Gene Pitney

Hi

I was sad to hear of Gene Pitney's sad death yesterday. I saw him many years ago at a concert in Portsmouth.

I also think it was a shame that his song The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance wasn't used in the film.

Regards

Arthur

Hi William

This should give you an idea on Gene Pitney

Quote

Gene Pitney is an interesting figure on the face of the rock-and-roll map. He is a good singer with a distinctive voice who sang songs written by others, and he is a good songwriter, whose songs were recorded and made into hits by others.

He was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1941, but spent most of his youth in Rockville, Connecticut. He formed a band while a student at Rockville High School, then headed for New York City and the Brill Building.

In 1959 Gene Pitney joined with a young singer named Ginny Arnell and recorded some tunes for Decca as Jamie & June. After a stop at Blaze and some solo recordings under the assumed name, Billy Bryan, Gene recorded under his own name for Festival in 1960. He was also a budding songwriter and tried to push his songs to anyone who would listen. Brill Building veterans Burt Bacharach and Hal David liked what they saw and formed an alliance with the ambitious young singer/songwriter.

Under the guidance of Phil Spector, Gene recorded a song for Musicor in 1961 that was to be his breakthrough hit. Town Without Pity, a song from the film of the same title, was a smash hit record in 1962 and the record-buying public began to take notice. Bacharach and David were churning out songs in the early 60's that Gene turned into hits: [The Man Who Shot] Liberty Valance, Only Love Can Break A Heart -- his biggest hit ever, and Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa. Valance was inspired by the John Wayne/Jimmy Stewart movie of the same name, but the song was never actually sung in the movie itself.

And he wasn't just singing. Some of the songs he wrote [or co-wrote] were just as popular as those he sang -- the Crystals with He's A Rebel, Ricky Nelson with Hello Mary Lou, Bobby Vee with Rubber Ball, Roy Orbison, and the list goes on.

As the 60's wore on, Gene continued to sell records: Mecca, It Hurts To Be In Love, I'm Gonna Be Strong.

As big a star as he had become in the United States, Gene Pitney was an even bigger star in the United Kingdom. His publicist, Andrew Loog Oldham, acted in the same role for the Rolling Stones and Gene did some things with them. A song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, That Girl Belongs To Yesterday, was recorded by Gene and went to number seven on the UK charts. He played maracas on the Stones' recording of Buddy Holly's Not Fade Away, and piano in the background of some other songs by the Rolling Stones. Pitney had 16 top forty songs in the USA from 1961 to 1968, and he had forty such songs in the UK all the way up to 1974.

In later years Gene sang some country music, and made some recordings in Italian. He currently lives in his native Connecticut. Gene Pitney still performs with oldies shows, and he can still sing very well. The address of the Gene Pitney International Fan Club is 6201-39th Avenue, Kenosha, Wisconsin, 53142, and the email address is [email protected].

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The article is quite right in that the song was never sung in the film but if you watch the trailer the song and singer are mentioned. Why it was never used I don't know for certain. My own opinion and I stress that it is my own opinion, is that thesong was too upbeat for the film. The entire mood of the Man Who Shot Liberty Valance was one of sombre nostalgia. Critics and experts all state that Ford was pining for the West that was and was fast coming to an end. The theme music likewise apart from the beginning resembled the romantic parts heard in How The West Was Won and although I am not a musical expert I think he music was scored to deliberately reflect this attitude.

It would be interesting to hear other opinions.

Regards

Arthur