YTunes Shuffle Episode 67: Adam Chester Song Nuggets

Adam Chester is a song writer, singer, pianist, author and most notably, Sir Elton John's surrogate. That means, Adam stands in for Elton to rehearse the band and sometimes, even helps Elton remember how to play some of his own songs. Through his Fave 5 we get a sense of how Adam came to be a successful musician and a family man.  Here are a few little extras, or Nuggets on the music he brought in to share.

Allan Sherman “My Zelda”

Allan is a Chicago born and raise comedy writer. This song, from the album “My Son, The Folk Singer” (1962) became the fastest-selling record up to that time. He went to University of Illinois (Maggi’s alma mater) and wrote for the Daily Illini. He never graduated because he was expelled for reaking into a campus sorority house with his then-girlfriend.

Elton John “Funeral For A Friend”

This was known as one of the first bathroom break songs on radio. It is 11 minutes long and wasn’t played very much on FM radio but still gained immense popularity.” Funeral For a Friend” is the instrumental section and transitions into “Love Lies Bleeding.” Not surprisingly, he wrote the music for this song after thinking about what he would want played at his funeral. In this episode, Adam talks about how Love Lies Bleeding is also the name of a flower! Check out the beautiful blossom here.

Adam Chester “8 Days And Nights”

A Ytunes Shuffle first and original!!!

Bee Gees “How Deep Is Your Love”

This was a big radio smash and broke a big record for the 70’s by staying #1 for 3 weeks and then stayed in the Top 10 for 17 weeks! The band was sued by a man named Ronald Selle, an antiques dealer in Illinois who wrote a song called “Let It End” claiming “How Deep Is Your Love” was based off of Selle’s song.  Selle’s song was never released, he just made a home recording that he had sent to publishers. The jury did convict The Bee Gees to copying Selle’s song based on similarities between songs,  but the judge nullified the verdict.

Truman Chester “Burn”

Truman Chester is the 14 year old son of our guest. This is an original recording not available (yet) for purchase or download. You can hear the song only on this episode of YTunes Shuffle.