.

The record, though, was credited to the better-known Crystals. The song became a hit for The Crystals, which led to them having to lip synch to Darlene Love’s voice on national TV.

The Real Crystals

The Crystals continued to record using their own voices, scoring big hits with songs like “Da Doo Ron Ron (When He Walked Me Home)” and “Then He Kissed Me” in 1963.

Darlene Love

Darlene Love did okay on her own too. Spector produced her singing one of the greatest Christmas songs of all time, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).” Until the show ended, Love annually sang the song on David Letterman’s show.

Love eventually became a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame too.   Here Love sings “He’s a Rebel” in 2010 with the cast of the play Million Dollar Quartet, showing she still has the voice.

What is your favorite girl group song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Seinfeld’s Second Season of Comedians, Cars, and Coffee

    Jerry Seinfeld just launched the second season of his web series, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. The promo shows that the season includes Chris Rock, David Letterman, Seth Meyers, Sarah Silverman, and Don Rickles [2016 Update: The video is no longer available]. The series is pretty much what the title says, as each short episode features Seinfeld with a different car hanging out with another comedian getting coffee and talking.

    You can watch the series on the Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee website, which currently features the first episode of the new season with Sarah Silverman, “I’m Going To Change Your Life Forever”.

    What do you think of “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee”? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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  • Bob Dylan Sends Off Letterman With “The Night We Called It a Day”
  • Norm Macdonald’s Touching (and Funny) Tribute to Letterman
  • John Fogerty Rocks One More Time for Letterman

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    Steve Earle Performs “Invisible” on David Letterman and Announces Box Set

    I have been listening to Steve Earle’s new CD, The Low Highway, and enjoying it. I will probably have more to say about it after some more listens, but in the meantime, check out this video. Earlier this week, Steve Earle was on the Late Show With David Letterman, where he performed his new song about the homeless, “Invisible.”

    According to Rolling Stone, that is Chris Masterson playing the pedal steel and Eleanor Masterson playing the violin.

    Steve Earle Box Set In other Steve Earle news, Earle and Shout! Factory announced that on June 25 they will release a box set entitled, Steve Earle: The Warner Bros. Years. The box set will feature his three great post-prison albums from the 1990s, Train a Comin’, I Feel Alright, and El Corazón. The package will also include a fourth CD of an unreleased concert album Live at the Polk Theater from 1995. The Nashville concert was his first after being released from jail. Additionally, the box set will contain a DVD of a 1996 concert at the Cold Creek Correctional Facility in Tennessee, To Hell and Back.

    American Songwriter has the track listings and Billboard has the audio of a live version of “Devil’s Right Hand” from the new set. Because I already have the three previously released albums (and they are among my favorite CDs of all time, I hope they also release the additional material separately.

    What is your favorite Steve Earle song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Siskel & Ebert Go Door-to-Door

    Roger Ebert, who passed away last week, had been planning a redesigned website that has now launched. Besides looking pretty cool and being full of information, it is a nice tribute to Ebert’s work and life.

    In honor of Roger Ebert, our funny-video-of-the-week looks back to a 1996 episode of David Letterman’s Late Show where Letterman is joined by Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert as they go door-to-door in New Jersey. While we especially miss the great movie knowledge and brilliance of both Siskel and Ebert, we should not forget that they were often pretty darn funny too. Check out the video.



    What is your favorite TV appearance by Roger Ebert? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Napoleon Rules! Sweet!

    Napoleon On this date of December 2 in 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned emperor in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The 35-year-old Napoleon put the crown on his own head after receiving the crown from Pope Pius VII.

    Napoleon I ruled a vast empire for a number of years before he began to encounter military defeats in 1812. Currently, one of his coded letters of an order against the Russians that year is up for auction. Anyway, after a major defeat in 1814, he returned from exile the following year but his army fell to the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo in June 1815. Napoleon lived out the rest of his life under house arrest on Saint Helena off the coast of Africa, where he died in 1821 at the age of 51, probably of stomach cancer.

    Almost 200 years later in 2004, another Napoleon was king of the oddball comedies on screen, Napoleon Dynamite (2004). Although the film initially received mixed reviews and was given a limited release, it went on to become one of the iconic films with some of the most memorable quotes of the last decade. The Idaho legislature even passed a resolution praising the film. The odd story of the outcast teenager created a memorable character played by Jon Heder, who revived his portrayal of the character to deliver a humorous Top Ten list of “Signs You’re Not the Most Popular Guy in Your High School” on the Late Show with David Letterman.

    Bonus Trivia: The name “Napoleon Dynamite” was first used as a pseudonym by Elvis Costello as early as 1982, but the movie’s co-writer and directer Jared Hess states that he came up with the name independently.

    What is your favorite part of Napoleon Dynamite? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    • (Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)