All language subtitles for ZUBIZARETA 2022

ln 1967, 21-year-old Van the young
man recorded in New York

with Bert Burns, pop impresario
and owner of Bang Records.

One of the songs recorded
was Brown Eyed Girl,

which would become Morrison's
most successful ever song.

MUSlC: ''Brown Eyed Girl''
by Van Morrison

Hey, where did we go

Days when the rains came

Down in the hollow...

lt has been played 10 million
times on American radio.

10 million times.

l mean, even l was
flabbergasted by that.

You my, you my brown
eyed girl...

But this incredibly popular song is
certainly not one of Van Morrison's

personal favourites.
And with good reason.

One of Morrison's problems with
Brown Eyed Girl is that he

has hardly ever received any
royalties for it.

Partly because when he signed up
with Burt Burns,

like any 21-year-old,
you're keen to just get in there

and you'll sign
whatever is put under your nose.

And his royalty rate
was extremely low.

Well, it varied between extremely
low to nonexistent on this material.

We reckon that Brown Eyed Girl has
earned just over -O12 million.

Thank you very much, thank you.

So there you go, bit of a cautionary
tale. Of course, Van the man being

Van the man, he got his revenge in
his customary way.

He wrote some deliberately bad songs
for the Bang label,

and around that time he wrote a song
called The Big Royalty Check,

the words to
which go something like,

''l'm waiting for my royalty check to
come in, it still hasn't come yet,

''lt's about a year
overdue, oh, oh, oh, oh.''

l would say, if there is a moral,
if there is a lesson in the story

of Brown Eyed Girl for the young
songwriter, it's hold on to

the production, the publishing
and the sound of it, if you can.

And make sure it's your song,
make sure that it stays your song.

MUSlC: ''Stand By Me''
by Ben E King

Brilliant bass-line.
Classic intro to a classic song.

Unmistakeable and one of the greats
of American songwriting.

Co-written by Ben E King

and the legendary songwriting team
of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.

Some of our tunes so far have had
a sense of loss, of regret,

of guilt about them.

But this one,
a resolutely upbeat message,

really lovely story behind it.

Ben E King wrote it for
his childhood sweetheart, Betty.

l was sitting at home one day,
l start strumming on my cheap guitar

and my wife, l was newly married,

and we were in a cheap one-room
apartment and it came to life.

When the night has come

And the land is dark

And the moon is the only
light we'll see...

Once completed, l knew that it was
different to the other songs

that l had written. And that it
did have something stronger

than what l thought it
would end up being.

lt just seemed to flow.

Stand by me

So darling, darling
Stand by me...

The year was 1960.

King travelled from his home in
New York to the Brill Building,

a complex in Manhattan packed with
writers churning out hit after hit.

One of the duos there were Jerry
Leiber - who passed away in 2011 -

and Mike Stoller.

Among their numbers were Hound Dog
and Jailhouse Rock for Elvis.

Major talents, then.

l kind of sussed out the chords
of the piano while he was singing

and l came up with a bass pattern.

And Jerry yelled,
''That's it, that's a hit.''

Dum dum dum, dum
Dum dum dum, dum

Dum dum dum, dum, da dum dum

Da dum dum.

Once you hear that line,
and no other line is like that,

other than My Girl
by The Temptations.

Close, but no cigar, the line
of Stand By Me is right there.

l won't cry

l won't cry, no
l won't shed a tear

Just as long

As you stand, stand by me...

Of course, we added the guiro and
the triangle so it was...

Bum, thwk, ding, thwk, ding.

And... But we picked up with the
bass pattern later in the strings,

and then kept going higher
and higher and higher.

STRlNGS PLAY MELODY

You know, who doesn't
love this song?

l mean, a classic is a word
that's bandied around too easily

but this has everything.

lt's beautifully sung,
it's impassioned, it's passionate,

it has great melody.

And it appeared at
just the right moment.

The late '50s and early '60s
witnessed the birth

of the civil rights movement
in the USA. An African-American

and two Jewish hep cats had composed
a gospel-influenced anthem

to tolerance and togetherness,
that would become timeless.

Stand By Me has a
universal resonance.

Just in its message, you know,

we all want somebody or something to
stand by us, to protect us,

to support us, to be there for us,
and this is a classic instance

of a kind of gospel sentiment being
transposed to a love lyric.

The song's theme of togetherness was
reflected in how Ben E King

dealt with the royalties issue.

lt was a very
amicable split between himself,

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.

Jerry said, ''Well, you should be a
part of this,'' and l agreed,

and so l have 25%
interest as a writer, and Jerry 25,

with the initial idea both
musically and lyrically,

and it's worked well.

Most of us that create music,
we don't think money first,

that's why most of us get hurt.

But we do feel that if it happens
with a great song or

with some good people,
we'll be financially fit. Yeah.

Stand By Me was a hit in 1961
on both sides of the Atlantic.

Then in 1986, it was
used in the movie of the same name,

a coming-of-age flick
starring a young River Phoenix.

And boom! lt became a bigger
hit 25 years later,

the exact same recording,
nothing was changed.

So l guess it held up.

A year after the movie,
in 1987, Stand By Me

was used as the soundtrack to a
cult British TV ad for Levi's Jeans.

Fees to use a hit song in
a commercial are negotiable

and can range from
-O50,000 to -O750,000

So if a creative really wants
to use your song,

don't sell yourself short.

Dependability, Stand By Me.

lt's a great friend, it's someone
you want to be with, it's..

They're the right values
and that's very important

when a brand are doing advertising
because they want you,

when you go away,
to associate with that

so when you see their product, it
makes you feel those things.

ln 1987 Stand By Me went to
number one here in the UK.

The '60s were cool again,
and the combination of nostalgia

and new technology proved
to be a money-spinner.

So those records, l wouldn't mind
betting, sold a lot more on

being revived in the '80s, than they
would have sold in the '60s, because

the record market in the '60s was
quite small. You know, it was quite

a specialist thing, buying records -
not everybody had a record player.

OK, fast forward to the '80s,
everybody's got a CD player,

everybody's got a tape player,
you know, and so the revenues

for a thing like that would be
absolutely massive as a consequence.

lt all helps.
We reckon that Stand By Me

has brought in royalties
worth just under -O17.5 million.

That's nearly 28 million.

lf it wasn't for Stand By Me,
l'd probably be driving a cab.

lf it wasn't for Stand By Me...

l wouldn't be as happy as l am

with my family and
my grandkids and my kids.

Um, well, let's see, that means
the publishers got 14...

lf the writers were treated
properly,

they would have divided up seven.

Um...that's a lot of money.

Where's it all gone?

And here's another happy
aspect of the Stand By Me story.

Ben E King has put a lot
of the money raised by this song

into the Stand By Me Foundation,
which gives kids who might

not otherwise have got the chance to
get scholarships to music college.

So that's a lot of money, a lot of
kids, and a lot of scholarships.

OK, so now we get to number five.

This song was written in 1955
by Alex North and Hy Zaret.

lts most celebrated version
is by the Righteous Brothers,

but it's a ballad which
both seasoned professionals

and rank amateurs can't resist
belting out again and again.

lt'll be very familiar to you,
feel free to sing along.

l know l will.

Oh

My love

My darling

l've hungered for your touch

A long, lonely time...

Bit of auto-tune wouldn't go amiss,
there. Bit low.

North and Zaret wrote
Unchained Melody for a 1955 movie

called, as you might be able
to guess, Unchained.

A prisoner dreams of his
girl who is far away

and hungers for her touch. Ah.

l need your love...

Unchained Melody comes
out of a period of song-writing

in the '50s when you couldn't
have a Hollywood movie

that didn't have a song in it, it
was regarded... You couldn't do it.

They'd have this ridiculous war film
or cowboy film and there'd always

be a set piece where somebody would
sing a song, very often a ballad.

The bloke who wrote the music,
Alex North, didn't think

much of it at the time and threw
it in the office wastepaper basket.

He had to hurriedly retrieve it
when he heard the cleaning lady

humming along to the tune
they'd been working on.

Thought he might have been a bit
hasty. Good job he did retrieve it -

massive, massive song.

Time goes by...

Put together with Zaret's dramatic
lyrics, the song took off.

ln 1955, four other versions of it
reached the top ten

in the USA and the UK.

Still mine...

But the classic recording is
the 1965 one by Bill Medley

and Bobby Hatfield, better
known as the Righteous Brothers.

Whoa, my love

My darling...

Some songs don't sound as
if they were written,

they sound as if they were found,
like the Dead Sea Scrolls

they were uncovered somewhere.

And Unchained Melody's got
that feeling about it.

lt sounds like, you know,

every ballad you've
ever heard melded in to one.

No criticism at all.

l need your love, l need your love
Godspeed your love to me.

You know, time goes by so slowly
but time can do so much,

if you're still...

There's something about a song like
Unchained Melody that is just this

extreme plaintive need for you to be
in my life because without you

l'm nothing. As they say, really
unhealthy thoughts, but beautiful.

And there's something about that
specific melody that gives itself

to almost a biblical
proportion of need.

l need your love...

As all of you who watch
Mad Men will know,

the '50s in the USA were a period of
prosperity but stifling conformity.

So maybe it's not surprising
that all those pent-up feelings

found their expression
in this uber-ballad.

Since 1955, there have been
over 650 cover versions.

One of the four that's become
a UK number one was by Gareth Gates,

which sold over 1.3 million copies.

l need your love...

lt's one of those songs that any
singer presented with the lead sheet

would think, ''l can do that,

''l can belt may way through that no
problem at all'', you know.

lt's got that kind of X Factor,
kind of, ''Me, me, me!

''Feel my pain!'' thing about it.

So over the years, it's had all
manner of rough treatment,

but, you know, it can take it.

Lonely rivers flow to the sea
To the sea...

To the open arms of the sea...

Are you watching, Simon Cowell?

Pretty much note-perfect. Unchained
Melody is a great karaoke favourite.

And artists are very keen for their
songs to be included

in karaoke sets these days.

Adele at a recent awards ceremony
dedicated her success to

everyone who sings karaoke.

Companies like this have to pay
a license which covers all

the copyright on the songs they're
using, and so when a song

like Unchained Melody is played and
sung and murdered by people like me,

every time, then someone, somewhere
is getting a royalty on it.

Which is nice.

Because karaoke has been hugely
popular since the early '90s.

lf you're very lucky and if you have
a very successful song, they have

so many ways of making money
and any one, karaoke may not be

a major player in buying a brand-new
car, but it all goes together.

Our research shows that since
Unchained Melody was let loose,

it has made just over -O18 million.

Of course, not all songwriters
make millions.

Most struggle to make a living wage.
On top of that,

regular income
streams like sheet music,

and record and CD sales,
are in long-term decline.

And the internet is still
in large parts unregulated,

with piracy and downloading rife.

lt's happened so quickly, it's on
such a grand scale, that it's enough

to almost take your breath away and
your livelihood at the same time.

Bill Withers sat with
a congressman and he said,

''You know, congressman.
l want you to appreciate something.

''We need to be able to make a living
with our songwriting,

''and if we can't make a
living writing songs,

''then we're going to have to do
something else for a living,

''and, congressman, you do not want
Ozzy Osbourne as your plumber.''

But it's not all
doom and gloom out there.

The 21st century is throwing
up new challenges,

but it's creating possibilities and
openings for songwriters, as well.

l'm very bullish on the future of
the music industry in general.

Song writers, artists, record
companies, everybody in the future

is going to be probably making a
lot more money

than they made in the past.

There's film, television licensing,
mobile apps, streaming music,

streaming services,

greeting cards and all kinds
of music-producing devices.

Even as you're listening to
this broadcast,

MUSlC: ''Mosh''
by Eminem

Not so long ago, Eminem
joined Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber

in racking up over a billion views
on his YouTube Channel.

And a video he made with
Rihanna, for Love The Way You Lie,

set a record for the most hits
in one day.

Rolling Stone Magazine
estimates that a writer earns around

60p per 1,000 YouTube plays.

Eminem's songs have had a billion.
You do the maths.

Our next song is a classic of
British songwriting

from the greatest band of all time.

lt was written by Paul McCartney,
who you've probably heard of.

You may also be vaguely aware
of the band he was in, The Beatles.

And this was recorded in 1965.

Our number four richest song
is Yesterday.

Yesterday

All my troubles seemed so far away

Now it looks as though
they're here to stay

Oh, l believe in yesterday...

Have you really thought where
the song came from?

Have you been able to work it out?

l don't know, you know,
as you say, l dreamed it,

and woke up one morning with
the tune in my head.

Didn't believe it was mine, really.
l just thought...well, it can't be

cos l've got the whole tune, you
know, it never happens like that.

lt is strange that it's sort of
the most successful, that l didn't

even write it really, in a way, but
my subconscious wrote it.

McCartney has said this
melody came to him

on a tour of France with
The Beatles in 1964.

So he could remember it, before
he came up with the words

to Yesterday, Paul McCartney
remembered this by singing,

''Scrambled eggs, oh,
my baby, how l love your legs.''

The baby being Jane Asher with whom
he was living at the time.

Not bad for a song that had its
beginnings humbly in scrambled eggs.

Scrambled eggs

Oh, my baby, how l love your legs

Not as much as
l love scrambled eggs

Oh, we should eat some
scrambled eggs...

From what l gather, that song was
knocking around for ages.

They were doing different things,
they were working

on a film and they had a piano
to the side and McCartney

kept going across and tinkling away
and that song came up again and it

became the joke of the band,
here goes scrambled eggs again.

The eggy lyrics were finally
replaced in May 1965.

With some pretty downbeat,
if not depressing, new words.

Looking back on it now, people have
suggested that it might have been

to do with the death of my mum.

Cos it has got, ''Why she had to go,
l don't know, she wouldn't say,

''l believe in yesterday'' and stuff.

So it may have been subconsciously
something to do with that.

l'm trying to remember it, now.

Yesterday

All my troubles seemed so far away

Now it looks as though
they're here to stay

Oh, l believe in yesterday...

lt's hard to believe now, but in
1965 many found the Fab Four's music

dangerously modern. McCartney's
aching ballad was more acceptable.

You could say it was a Beatles
song for people

who didn't like The Beatles.

Yesterday...

Yesterday went on to be a chart
hit across the globe,

the US, Australia, Germany, Norway,
on and on and on.

But a huge hit can be a curse
as well as a blessing.

Especially when it's
written by one band member.

Yesterday was the first Beatles song
McCartney wrote alone,

and John, George and Ringo
didn't perform on it.

You could say that Yesterday
was the song that,

There was always immense creative
tension between Paul McCartney

and John Lennon.

And so Paul McCartney is throwing
off these tunes, you know,

and John Lennon might not admit it
but he must have resented it.

There must have been part of him
that thought ''l could do that.''

And after The Beatles split up,
Lennon did.

One of the songs included a bitter
reference to Yesterday.

Later on in that horrible song
How Do You Sleep?

that he wrote about Paul McCartney,
he'd say, one of the lines is...

The only thing you done
was Yesterday...

That rankled with him for
a long, long time.

Yesterday was credited to Lennon/
McCartney, as most of The Beatles'

songs were, which might seem odd,
as McCartney wrote it alone.

But then Lennon shared his royalties

on Beatles' songs he
wrote solo, too.

When Yesterday appeared on the 1995
anthology, McCartney unsuccessfully

attempted to have the credit
changed to McCartney/Lennon.

What you have to realise with
The Beatles, is that the

afterlife of the Beatles was longer,
more complex, more tortured,

A lot of those arguments were
people and their lawyers,

their representatives sitting
around boardroom tables in London
and New York or whatever,

trying to divvy up this massively
lucrative legacy that these guys had

knocked out when they were 23, 24,
years old, at a time when there

was no precedent, nobody had
been there, you know.

They were out there
with no compass at all.

And there was plenty of money
to argue about.

Yesterday is reported to be the
most popular British song in the US.

And it's also the most covered
pop song in history.

The Guinness Book of
World Records estimates

there are at least 3,000
existing versions.

ln fact, so many people have done
it, it's easier to list some of the
people that haven't done it.

They include Kraftwerk, The MC5
and Throbbing Gristle.

Some of the celebrated cover
versions of this include

Tom Jones, Tammy Wynette,
Marvin Gaye, The Supremes,

Elvis Presley, Andy Williams. l
mean, the list just goes on and on.

They know it's going to be
enjoyed by the public in a sense

if they enjoy their artistry at all,
because it's so recognisable.

lt's a great way to fill albums
with things you know the people

are ready to accept, and, as l said,
it helps the copyright immensely.

HE HUMS YESTERDAY

The troubles do indeed seem
so far away

when we tot up the song's earnings.

We estimate it's made
19.5 million English pounds.

There might be all these versions,
but that's THE version. Oh...

CROWD CHEER AND APPLAUD

So let's have a look at our top ten,
what do we notice?

Two distinct groups of songs,

that's what l noticed when l
first saw this list.

You've got the Christmas songs -
understandable,

we all love Christmas.

But the other group of songs are on
altogether darker themes -

obsession, regret, paranoia,
affairs, loneliness, longing.

Even Stand By Me,
which is our happiest song,

has an element of ''you and me
against the world'' to it.

So why might this be?

Why are these songs of sadness
the songs that we cherish?

They're disproportionately
favoured among women.

And women create the huge hits.

Boys create the cult hits.

lf you want to sell records in
huge quantities, you sell them

to women, right across the
population, as currently being

borne out once again by the
enormous success of Adele.

Throw your soul through
every open door...