Telstar--A Historical Review
I like to play that classic early 60s instrumental "Telstar" (#1 US Billboard, 1962) as a solo acoustic arrangement on a 1976 Martin D-35.
While digging a little deeper into the history of the song, I found some rather interesting recorded interpretations, including the original demo version by its composer Joe Meek, a UK independent record producer. The first television pictures broadcast across the Atlantic on July 11, 1962, had inspired Joe Meek to create the instrumental as a tribute to the Telstar satellite.
And without further fanfare, here it is, such as it is as it were, Joe Meek's demo recording of "Telstar" (my own response to it is that it's rather reminiscent of the Beatles' infamously irreverent and possibly intoxicated take #2 on Lennon's composition "And Your Bird Can Sing"): that is to say, is this really for real?
Compare and contrast that bit of initial musical incomparable improbability with the finished product, that memorable Tornados #1 US Billboard masterpiece (1962):
So Joe Meek apparently decided to pen some lyrics to "Telstar," and several folks grabbed them up and cut some wax and released recorded versions with vocal interpretations, a number under the title "Magic Star," though a few chose to keep the original instrumental title. Check out Bobby Rydell's version, for example, from his lp "All The Hits," released January 1, 1963:
Sprechen Sie Deutsch, eh? Grab the lederhosen and check out this German vocal version by Camillo Felgen, from a 1963 EP called "Camillo":
The "Telstar" saga continues. Here we find a French fellow named Jean Ledrut, a composer, suing Joe Meek for plagiarism. Seems that Ledrut accused Meek of lifting Telstar's melody from his 1960 film "Austerlitz," for which Ledrut wrote the score. Meek eventually won a posthumous Pyrrhic victory of sorts, emerging victorious in a court of law in 1968--a year after his own death.
Here's the specific passage from Ledrut's composition that caused all the trouble. Make up your own minds, of course:
And, finally--Here's my own arrangement of "Telstar": It's my solo, acoustic instrumental interpretation, played on a 1976 Martin D-35 guitar.
"Telstar"
I like to play that classic early 60s instrumental "Telstar" (#1 US Billboard, 1962) as a solo acoustic arrangement on a 1976 Martin D-35.
While digging a little deeper into the history of the song, I found some rather interesting recorded interpretations, including the original demo version by its composer Joe Meek, a UK independent record producer. The first television pictures broadcast across the Atlantic on July 11, 1962, had inspired Joe Meek to create the instrumental as a tribute to the Telstar satellite.
And without further fanfare, here it is, such as it is as it were, Joe Meek's demo recording of "Telstar" (my own response to it is that it's rather reminiscent of the Beatles' infamously irreverent and possibly intoxicated take #2 on Lennon's composition "And Your Bird Can Sing"): that is to say, is this really for real?
Compare and contrast that bit of initial musical incomparable improbability with the finished product, that memorable Tornados #1 US Billboard masterpiece (1962):
So Joe Meek apparently decided to pen some lyrics to "Telstar," and several folks grabbed them up and cut some wax and released recorded versions with vocal interpretations, a number under the title "Magic Star," though a few chose to keep the original instrumental title. Check out Bobby Rydell's version, for example, from his lp "All The Hits," released January 1, 1963:
Sprechen Sie Deutsch, eh? Grab the lederhosen and check out this German vocal version by Camillo Felgen, from a 1963 EP called "Camillo":
The "Telstar" saga continues. Here we find a French fellow named Jean Ledrut, a composer, suing Joe Meek for plagiarism. Seems that Ledrut accused Meek of lifting Telstar's melody from his 1960 film "Austerlitz," for which Ledrut wrote the score. Meek eventually won a posthumous Pyrrhic victory of sorts, emerging victorious in a court of law in 1968--a year after his own death.
Here's the specific passage from Ledrut's composition that caused all the trouble. Make up your own minds, of course:
And, finally--Here's my own arrangement of "Telstar": It's my solo, acoustic instrumental interpretation, played on a 1976 Martin D-35 guitar.
"Telstar"
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