I forget where I read it, but Sullivan had complained that some of his music had been stolen. The more one listens to his 1969 album U.F.O., the easier it is to agree with the person who re-released it in 2010. The thing was a fricken masterpiece. That was despite the cheesy Hollywood styled ensemble band.
How much plagiarism takes place in the world? There's a lot of it. It wasn't just Denis Leary stealing from Hicks or Led Zeppelin shattering records for stealing the work of others.
I knew there was something to his song Highways when first listening to it. Spicoli in Fast Times said he knew that dude. Deep down I knew that song. And that's how plagiarism is usually revealed. There is a subconscious itch. It took a while but then I realised it was too similar to the Mary Tyler Moore song.
The album U.F.O. came out in 1969. The theme song to the t.v. show arrived in 1970.
I finally looked into this today. The t.v. song is attributed to Sonny Curtis. He was given a little synopsis of the show referred to as a treatment. He claimed to have written the song in two hours. Curtis knew exactly what the show was going after. A wholesome, friendly Midwest woman was off to the big city in Minnesota to embark on a t.v. news career.
The song was changed after one season. The original had been melancholy. It wasn't a given that Mary would succeed. It was sort of similar to Sullivan's predicament. He was a big shot as a local musician but just could never find a way to break through into the zeitgeist. He wasn't connected like Curtis although he was very popular. People liked Jim and pooled resources to get him a Hollywood styled band with production values to make an album.
Hmmm. Mary Richards took off on the highway chasing her dream.
Bits and pieces emerge about Curtis. He's also known for I Fought the Law.
Yeah, well, when you're writing songs the way that I do it, I just sit down with my guitar and see where my mind takes me. As I've told people a few times before when they say, "How did you write that?" I say, "You know, I think I dreamed it." It's hard for me to go back and say.
When I wrote "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" theme, I did have that little treatment to key into, and I must say that the fact that she had an apartment she couldn't afford, was having a hard time getting by and making it, I really remember.
That was an awfully good day for me. I remember enjoying writing that song. I just sat on my couch and took my guitar in hand and went for it. It came to me pretty quickly. "How will you make it on your own? This world is awfully big. Girl, this time you're all alone."
It is difficult for me to explain how I figure things out the way I do. Those two songs are just too damn similar in theme and ideas.
Jim Sullivan was a compassionate down to earth good guy capable of creating enigmatic lyrics and music with depth.
Sonny Curtis doesn't sound too bright in the interviews for example in the above with the Los Angeles Times.
Listen closely to both songs and the words. It's all about the first year version of Love is All Around. In my sincere opinion, it is a paraphrased version of Sullivan's Highways. Even the actual music part of it seems extremely similar. I suppose I'm sort of like the lady in the Star Trek sequel who can read emotions. I'm saying that both songs have the same music for DNA.
Listen to Stairway to Heaven compared to the song it ripped off. Those two were almost note for note. This comparison is a little different. It is not as obvious as plagiarism. Maybe it wasn't done on purpose. I think it was stolen. Judge Judy could usually figure out shite or it seemed that way. I have similar sort of skills.
Judge for yourselves. Below they have been edited for easier analysis.
Too bad he only made two albums. U.F.O. is the good one. The lyrics are exceptional if you absorb them as I think Curtis did. They felt authentic to him. He seemed to have felt the tune spoke to Mary's situation.
Schtick theft is real. But like Jim, I think it's better to have soul. We will be eternal while cheaters can't escape their rotten karma. Julian Assange won by default. Cheaters are grotesque pigs. Better to have been a Jim Sullivan or Julian. The elite are miserable lost souls. Sullivan had a good life and rest in peace, maybe he is out there somewhere incarnated in tune with Tao.
Jim Sullivan - U.F.O.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N__wplJkRTg
Was Highways Plagiarised by the M.T.M. Show? You be the judge judy?
4 comments:
That was definite schtick theft. Same melody.
"Grey areas in plagiarism" is yielding a lot of search results.
They spin conspiracy theorists as believing in everything. They might be thanking me for this blog entry. The story is the same. The timing is there. The location of the show was Minnesota but in essence Sullivan and Curtis were from the same geography and probably had mutual acquaintances.
Sullivan seems to have been pure hippie and not easily co-opted. He had a better voice imho to the whining James Taylor. I liked Jim Croce. I like this Sullivan guy a lot. I'm not sure if cops killed him or he got drunk and there was an accident. I know he wasn't abducted by aliens.
The theme of MTM is exactly the same as Highways. She'd have had it easier in East Numbnvt, Idaho or wtf but took the chance. Maybe Sullivan was already thinking of Nashville. He was sort of a tweener. He was a little bit of everything with folk, rock, country and perhaps other musical genres. Curtis couldn't explain how he came up with the song. He dreamt it? I might be wrong.
Sullivan had hit the brick wall. He had a regular gig in Malibu, but acoustic guitar people rarely make it. He was the proverbial big fish in a small pond. He was thinking Nashville or bust? I don't know how a body disappears without foul play unless people can get drunk in a desert and a big animal horrifically erases all evidence of existence. I should duck duck go that. Could he have faked his death? There's not enough info on Jim Sullivan. He simply vanished.
I'm not too into country, so his other album isn't my cup of tea. So I guess I'm done with him. He should continue to grow for cult status.
The early 70s opened a new era of singer/songwriter acoustic music. James Taylor was one aspect. Carole King was another. Her Tapestry album was the largest seller of the time.
Sullivan lacked commercial appeal but not talent. His singing, while distinctive, probably held him back from stardom. King was also not a true singer, however she co-wrote so many timeless standards made into giant hits by others she had immense name recognition. Also, her plaintive singing voice did have a certain popular appeal. Taylor, as you mentioned, had a reedy voice but technically he was very proficient, also as a guitar player and an accomplished songwriter.
He is also not my cup of tea as I too find his voice quality unappealing, in fact the MTM theme song is sung in a somewhat similar "whimpy" vein which Taylor had a hand in popularizing in the 1970s.
You might also recall Lobo, "Me and You and Dog Named Boo", the music of Dan Fogelberg and several others in the same "whimpy" popular genre of singer/songwriters from this time period.
One of my personal favorite tunes is the slyly subversive "Sunshine" by Jonathan Edwards, who was a bit more rock-n-roll tinged but in a soft rock manner.
James Taylor was helped along immensely by an early association with the Beatles' Apple label, which released his first album, and although it did not sell very well he did gain name recognition and publicity from being one of the only non-Beatles records released by Apple Records.
Of course, there is no telling what a similar lucky break could have meant for Sullivan. He likely would have benefitted from a major label providing better production values for his recorded music.
There was a group from the 60s called the Incredible String Band which featured English/Irish/Scottish/hippie derivative folk music with eccentric lyrics. They were one of the bands performing at Woodstock, so they had some name recognition in the counterculture although not mainstream popularity. If you haven't heard of them you may give a listen. One of their band members, Licorice Mckecknie (sp?) also disappeared in a fashion similar to Sullivan, I believe also in the American desert southwest, maybe even in New Mexico. I would need to research to be sure.
Anyway, love your blog, especially for these types of odd pop cultural tidbits. Very interesting. Sorry for taking up so much space but this post inspired these thoughts. You are also subversive in a way which reminds me of the late 1960s- early 1970s underground press.
Longtime lurker first time commenter. Thank you.
Thanks for the interesting comments and kind thoughts. I'll try to get back into these sorts of odd pop culture stories. It's funny how they tend to emerge and then disappear without enough wait a second moments. Susan Polk. I missed that in real time but my friends remember it from t.v.. I told them she was up for a parole hearing. How can there be no update? My only conclusion is that the medium is the personification of trash. I'm barely reading headlines anymore. Jim Sullivan probably only emerged because of the u.f.o. angle as part of the mainstreaming of "conspiracy."
Something broke for good in 2016? Maybe this is what it truly felt like in the 60's and 70's if one avoids cheap attempts at nostalgia and depth. The medium is Woodstock after the music stopped.
McLuhan predicted the internet as personal encyclopedia. You name dropped a bunch of folks easily accessed. It's similar to how one can rant on about a Jim Sullivan and not sound too out of it. My main goal has been to promote Jim Sullivan ear worms. He deserves it. The kid's spirit deserves a hug. I think some of his songs were much better than the others yet that could be said about most bands. Some parts of Sullivan's music truly seem to nail masterpiece levels.
A lot of my stuff is worded badly or was mediocre, but it's those rare moments why everyone should keep plugging away with creativity. I don't believe the nonsense that eventually a monkey could randomly type out a book, but to be human means we all have it in us.
I hear some other music or musicians through Jim Sullivan.
E.L.O./Beatles (Some of the sweet moments/voice as instrument)
Elvis Costello (the organ accompaniment)
Jimmy Buffett (U.F.O.)
Bob Dylan (So Natural)
I agree with you Sullivan's roadblock was his voice. A man has to know his limitations? He had too much ambition? Why couldn't he simply appreciate what he had? He was going against his true nature to chill out. He had to be making decent money as the main show at the club.
Jerome might be a perfect song.
It sounds very much like E.L.O. in parts.
I was lucky to know people in the music scene when living in Ireland. Jim Sullivan's are everywhere.
"Plain as your eyes can see" reminds me of Carole King and James Taylor.
So yes, for every band which makes it, there are many more who don't.
And even when they make it, it seems to backfire from Cobain to O'Riordan in the Cranberries.
Pink Floyd. They were brilliant and original yet also derivative and dependent on Syd Barrett.
I was reading a lot of the Jim Sullivan lyrics to go with the songs. One of them he wants to be ashes. It must be from U.F.O.. Oops. From So Natural:
"I just want the wind to blow
My ashes until they're completely out of sight"
Jim was torn between the two worlds of personal ego and medium. One wants to track down his soul and shake him. How could you do this? Why did you abandon us?
The Licorice McKechnie story sounds interesting and I'm also checking out the other bands you mentioned. Thanks.
Sunshine by Jonathan Edwards could be the worst song of all time?
There are three or four Jim Sullivan tunes I could listen to over and over.
It's mind blowing how much music was stolen by Led Zeppelin.
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