Neil Sedaka dead at 86 - another past shining beacon gone.

 

Composer and performer, his talent loomed large in my life during the 1960s and (slightly) beyond - especially when I myself was aiming at becoming a songwriter, even though I never managed to get any of my own admittedly feeble attempts published.

Above - his appearance 20 years ago at London's Royal Albert Hall.

But I held his creative ability in awe around that time - his hit songs like 'Oh Carol', 'Breaking Up Is Hard To Do' 'Calendar Girl' 'Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen' and so many more. (I only found out this morning that he'd penned the Connie Francis hit 'Stupid Cupid' when  he was still in his teens!)

Then in following decades my respect for him dwindled, starting with his seemingly vehement (to me at that time) denial at rumours that he was gay, as though being so was 'shameful'. He had in fact been married to the same woman all his life since 1962, having with her a son and a daughter - and, though the rumours persisted there's been no significant evidence that he actually is/was gay, those stories perhaps fuelled that he at an early time composed collaborations with an 'out' gay young man, though nothing of substance other than that. So I now accept that he highly likely was hetero after all, despite my then annoyance at his apparent over-reaction to the possibility of his being 'other'.

(Now to follow, a bit of a diversion to a pet peeve of mine which, oddly, I have never heard discussed - on radio, TV or anywhere else at all, though it's bugged me for many decades........)

Perhaps more importantly to me personally than the above, in his composing work later in life Neil Sedaka became an enthusiastic advocate for something which I just CANNOT abide - specifically, putting words to themes written by great classical composers - a practice being utterly devoid of any respect for the intentions of the composer. Foremost is the perpetrators' all-consuming desire to earn money by riding on the backs of the deceased, using the latters' creations to get it, despite the severe mental 'disturbance' to admirers like me of the original, wordless work that its creator had intended. Once heard with words, near impossible to forget. Surely a form of mental 'abuse' for we listeners! Luckily, as far as I know, none of Sedaka's products of this type became well-known, and it's maybe just as well that I cannot name any songs of such - though I most definitely could point to a myriad of songs from other songwriters that do do just that, some of which became popular, both down the last half-century or more as well as even quite recent 'hits'. I suppose one of the most prominent examples of these travesties is the filmed musical (and occasionally still staged) 'Kismet, using the music of Borodin, some of which is so sublime, yet now with added words totally at odds with the (pre-word) music's emotions that poor Alexander B. must yet be turning in his grave!  (They've also done the same thing with Grieg's music in at least two films). And one further illustration - probably the best known of all, the film and stage musical of 'Carmen Jones' where Oscar Hammerstein took whole swathes of Bizet's Carmen (which has been one of my own favourite of all operas) and replaced the original French words by his own (English, of course) so as now to involve the 'sport' of boxing instead of bull-fighting - though admittedly the original opera's subject is hardly any 'better'.

In all such cases, once one hears what may formerly have been incredibly uplifting and inspiring music, after words have been added all its original beauty has been utterly lost! And what's even worse - if such a thing is possible! - it often becomes an earworm! - impossible to listen to the original composition without the words coming back to haunt you. The supernal music of Chopin has been another victim of this practice, as has Rachmaninov's.

I shan't offer further examples because it might well make others unfamiliar with them curious enough to investigate and so to risk having a like experience of what for me, as an avid classical music lover, a bane imposed over a most valuable part of my life.

Anyway, I've gone to town on this subject when I hadn't intended to, but it really is a reflection of the degree of hostility on the subject I've always felt ever since I first became a convert towards classical music way back in my mid-teens. 

So, as a final word, getting back to the late Neil Sedaka - a fond(ish) farewell to someone who absolutely was a giant of talent in my pre-20s years and onwards - and who, in spite of what I've written, I do still look up to. Thank you indeed, Sir!