Mary Lou Lord: Daniel's "Angel"

[notdaniel]

Hey, gang, here's a bit of "news" for you! On Tuesday night I caught Mary Lou Lord doing a pre-SXSW mini-set at the Hole In the Wall, so of course I had to ask her what was the deal behind her version of "Speeding Motorcycle" being used in the Target commercials awhile back. I’m paraphrasing here, but I’m gonna try and “quote” her as best I can:

“Yeah, I got this call from the Target people and that was so weird! They said they wanted to use my version of 'Speeding Motorcycle' in a commercial and I asked why didn’t they just use Daniel’s original version. Well, they said they weren’t interested in that, and I said well, what about Yo La Tengo’s then? They said no again and finally I asked, So, are you not interested in using the song at all if you can’t use my version then? They said yep, that’s the deal, so I figured well, at least this way Daniel would get some publishing money and since he’s so wonderful I told them yes, they could use my version of the song. It's a shame, though - the commercials came out the week of 9/11, and for some reason relating to that they didn't get aired nearly as much as was originally planned. Still, Daniel means so much to me, I just hope I helped him out in some way!”

I told her that as far as I knew, that was among the best  - if not THE best – thing to happen to Daniel financially, and she was really excited to be told that.

  - Not Daniel

[dejected]

I think without question that the Target Commercial was the single largest sum Daniel has received from any one thing in his career!   I had no idea that licensing for commercial would possibly pay that much!  

Maybe we should see about hiring Daniel out in the "jingle" business.  I heard a story once that his mother wrote some religious poetry and Daniel put it to music and it was like wow!  That is exactly how that should be in song.   He's got a skill for that.   This meets a real demand in the market.   He oughta do it!

Anyway - thanks Mary Lou!

[Henry Long]

O Jeezus...
Please resist the temptation for now to encourage Daniel writing for Coca Cola or Kentucky Fried Chicken or Walmart...

It doesn't bother me too much to hear Iggy's "Lust For Life" (a rocker about kicking drugs and getting clean) used to sell vacations on a cruise line which travels to impoverished islands and 3rd world nations. I mean, he certainly didn't make a bundle the first time around with that song back in 77, so why not get a little something for retirement? But if Iggy were to write something specifically FOR a cruise line, or casino or laundry detergent...that would be a little hard to handle.

"Hey man, where did you get that Lotion?
Yeah! I got it on sale at CVS drug store, baby..."

Lets hope some vile corrupt marketing director doesn't have a momentary flash of the commercial potential for a song like "Impossible Love" for ^ or "Love Defined" for Hallmark Cards. Somethings should be left for the etherial realm of art, rather than the voracious self-swallowing cycle of consumerism.

Some disrespectful corporate shmuck even propositioned the Johnny Cash estate recently for purchasing the rights to "Ring of Fire." They wanted the song for advertising a hemmoroid medication! Really. I'm not making this up.

Even though one must ultimately make some kind of commercial transaction to acquire Daniel's music, it's about the music, not the ass cream.

[Pascal]

I saw this reissue of Nick Drake's "Pink moon", one of the most beautiful album that I know. And they put a sticker on it saying "as heard on the Wolkswagen commercial".
Nick Drake of all people, who died almost unknown in the late 70s and now they're making money with his music... that's sad....
Pascal

[Disfranchise]

yes, I've got the same reissue of that album with the same sticker.
I reacted the same way when I saw it; "why try to sell the album by telling it's in a commercial?". That's not the reason to buy it and that's not the way that album should be remembered.

[wickedwill]

seen the same sticker on the same album! got the same ill feeling!!seems like the folks at volkswagon were putting alot of faith in nick drake to sell thier cars. may have sold a few nick drake cds but alot of good that does now. with micheal jacksons fate in the balance and the cost of a good legal team to keep him out of the clink, and him having the rights to most of them songs we may see the beatles hawking ass cream or spicy chicken wings sooner then later!

[dejected]

It's interesting - there are no complaints about "speeding motorcycle" in a Target commercial, but there are definitely sensitivities - a "line that can be crossed" that is a "sell-out" of an artist to the commercial world.

Well, here's the truth of the matter - Daniel hardly ever turns money down - now he HAS done it, and then the reasons were very principled.  But the difference between that and someone selling out to the commercialized world has something to do with what they want the money for....

..... for Daniel, he wants it for comic books, CDs, and soda pop!  Period.

In affectionate reflection on this point, he doesn't have a grasp for the "value" of money" other than to facilitate his hapless habits.

Okay - there's a trite and "used car salesman" side to the advertising world, but there's also a legitimate culture for art within it as well.  Hopefully, Daneil will take his place there?

I bet he'd come up with a great jingle for slushies!!!!

[Pascal]

One big difference is Daniel is alive and can choose if he wants his creation to sell cars or whatever. Nick Drake can not.
I'm glad Dan is making money but frankly I'd rather his great music was not used in ads. That is not why he wrote the songs for.
The sad thing here is that it seems it's Dan's only way to live of his art...

[Doug Sulpy]

Geez, I would love to see that Target commercial. Fodder for the video section, perhaps?

Strangely, I had a different commercial experience the other day. I sometimes have the news going in the other room while I'm in here on the computer, and heard a commercial with a few slow chords and the first line "Your picture... is still... on my wall" ... So, my eyes open like "WHAT?!" and I move out to see it's the beginning of a Mercedes-Benz commercial. Don't know what the song is (it's not "Some Things Last A Long Time")... so did Daniel, um, borrow the line of some other song to begin his own, or did someone else borrow the first line of HIS song...?

As for the Nick Drake commercial, I disagree with the comments that have been made here. I've loved that music for decades, and, you know, if someone wants to use "Pink Moon" for a commercial - I think that's fine. Why? Because I bet it exposed more people to Drake's music in 60 seconds than 15 different reissues of those Island albums did in 30-odd years. Putting the sticker on the CD merely says: "Hey, this is where you heard that song you liked! Buy me!." I think it's great that more people might have found Drake's music through the commercial.

Now I'm just waiting for "McDonald's On The Brain" to pop up on my TV screen (LOL)...

Doug

[notdaniel]

I sometimes have the news going in the other room while I'm in here on the computer, and heard a commercial with a few slow chords and the first line "Your picture... is still... on my wall" ... So, my eyes open like "WHAT?!" and I move out to see it's the beginning of a Mercedes-Benz commercial. Don't know what the song is (it's not "Some Things Last A Long Time")... so did Daniel, um, borrow the line of some other song to begin his own, or did someone else borrow the first line of HIS song...?Doug

Well, seeing as Daniel didn't write those lyrics in the first place, we don't have to worry about him getting suef, at least! Jad wrote the lyrics to "Some Things" and Daniel provided the tune, unless my memory is very bad. Could what you heard have been Jad with another band? Or Built To Spill's cover version? Or maybe this song:

http://www.mag.ulg.ac.be/lions/heartsandbones.htm

Or this (Fenix TX is a very corporate-backed band, they'd be a likely pick):

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/fenixtx/katiew.html

 - Not Daniel