portrait of this blog's author - by Stephen Blackman 2008

Friday, March 10, 2023

The Tragic Story of a Band :: Badfinger

 BADFINGER


Teach Yourself Eccentricity posted a clip of Badfinger doing Baby Blue and it minded me of the band who achieved so much but were denied. I wonder if Paul McCartney could have saved them from the unscrupulous manager who inevitably sent two of the great singer songwriters here to commit suicide so early. Terrifying tragic loss . . . . . . . . check out Pete playing with George Harrison on My Sweet Lord for a happier time. The boys could have helped them I’m sure but once an unscrupulous manager has his teeth set there is seemingly no stopping them. At the time Pete’s wife was pregnant and he had just committed to buying them a house when he found that the band had no money. Nada, zilch not a penny . . . .



Come and Get It

 


 Baby Blue
  

 Day After Day 
 

 Without You 


As noted by YouTuber poster and I could not have said it better

"Badfinger's autobiography is the saddest thing you could imagine. Watch the documentary of this band. It's like getting hit in the face with a baseball bat. A couple of notes. Paul did a demo for them of " Come and Get It " he told them do it exactly like this. They did and it was remarkable. It really sounded like Paul's demo. Then Pete Ham wrote "'No Matter What " very Beatlesque by virtue of the song and their voices, a killer song. Then Pete and Tom Evans co-wrote "Without You " Paul should have stepped in there and produce the song, he could be much more powerful. The melody is so strong, as are lyrics. If this song had the production it deserved, you never would have heard of Harry Nillsons cover. It wasn't Harry singing it better, it was the production that made Nillson's cover hit the charts . Badfinger should have had it produced! Then Tom and Pete taking their own lives by hanging . 
The film tells the real story and there are many articles about the "'why "'They should have been Grammy winners in their own right several times over and very wealthy men. But they had a manager that may as well as have murdered them. Both make that point. Watch and read all you can about Badfinger . It says much about greed and corruption in the music industry. Their manager as well as gave Pete and Tom the chair and the rope. This man should be rotting in hell. He stole every dime they made and had NO conscience. They were broke and in debt. Try to figure that one out. It would have been nice if any one of the Beatles would have stepped in and helped them. That I do not understand . Their story reads like a Shakespearean tragedy ...” (edited slightly by AS) 
Kenneth Gerber 

( 5 years ago )


 

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