Clive Davis Day

Clive Davis was born on April 4, 1932, so he is turning 90 this year.  He is the record industry’s most innovative, outspoken and influential executive, and he has had a profound effect on the world of music.  Clive collaborated with Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen, Alicia Keys, Santana, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Chicago, Earth, Wind & Fire, Billy Joel, Aerosmith, and so many others, so it should be easy for everyone to find a song that they like.  In 1967, he was named President of Columbia Records, and at that time Mitch Miller was their biggest artist, but he decided to take the company in a new direction, so he attended the Monterey Pop Festival where he personally signed Janis Joplin’s Big Brother and The Holding Company to Columbia.  Janis was so excited that she told Clive that they should go to bed together, because she didn’t feel a corporate signing was sufficient.  This would have made it more personal for her and Clive took it as a big compliment, but he turned down her proposition, telling her that he wanted to keep things on a professional level.  Clive met the Grateful Dead when they were leaving Warner Brothers while he was the head of Columbia Records, but they decided to establish their own record label in 1973, however things didn’t work out as expected.  After Clive started Arista, the group called him and he explained to them that if they somehow lucked into a single, it would have a dramatic impact on their sales.  He told them, “You can like it or not, but if you want to sell more records that’s what you need”, and that is when they had their only Top Ten Hit ‘Touch of Grey’.  The Grateful Dead song ‘Jack Straw’ has lyrics that say, “We used to play for silver, now we play for life”, and Bob Weir swapped out the lyrics with, “We used to play for acid, now we play for Clive.”

Last week we had Use Your Noggin where the theme was to find songs that mention Mind, Think, or Brain suggested by Paula of Light Motifs II.  This week the theme is songs that were made by an artist or a band that Clive Davis signed to his label, or one he produced.  Take some time to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this music challenge, and even better, read as many of them as you are able to as you will probably find many enjoyable songs and it is quite possibly that you will learn a thing or two.  Share your music with others and post a video, try do some research and let everyone know something about the song that you post.  Tell everyone why you like the song, whether it was a hit, or what you think the song is about.  Show the lyrics, let’s all listen to our favorite songs and explore some new music.  Try to find a song that fits the theme, then write your post and create a pingback, or you can just place your link in the comments section.

Think of these as being suggestions instead of being rules:
• Try to use the prompt words or at least conform to a general theme, as you see it.  If the song you select does not meet the criteria, then please explain why you chose this song.
• It would be good if you could post the lyrics to the song of your choice, as this is helpful for the people that want to follow along with the music.
• Please try to include the songwriter(s) – it’s a good idea to give credit where credit is due. It would also be a good idea to give credit to the singer and the band associated with your song.
• Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be, but please try not to include too many videos as that just makes it take longer to look at all of the other posts.
• Link to the YouTube video, or you can pull it into your post, so others can listen to the song.
• Ping back to this post or place your link in the comments section below.
• Read at least one other person’s blog, so we can all share new and fantastic music and create amazing new blogging friends in the process.
• Feel free to suggest future prompts.
• Have fun and enjoy the music.

This week I will be writing about the song ‘Move Over’ by the Janis Joplin, and next week, I will be writing about the Bob Marley & The Wailers song ‘Buffalo Soldier’.  The upcoming prompts will be:
April 10, 2022 – Army, Soldier, War suggested by Di of pensitivity101
April 17, 2022 – Beach, Surf, Swimming suggested by Amy Braun of ai love music
April 24, 2022 – Anxiety, Delight, Emotions, Pain, Pride, Relief suggested by Di of pensitivity101
May 1, 2022 – Suit, Pants, Dress, Shirt suggested by Paula of Light Motifs II