There aren’t many artists who fit “Behind the Songs” any better than Marty Cooper, who has been behind so many hit songs you might think of him as a shadow, a stealthy spy or the reverse of the phrase about behind every man stands a good woman. He is a storyteller of America, truly the country’s hidden balladeer. Like Jimmy Webb, Cooper is best known as someone who writes songs for others to record, and similar to Webb, he is now playing and recording his own material.
With a father serving in the Army, young Marty moved around a lot. At the age of 12, his father died, and Cooper kept on moving, out to California, where he developed an interest in songwriting. In high school, while flipping through the telephone directory, he contacted a small label, Crest Records, and they put out his first single, ‘Can’t Walk ‘em Off’ in 1958. The record was a flop, but it got Cooper’s foot in the door of the music business.
“My main influence as a songwriter was border radio, the Mexican stations that came into the United States and played country music,” Cooper remembered. “I spent many long hours alone in my room listening to those songs. I was fascinated that they could make you laugh, and the next one could make you cry. I was the only kid in school who listened to country music or certainly knew who Bob Wills was. I eagerly awaited every new release on every label.”
Cooper met and became friends with Jack Nitzsche, and in 1963 co-wrote and produced his “Lonely Surfer” album. During the same year, he became part of The Shacklefords with Lee Hazelwood, Gracia Nitzsche (Jack’s wife) and Albert Stone. The group released two albums before disbanding. Still in the ‘60s, he produced two albums for a young singer named Jennifer, which went nowhere as did the singer until years later when she became known as Jennifer Warnes. His song ‘Ain’t It Baby’ was recorded by a singer named Charity Shayne. It also flopped, and her career went from bad to worse when she joined the “Family” of Charles Manson.
The ’60s weren’t all bad for Cooper’s songwriting efforts, however, as along with Nitzsche’s album, he wrote hits such as ‘Peanut Butter’ for The Marathons, ‘Hey Harmonica Man’ for Stevie Wonder and ‘You Can’t Be A Beacon (If Your Light Don’t Shine) for Donna Fargo. “My first efforts were extraordinarily derivative,” Cooper said, “but I found my way. I couldn’t stop writing, and I’m still writing.”
The more he wrote, the busier he became, producing singles for R&B vocalist Bobby Day, recording his own album in 1972 (“A Minute of Your Time”) and doing TV and radio commercials work. “I had enough success in Nashville with some ASCAP award winners, and Bobby Bare and some other things, and I would come down to Nashville and pitch songs to wonderful people. And in several cases, they would say to me, “You know Marty, that is a heck of a song, but it’s a little bit too rock ‘n’ roll for here. Go on back to Hollywood and see what you can get.”
That rejection led to what was probably the biggest impact on his career, writing what would become a theme song for the hugely successful “Donnie and Marie” television series. He had pitched ‘A Little Bit Country, A Little Bit Rock ‘n’ Roll’ without anyone biting until producer and record company owner Mike Curb remembered Cooper playing it for him and had an idea, and that was to show it to the producers of the pilot for the show. They loved the song, but two lines of the lyrics were a problem: He’s a little bit gentle, he’s a little bit runnin’ wild, She’s a little bit a full-grown woman, she’s a little bit of a child.
“Never dreamed what would happen,” Cooper said during an interview in “The Tennessean”, Curb called him back and said the producers had asked for permission, so could they use the song. “So, they put it in the pilot … and it became the centrepiece of their show. Except, they’re brother and sister. Can’t have babies, can’t rock all night, can’t have any of the, you know, sex in it. It changed the song forever, because we changed it.”
That song is on Cooper’s new “American Portraits” album, sung with the original non-Osmond sibling lyrics. There are twenty-one more of his songs. This collection consists mainly of Marty doing Marty – singing songs previously covered and made famous by other artists. Cooper stated: “This is a portrait painted with love and care of an America that we have largely lost – painted with the hope that perhaps we can find it, or some parts of it, again.”
Behind the Songs: Gallery 1 – Classic Portraits
Stephen: A tribute to Stephen Foster, America’s first great songwriter, who died alone and destitute, without a song. I have always loved Stephen Foster’s beautiful melodies. He was a hired hand, paid for his work and could not have imagined that it would endure as a part of America forever. In some ways, this serves as the overture for the collection. “Stephen, we’ll sing for you tonight” (Previously released on EMI (Germany) 1979, remastered)
Their Roof Is the Sky: A moving portrait of America’s persistent homeless multitudes.
The Burlington Zephyr: A tribute to the mid-20th-century streamliner that traveled as fast as today’s fastest American trains. I was at a dark and deeply desperate point in my young life. I will never forget the sight of that beautiful and elegant train abandoned and alone in a scrap yard. I dreamed of seeing her once again out on the prairie, going back to Denver.
The Mississippi Blind Boy: A story of a street musician based on an early childhood experience. This was the song that broke my heart.
(I’m a) Yo Yo Man: The beautiful innocence of a time when the fabled Yo Yo Man entertained kids in schoolyards across the country. In today’s world, if someone walked onto a school yard playground and began doing yo-yo tricks for the kids, the police would be called. But that’s not the way it was for me at Park Hill grammar school in Denver, Colorado. We gathered around admiringly and afterwards went to the school store just down the block and bought yo-yos. Rick and I both vividly remembered.
The Ball Player: When I first went to Dodger Stadium, I was struck by the difference between it and the rickety old wooden ballpark where I saw my first professional baseball game. And I often wondered what an old-time down-and-dirty ball player would think of that beautiful structure and the game being played there. I imagined myself as the ghost of baseball passed, and this is what bubbled up.
The Oklahoma Wrangler: A story of the inside and outside of the “Silver Cowboys” of the classic western movies. I’ve never forgotten when Rex Allen, the last of the movie cowboy heroes, wouldn’t let me buy him a drink because he said he wouldn’t want someone who had admired him on the screen to see him with a drink in his hand. This is my telling of the Hollywood western movie business, and by the way, I still cry when I get to the part about “old Lasso”.
A Little Bit Country, A Little Bit Rock and Roll® (with Wendy Newcomer): This is the original pre-Osmond version of the story – a portrait of a couple very much in love with their music and with each other.
Gallery 2 – A World in Motion
In Santa Fe (with Wendy Newcomer): A song of the endless yearning of Americans for what’s beyond the horizon.
The Indiana Girl: A portrait of the young girls leaving their midwestern homes, looking for excitement in the exciting places, and what they found. (Previously released on Barnaby Records, 1972, remastered)
Cowboys and Daddies: A heartbreaker of a song about couples going their separate ways.
You Can’t Be a Beacon (If Your Light Don’t Shine): Donna Fargo’s number one country hit in the 70s. Wow! A song about being real. I thought artists would be recording this song forever. Not so fast. Maybe in today’s music world, the lyric makes people uncomfortable. I hope so!
Think of the Children as Roses (with Robin James): A portrait of the evergreen hope that children represent.
The Biplane, Evermore: This lullaby and bedtime story for our firstborn has been magic in my life. From the very moment I saw that little yellow biplane peeking out of an old hangar at Albuquerque Airport, I knew all about him. Covered by The Irish Rovers, The Royal Guardsmen, and The Shacklefords, and featured regularly on the “Captain Kangaroo” TV show.
Little Bitty Ball: A portrait of our home, in hopes that we may learn to give it the care it deserves.
Gallery 3 – A ’60s Farewell
Under Your Wing: A portrait of life’s journey, beautifully recorded by the legendary Burl Ives and was played at his funeral. We are all seeking comfort, hope and peace. If the lyric means something different to everyone who hears it, I’ll be happy.
The View From Ward Three: A story of the changing perspectives found along life’s pathway. (Previously released on Barnaby Records, 1972, remastered)
The Leaves (with Eliza Gilkyson and Rick Cunha): A meditation on the things that matter. Thank you, Rick and Eliza, for helping me make the version of this song I always wanted to hear.
Little Play Soldiers: One of what I call my “failed anti-war songs,” recorded by The Kingston Trio and The Brothers Four at the beginning of the Vietnam War, and yet more of a hit in Germany than in the US.
One More Time, Billy Brown: Another anti-war anthem, debuted by Burl Ives on “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,” only to be quashed by “the powers that be,” rumored to be President Nixon.
A Stranger in Your Town: A moving tribute to those who find themselves strangers in this world. This was the final song recorded for this project – dedicated to all of my fellow artists I worked with along the way.
I Wrote a Song: Back when I wrote and recorded this one, there were a few John, Bobby and Martin songs around. But now, all these years later, the last verse of this one means even more than it did then. A fitting capstone to this project – a tribute to those who are “singing freedom’s song.” (Previously released on Barnaby Records, 1972, remastered)
