I Wouldn't Take A Million Dollars For A Single Maple Leaf
Roy Payne
A Tribute To Newfoundland By The Writer Of The Hit Song
Paragon ALS 247
Marathon Music, Scarboro, Ontario
1969
On my 127 Yard Sale spree, I met a seller who had a few vintage Canadian LPs that he had kept from his childhood.
Goofy Newfie is slang used when referring to a Newfoundlander.
This album includes an anti-American song (I Wouldn't Take A Million Dollars For A Single Maple Leaf). Payne wrote this song.
From the back cover: In the next year watch for some of the top American country stars to latch on to Roy's tunes.
This album includes an anti-American song (I Wouldn't Take A Million Dollars For A Single Maple Leaf). Payne wrote this song.
From the back cover: In the next year watch for some of the top American country stars to latch on to Roy's tunes.
This LP was originally titled "No Price Tags On The Door Of Newfoundland" and was released on Paragon ALS 248. When "Goofie Newfie" became a hit, Paragon re-issued this record as "Goofie Newfie" (with the same Paragon catalog number!) The "Price Tags" Lp was distributed by Allied Records.
ReplyDeleteIts funny to see the cover songs (ie: "The Fugitive", "Sing Me Back Home") are ALL listed without songwriter's credits or publishing credits. Jack Boswell (head of Allied/Paragon/Pentagon/Marathon) was kinda shady and I think he tried to get out of paying royalties to the writers of the covers (Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson, ect..)
According to Mike Cadieux, guitarist for Boswell-signed Allied artists "The Plastic Cloud", Boswell (Allied) did not give the band any royalties on that LP. Each of the band members got a complimentary copy of the finished LP. (Maybe because there were only 500 of these pressed and they were a virtually unknown band.)
Roy had a huge hit in 1972 with "Newfie Boy" and a contract with RCA. Boswell could have re-issued the "Gopofy Newfie" LP at that time to capitalize on Roy's success. Not much is really known about Boswell and his various labels or business activities. Would make a great book!
I have collected many Jack Boswell productions over the years, and have even corresponded with some of his company's surviving artists.
ReplyDeleteThe story I have repeatedly heard, is that in lieu of royalties, Artists were supposed to be supplied with copies of their albums to sell at their personal appearances. However, Boswell did not always fulfill that aspect of the contract. Plus, it seems the distributor for these albums flooded the discount stores with them, usually selling them for $1.98.
I am also told that in the early 1990s, Smiley Bates, Graham & Eleanor Townsend (all now deceased) and another artist whose name I will not mention because he is still living, filed a class-action suit against Boswell for various breaches of contract over the years. They lost because they had no way of proving how many albums, tapes, etc. had actually been sold over the years.
Stuff like this could be the reason why there is no information available about Jack Boswell despite the fact that he was arguably one of the most prolific (if not THE most prolific) Country & Western producers in the history of the Canadian Music Industry.
I have just been recently introduced into the world of Jack Boswell through my research for my Thunderbird Records project. As a musician myself I could not believe the lack of clarity on these records, 4 originals and 8 covers in some cases, with zero writing credits or royalty affiliations, zero production credits. I was told in the case of Maple Street, they were allowed to purchase their records for $2, which they sold for $10 from the stage. I think the industry was really a different animal back then. Here is a link to my research project.
Deletehttp://this-is-owen.blogspot.ca/p/thunderbird-recordings.html
Tom