June 4 - Scheherazade, Cyrkle, Springsteen

1910

Sterett illustration

The Ballets Russes premieres its adaptation of Scheherazade at the Palais Garnier in Paris. Adagio, Mariinsky 

Theodore Kosloff

 
The ever-popular symphonic suite by Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was completed in 1888. His widow was not happy with the Ballet’s adaptation. Moscow Symphony 
 
The story is of the legendary Persian queen and storyteller of the famous middle-East folk-tale collection One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of sometimes erotic tales possibly best known in a Western version by Sir Richard Francis Burton.
  Audio: NPR 2007  Burton Nights

See also: List of works influenced by One Thousand and One Nights

1966

US pop-rockers The Cyrkle (*) (ex-Rhondells), reach the top 10 for the one-and-only with their #2 pop hit Red Rubber Ball. ▷Songfacts▹

Always runnin’, never carin’, that’s the life you live
Stolen minutes of your time were all you had to give
And I think it’s gonna be alright
Yeah, the worst is over now
The mornin’ sun is shinin’ like a red rubber ball

The jaunty tune, half-written by Paul Simon, is in concert (sorry) with its up-beat era. Managed by Brian Epstein, they open for The Beatles on 14 dates that summer. on August 27 The Cyrkle returns to the top-20, yes a second time, with US#16 hippie-surfer feelgood single Turn-Down Day.
 
Epstein’s death … and the fact that they could and did turn down recording 59th Street Bridge Song … brought an end to the band’s fortune, tho one of them went on to write the ‘Plop-plop fizz-fizz’ commercial jingle.

The fact that they got to record two complete LPs, speaks volumes about how good music was in the years 1965-1967 as even second-tier groups like this were a delight to hear.

▷Classic Bands:Cyrkle▹

1976
The Sex Pistols play the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester. A few dozen are there for the ‘transforming experience’. BBC:I swear that I was there (49m) 

1984

Bruce Springsteen releases his best-selling album Born in the U.S.A.
 
An international #1 hit, it spawns seven US top-10 singles, including Dancing in the Dark (US#2) , I’m on Fire (US#6) and Glory Days (US#5). The title track is about how Americans have been affected by the Vietnam War.

Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I’m ten years burning down the road
Now here to run ain’t got nowhere to go
I’m a long gone Daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.

The Boss has won 21 Grammies, and in 1999 joined the Rock HoF and the Songwriter’s HoF.
 
 ( Website )  ▷Backstreets mag▹