KNOW IT? I WROTE IT! Vol. 3 BILLY SWAN Mark James JIMMY SILVA Rod Argent

KNOW IT?  I WROTE IT! Vol. 3

It’s rare that we can claim to be posting anything by popular demand, but our visitors actually requested Volume 3 of KNOW IT?  I WROTE IT!  It's chock-full of songwriters performing songs they wrote--which are often associated with another performer.

Such is the case with BILLY SWAN’s Lover Please, a song he wrote when he was in high school, & got Clyde McPhatter to record.  MARK JAMES’ version of Suspicious Minds is a faint echo in most people's memory compared to Elvis Presley’s version of the song—but it’s pretty great.  Ringo Starr took HOYT AXTON’s No No Song & ran with it, but it his version didn’t boast cameos by Cheech & Chong!  JACK TEMPCHIN handed Peaceful Easy Feeling over to The Eagles, but turns in a really nice version here.  

Handing songs over to The Monkees was in BOYCE & HART’s job description, and Vol. 3 contains the duo’s demo for Words.  GRAHAM GOULDMAN similarly supplied hits to the stars throughout the ’60s, and here he reclaims his Heart Full Of Soul in front of a live audience.  DAVE ALVIN & BUTCH HANCOCK both wrote for their respective bands before they landed solo record deals.

Longtime Beach Boys associate BRUCE JOHNSTON probably penned I Write The Songs for himself, but it’s become much more closely associated with Barry Manilow.  Several other songs fall in that category like JACKIE DeSHANNON’s When You Walk In The Room, JIMMY SILVA & THE GOATS’ Hand Of Glory, & ED BRUCE’s Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys.