Carl Wiser
Working as a disc jockey in Hartford, Connecticut, Carl compiled a database of song information to help with show prep. In 1999, it went online as Songfacts.com, which focuses on the stories behind the songs.
32 articles
List of articles in the library
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 11 April 2013
IN 1972, JETHRO TULL released Thick As A Brick, an entire album comprised of one song. Critics hated it. "You can listen to it, but ...
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 16 September 2015
The revered singer-songwriter talks inspiration and explains why she put a mahout in 'Drop the Pilot' ...
Arrows, Laura Nyro, Vodka Collins: Alan Merrill: An Interview
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 1 August 2009
THE SON OF jazz musicians Aaron Sachs and Helen Merrill, Alan moved from New York to Japan when he was still a teenager, becoming the ...
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 3 August 2018
Rick Astley on 'Never Gonna Give You Up', 'Cry For Help' and his remarkable resurgence that gave him another #1 UK album. ...
Elvin Bishop: An Interview with Elvin Bishop
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 13 September 2007
HOW DO YOU write a blues song? Elvin Bishop, a founding member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band before launching a successful solo career, is ...
Kurtis Blow on 'The Breaks', the evolution of sampling, and 'Sun City'
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 4 October 2003
KURTIS BLOW gets a lot more airplay these days than he did in the '80s. That's because back in the day – when the long-term ...
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 4 July 2013
PETULA CLARK WAS 80 years old when she released her 2013 album Lost In You, an elegant and contemporary set produced by John Williams – ...
Paula Cole: The Songfacts Interview
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 22 December 2016
PAULA COLE NEVER watched the Grammys, which made it a little weird when she won the award for Best New Artist in 1997 (also weird, ...
Retrospective and Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 16 December 2003
WHAT WOULD YOU DO if the National Guard came to your school and shot your friends? That's the question Neil Young posed in his song ...
Doobie Brothers, Tom Johnston: Tom Johnston of The Doobie Brothers
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 8 October 2009
AS A GUITARIST and vocalist with The Doobie Brothers, Tom Johnston wrote the kind of joyful rock that is truly classic: 'Listen To The Music', 'China ...
Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, Jeff Lynne, Rockpile, The Stray Cats: Dave Edmunds: An Interview
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 24 June 2015
IT TOOK Dave Edmunds about four months to deconstruct ten famous songs – 'God Only Knows', 'A Whiter Shade Of Pale' and 'Your Song' among ...
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 23 October 2009
On songwriting, production and working with stepson Mark Ronson: the Englishman in New York fills in the gaps.
File format: mp3; file size: 34.2mb; Interview length: 37' 21"; sound quality: ***
Billy Gibbons, ZZ Top: Billy Gibbons: The Songfacts Interview
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 31 August 2018
Billy Gibbons on his solo album The Big Bad Blues, the hidden gem in the ZZ Top catalog, and how he feels about having a ...
The Go-Go's, Jane Wiedlin: Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Go's
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 22 October 2007
THE GO-GO'S emerged from the late '70s Los Angeles punk/New Wave scene to become pop sensations and MTV darlings. They write their own songs, which ...
Grand Funk Railroad's Don Brewer (2004)
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 2004
Grand Funk sticksman Don Brewer talks about mega-hit 'We're An American Band', choosing cover versions, and being produced by Todd Rundgren and Frank Zappa.
File format: mp3; file size: 10.2mb, interview length: 22' 11" sound quality: * (phoner)
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 14 March 2003
JANIS IAN released her first song, 'Society's Child', in 1967 when she was 15. The famous record producer Shadow Morton wasn't interested until Janis set ...
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, May 2010
"LET WHITE FOLKS cross over to me..." An R&B star with a stunning voice, Millie Jackson was close to breaking into the mainstream like her ...
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 27 February 2017
Rickie Lee Jones on songwriting, social media, and how she's handling Trump. ...
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 17 April 2013
The late progster talks about writing songs for ELP and King Crimson; writing methods; writing with Pete Sinfield; the pleasure of playing live, and one particularly hairy gig with ELP in Bologna, Italy.
File format: mp3; file size: 33.7mb, interview length: 36' 50" sound quality: *** (phoner)
Benny Mardones and 'Into the Night'
Retrospective and Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, March 2011
YOU STILL HEAR 'Into the Night' on just about every Adult Contemporary radio station – it's the song that starts, "She's just 16 years old, ...
Procol Harum: Gary Brooker of Procol Harum
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 14 October 2010
PUTTING MUSIC TO THE words of Procol Harum's lyricist Keith Reid, Gary Brooker created a rich, classical sound without compromise. Revered by legions of fans ...
Procol Harum's Keith Reid (2009)
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 2 April 2009
Procol Harum lyricist Reid looks back at the writing of such classics as 'Whiter Shade of Pale', and brings us up to date with his current projects.
File format: mp3; file size: 19.7mb; Interview length: 42' 59"; sound quality: ***
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 19 September 2017
'FOOL (IF YOU Think It's Over)' got Chris Rea out of debt, but it put him in a kind of musical prison that took seven ...
Todd Rundgren: Songwriter Interviews: Todd Rundgren
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 2 April 2015
'I SAW THE LIGHT' came a little too easy for Todd Rundgren. The song took him maybe 20 minutes to write, just going up and ...
Dave Stewart: The Songfacts Interview
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 20 November 2008
THE HALF OF Eurythmics that is not Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart has written hits with Tom Petty, No Doubt, Jon Bon Jovi, Bono, Mick Jagger ...
Tower of Power's Emilio Castillo: An Interview
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 11 October 2004
The Tower Of Power horn section is one of the best in the business. The group not only performs as a solo act, but is ...
War: The War Story: An Interview with War's Original Drummer Harold Brown
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 20 March 2007
AS DRUMMER FOR THE BAND WAR, Harold Brown was part of the vibrant music scene of the late-'60s and early-'70s that included Jim Morrison, Jimi ...
Wishbone Ash: Andy Powell of Wishbone Ash
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 2013
IT WAS 1971 when Wishbone Ash, touring in America as opening act for The Who, got news that two music magazines back home in England ...
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 2 January 2004
A masterclass in songwriting from a master songwriter: how his songs came into being, collaborations with others and how his life experiences are reflected in his lyrics.
File format: mp3; file size: 27.4mb, interview length: 29' 59" sound quality: ** (phone)
The Yardbirds' Jim McCarty (2010)
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 3 November 2010
Yardbird Jim looks back at the halcyon days of 'Shape of Things' – the songwriting, the guitarists Clapton, Beck and Page and much more.
File format: mp3; file size: 12mb, total interview length: 26' 15" sound quality: * (phoner)
List of genre pieces
Interview by Carl Wiser, Rock's Backpages audio, 12 October 2011
Top L.A. session bass player Kaye talks about her life in the Tinsel Town studios, laying down the low end for the likes of the Beach Boys, Monkees, Sinatra and so many more.
File format: mp3 File size: 16.1mb Interview length: 35' 13"; Sound quality: * (phoner)
A Swamper Tells the Muscle Shoals Story: An Interview with David Hood
Interview by Carl Wiser, unpublished, 2006
ABOUT TWO minutes into 'I'll Take You There', a sultry bass groove plays while Mavis Staples implores, "Little David, help me out now..." ...
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