New Lyrics to "The Lonely Bull"

[J.Erickson]

Greetings,

My name is Jan Erickson and I have just joined the Corner Forum. A couple of years back I came up with lyrics for "The Lonely Bull". I don't know whether Mr. Alpert would want to be bothered, but I would like to contact him by email and provide him with a copy. Looking at different web sites, I have been unable to spot an address that would get to him. If anyone knows of a public email address to Mr. Alpert, your help would be appreciated.

Should it be a problem posting such an address on this forum, I could be contacted at [email protected].

www.janerickson.com

Thanks and best wishes,
JE

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Welcome to the forum!

We're sorry, but we don't have any email addresses for Herb Alpert. (or any other contact method for that matter.) Why not post your lyrics here? We do know that he has looked at the forum in the past, and it's likely he'll be checking in to gauge reaction to the new Tijuana Brass releases coming up next week. That might be your best shot at Herb seeing your lyrics.

Hope this helps.

 

[jeff604]

Lyrics have already been published for THe LONELY BULL. Why would anyone want to change them?

 

[Mike Blakesley]

There's no rule against writing new lyrics to a favorite melody. If there were, about half of all church hymns wouldn't exist, nor would lots of Christmas songs!

 

[J.Erickson]

Thanks for your interest.

Instead of displaying my lyrics here on the forum, I have just created a separate page on my web site entitled "The Lonely Bull". You can see my version along with explanations of some of the reasons I wrote that poetry. My web site address is: www.janerickson.com

I would say in response to changing the lyrics already published, I was not aware of lyrics being written previously. With that in mind, it's difficult to change something you don't know about. I hope the story line of mine is different than the other version. Just before posting this message, I stated on my own web site that if I had known there had already been lyrics written, in all probability I would not have made the effort to create my version. I'm pleased that I had no knowledge of the other version.

Mike, you've got it straight. I sing a lot of old cowboy songs, and verses were added over and over to many of them. A good example would be "The Old Chisholm Trail". Over the last hundred plus years, it has accumulated hundreds if not thousands of verses.

Best wishes,
JE

 

[Dave]

Well, I always thought "El Solo Toro (The Lonely Bull)" was INSTRUMENTAL and never had lyrics... It was originally destined to be titled, "Twinkle Star", until Herb attended a bullfight, and decided to base the title and more of the song on that...

"Spanish Flea" had lyrics, however...

But, nevertheless, I read Jan's lyrics at his website and thought they were pretty neat... And the rest of Jan's Site was nice, too...


Dave

 

[Numero Cinco]

"Spanish Flea" had lyrics, however...

Didn't Julius's wife Cissy write them? Many years ago I remember reading those lyrics in a 60s Songbook.

 

[thetijuanataxi]

Impressive lyrics, JE! If there hadn't already been lyrics written for Lonely Bull, I bet Sol and Herb would have gone for these. BTW, if you're not already familiar with this track, check out "For Carlos" on the S.R.O. album. It is a beautifully haunting musical epitaph for Carlos Arruza written by Herb, Nick Ceroli, and John Pisano. It is a TJB favorite here at the Forum and I think one of the most moving of the TJB repitoire.

David,
NP: S.R.O. Herb Alpert & TJB

 

[J.Erickson]

Thanks for your kind words.

I am unfamiliar with most of TJB's material except for the tracks commonly played on commercial radio. The only LP by The Tijuana Brass in my collection is "The Lonely Bull", and I got that about a year ago at a thrift shop.

Now it looks as if I will need to seek out "For Carlos" and also the previous worded version of "The Lonely Bull" to satisfy my own curiosity.

Over the years, my musical interest has been bluegrass, Chicago style blues and authentic traditional cowboy songs. It was sometime in the early 1970's when I quit listening to mainstream music format radio.

Best wishes,
Jan :bandit:

 

[jeff604]

The original lyrics were published in a music book printed in the mid 60s called "Seleccionados". It featured 111 songs from the A&M label.

 

[Dave]

The original lyrics were published in a music book printed in the mid-'60s called "Seleccionados"...

Oh, that's right...!! (Smack!!)

And I have that book, too...!! :bandit:

...Jus' Plum Forgot...!...Online...


Dave

 

[mikeargo]

"Spanish Flea" had lyrics, however...

Didn't Julius's wife Cissy write them? Many years ago I remember reading those lyrics in a 60s Songbook.

That's correct. I have the sheet music someplace not handy at the moment, but as I recall it goes something like this: "He was just a little flea, a-hoppin' over me..."

I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Cissy Wechter provided lyrics for most, if not all, of Julius's songs. (She also wrote lyrics to Bud Coleman's "Wall Street Rag.") If you ever get a chance to hear vocal versions of "Warm" and "The Nicest Things Happen," you'll start to get a sense of just how close the Wechter collaboration was.

Mike A.

 

[Jay Maynes/Juan Oskar]

RE: "The Lonely Bull" lyrics, I read them & Ol' Cowboy Jan may be on to something. Have you heard "Struttin' with Maria"? Later.......JO

 

[Mr Bill]

Speaking of the Julius/Cissy collaboration, one of the greatest things about the Julius Wechter tribute several years back was hearing these songs with lyrics. "Warm", "Nicest Things Happen" and "Coney Island" were even more amazing with vocals!

--Mr Bill

 

[DAN BOLTON]

After reading the lyrics mentioned here and having a rather sketchy remembrance of the original ones, I think these are much better...Herb just might see them; he is rumored to visit the site from time to time.

Ddn't Wes Montgomery also record FOR CARLOS as WIND SONG?

Also, a song that cries out for lyrics is TOMORROW WILL BE BETTER from the BMB's WATCH OUT album...Herb wrote it.


Dan, wondering if someone who owns a copy of SELECCIONADOS would post the original lyrics to TLB...

 

[J.Erickson]

The following was sent to me on my private email address:

Hi Jan,

I am a frequent visitor to the 'A&M Corner'. I probably should 'post' this email at the Corner's forum, but it's been years since my last post, & my attempts to log in using my present e-mail address, not to mention remembering an old password not used in years, were to no avail. I'll probably re-join one of these days.

Re. the "Lonely Bull", there are many ironies here... first, the song, composed by musician SOL LAKE, 1911-1991, did apparently have lyric written by MACK DAVID, 1912-1993. Mack was the older brother of HAL DAVID,b.1921, of "Bacharach &..." fame. And as I'm sure you're aware, that great songwriting team were responsible for numerous A&M classic hits.

I did read your lyric, & thought it was quite stylish & I would have suggested writing, not to Herb, but to the Lake family, had there been no lyricist. Which brings me to the second irony...

I live in So. California & read in a local paper of the passing of EDYTH LACHOFF LAKE, 89, at the end of December. She was the wife- of more than 50 years- & widow of SOL LAKE. Lake had 26 of his compositions recorded by the TJB, and scored many films, such as "Pillow Talk". Obviously she had a long life, but it's a bit sad that she passed away practically on the eve of the TJB reissues, the first two of which feature her husbands' two greatest hits: 'Lonely Bull' title song; & 'Mexican Shuffle', from the 'South of The Border' album.

I look forward to the upcoming TJB reissues, particularly to the 'Lost Treasures' compilation. I listened to the samples on amazon.com & I must say, they sound good, very 'typical', identifiable TJB. I'll probably wonder why they weren't issued until now, but better late than never, as the saying goes.

I hope the songwriters are credited - lyrcists included - on the new CDs. I'm particularly interested in who wrote the obscure unknown tracks, such as 'Julius And Me'. For that matter, I hope the musicians are credited, too. Wechter deserves some long overdue credit for his distinctive marimba work in the TJB.

Years ago, I found myself 'coming up' with lyric ideas for Wechter's "Warm", but then I learned of Julius' wife Cecile 'Cissy' Wechter's work as a lyricist for her husband's songs. I suppose it shouldn't surprise me, as many were hits ("Brasilia", Spanish Flea", etc.) & they were written in a music era dominated by vocalists, not instrumentalists. So, I know how one can get creatively swept up into Herb's music, especially when one is a lyrcist who hears 'what' music is saying, note by note. Cissy is still with us, & I believe living in Calabasas. As for the 3rd TJB contributor's widow, I had heard that Eleanor Coleman was living in Murietta Springs, Calif., just south of Lake Elsinore, some years ago. I didn't know if she was still living assuming she was approx. her husbands' age - Ervan 'Bud' Coleman was born in July 1921 - but perhaps she is, as I read an A&M Corner post from someone who had attended the J. Wechter tribute 3 years ago & spoke to her. As you may know, Bud had been a musician in the Baja Marimba Band.

As I read this e-mail back to check for errors, I note I did pose a few questions re. the A&M TJB reissues as well as mentioning a few items which may be of interest to A&M Corner readers. So, if you wish to forward the contents of this e-mail to the A&M Corner, that's fine. My name is MICHAEL, but I'd like to ask that you not post my e-mail address on the site.

I imagine the members will be writing much next week to share their experiences listening the TJB reissues, due out in 3 days. That should be interesting to read, I'm sure. Hope this e-mail was of some interest to you, too.

Sincerely,
MICHAEL

 

[J.Erickson]

This was my private email response to Michael:

Greetings Michael,

Thank you so much for your thoughts and response concerning my lyrics for "The Lonely Bull" by Sol Lake.

When you were on the Jan Erickson web site reading my version of "The Lonely Bull", I presume you also read the thoughts as to how those lyrics came to be. I won't go into those reasons again.

It's not my purpose to have those lyrics picked up and published or recorded by anyone. I was simply looking for a response from Herb Alpert and wheather he would approve of them or not.

I did know that Sol Lake was no longer with us, otherwise I would have tried to contact him. I was not aware of the many contributions Mr. Lake made to our pop-culture. I appreciate all of the additional information concerning him. It's been something of a problem crediting Sol Lake with the melody of "The Lonely Bull" (aka: Twinkle Star). When I mention his name here in Utah, the first thing that comes to most peoples minds is the large body of water that lies five miles west of where I am now sitting. Enunciation of the words "Mister Sol Lake" is the solution.

It's been many years since I've listened to commercial driven music radio. I became tired of being insulted by their limited playlists. Hearing the same songs fifteen or twenty times a day is more than anyone should have to endure. I'm sure some good things from the A&M label were missed because of this. I started seeking out more obscure styles of music. It's been a journey through Bluegrass, Jazz, Blues and now Cowboy Music. I've often told my audiences that if a song is widely popular with the general public, chances are good that it's no good. Case in point: Rap

The Cowboy Poetry movement caught my attention several years back and was easy to become a part of. The lyrics of the classic cowboy poems (and some contemporary ones) have substance with literation. There's a whole pile of not so good cowboy poetry also. (Try not to step in it.) As the years roll by, the genre is being diluted with simplistic works which are amusing, but not well written. I suppose it's a matter of taste. Anyway, that's where the styilistic influence for writing my version of "The Lonely Bull" comes from.

I would very much like to include your message on the Corner Forum along with this response. I will do so, and as per your request, omit your email address.

Sincere best wishes,
Jan Erickson
www.janerickson.com