I thought this “cover” of “Is That All There Is” was on first the “Rodney on the ROC” compilation album.
It looks like I was wrong, so where did I get it?
(When I bought it, I didn’t know who “Rodney” or “the ROC” were but the album had some groups I liked. The Nuns’ “Wild” was great. I can’t play it anymore, because vinyl, and come to think of it, I hope I didn’t sell it when I got rid of a lot of my records.)
Anyway the version below is slightly different than I remember it, but maybe my record player was just garbage.
I really wish DangerousMinds’ politics weren’t so shit…
Celebrated songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller were so furious when the original lyrics of their 1969 Grammy-winner: “Then I fell in love with the most wonderful boy in the world. We would take long walks by the river or just sit for hours gazing into each other’s eyes. We were so very much in love” became “And then I met the most wonderful boy in Manhattan. We used to walk by the river, and he beat me black and blue and I loved it. I could kill for that guy,” that they had an injunction against the recording that lasted for 24 years.
This 12” record used to be so difficult to find that when you could locate it, it would sell for $100 bucks. It was practically a requirement for serious record collectors to have a copy. Despite the relative scarcity of the vinyl, the song became a cult hit in New York clubs and was a signature tune played frequently during Rodney Bingenheimer’s early 80s “Rodney on the Roq” radio shows. To this day, it is apparently still the record holder of the top requested song title on BBC Radio 1.
