Songsmith

it has to be performed by the right musician. Dolly Parton, for example, wrote her number one hit Joelene the same day she wrote another well known tune in nine, but despite that other song also hitting number one, it wouldn't become the classic it is today for another or twenty years. I Will Always Love You wasn't a sensation until after it was reimagined by the late Great Whitney Houston. In fact, it's pretty common for one musician to write a song

for another to sing it instead. It's how some get their start before they break out on their own. Others climbed the ladder to startdom by writing catchy jingles for TV and radio commercials. There are many roads that lead to a bright career in the entertainment industry. Just look at Barry Pincas. Pincas was born in Brooklyn, New York, in ninety three. He called the neighborhood of Williamsburg his childhood home before enrolling at the City College of New York.

His stay there didn't last long, though, Barry was destined for bigger things and soon switched to the New York College of Music to obtain his degree. To make ends meet, while he was still in school, he worked for CBS, where he started making industry connections. When he was twenty one years old, a CBS director named bro Herod asked

Pinkas for some help. The network was putting on a musical adaptation of a play called The Drunkard, a work of temperance propaganda that was popular during the mid eighteen hundreds. Herod asked Pinkas to whip up a few songs for the show, nothing too big. Instead, the up and coming songwriter composed a whole score. Herod was so impressed he used it for the off Broadway production that ran for

almost a decade. Over the years, Pinkas took on various jobs as a pianist, and songwriter, eventually getting a gig that would allow him to reach audiences all over the country. It wasn't uncommon for Americans to get his melodies stuck in their heads thanks to the ad breaks in the middle of their favorite shows. Ever get stuck on band aid brand, well, you can thank Mr Pinkas. Do you

consider your insurance company like a good neighbor? His nine note jingle is still used by State Farm to this day. From KFC to stride X, you couldn't go along without hearing one of pinkas famous tunes being pumped through your television speakers, and for some ads where he didn't write the song, he provided the vocals instead. He recorded commercials for McDonald's and there You Deserve a Break Today campaign,

as well as Pepsi's Pepsi Generation ads. But he didn't want to spend the rest of his life selling fast food and band aids. Pincas wanted a full blown music career, which he kicked off with a small act of his own in the early seventies. Singer and actress Bett Midler saw him one night and hired him to be her pianist at one of her upcoming performances. It went well, so well, in fact, that it led to a producer

role for Pinkas on Midler's first and second albums. On top of his producing duties, he remained steadfast in his desire to write hit pop songs. Unfortunately, they weren't becoming hits because of him. His song Could It Be Magic became a best seller for disco queen Donna Summer. In fact, when Pinkas finally broke through on the Billboard charts, it wasn't with a song of his own at all. The track called Brandy had been written by Scott English and

Richard Kerr in nineteen seventy one. Legendary record executive Live Davis suggested that Pinkas recorded in nineteen seventy four, at which time the artist changed its name so as not to get it confused with a similarly titled hit from a few years earlier. The new track, now called Mandy, went on to the top of the charts and earned Pinkas his first gold single. However, he didn't go by Pinks now he had adopted his mother's maiden name Manilo.

Over the next several decades, Barry Manilow rose from catchy jingle writer to arena filling superstar with hit songs like looks Like We Made It and I Write the Songs, and funny enough, many of Manilo's hits weren't actually written by him at all. Looks Like We Made It was originally by Will Jennings and Brandy co writer Richard Kerr.

Songwriters Charles Fox and Norn Gimbal penned nineteen seventy Eight's Ready to Take a Chance Again and I Write the Songs was written by Beach Boys member Bruce Johnston in nineteen seventy five. It became a number one single for Manilo one year later. Barry Manilow may not have written all of his own hits, but his music has stood the test of time nonetheless. And if you're not near a CD player or radio and you want to hear one of his songs, just turn on the television and

wait for a commercial break. Traditions can be sacred. Ending a ritual that has gone on for years, even decades can be a traumatic experience for those who have come to expect the comfort of its performance each time. It might be something a departed relative had started before their death, or something to ensure good luck before a major event for the students of a major military academy in eighty six, the loss of their annual Christmas tradition wasn't just a problem,

It was caused for a riot. It all started on Christmas Eve of that year. The cadets at the U. S. Military Academy, also known as West Point were in their barracks celebrating the holiday. Though they were not singing carols or sitting down to a quiet Turkey dinner. They were staging a mutiny. The academy's superintendent, Colonel Fair, had a feeling that there was bound to be commotion that night, so he assigned Captain Ethan Allen Hitchcock and Lieutenant William A.

Thornton to watch over the North barracks. All was quiet for much of the evening, with Hitchcock and Thornton heading to bed around midnight. A few hours later, Hitchcock was stirred from his slumber by a commotion coming from a few floors up. He climbed the stairs, only to find a group of cadets throwing a massive party. Sometime later, another cadet ran in to warn everyone that Hitchcock was coming.

He didn't know the man had already arrived. Hitchcock instructed the cadet to go back to his room, which he did without incident. That cadet's name future President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis. Hitchcock ordered the rest of the boys to return to their rooms before he marched back downstairs, but soon heard another group of rambunctious young men gallivanti nearby. Two were hidden under a blankets hoping not to get caught,

while another had covered his face with the hat. Hitchcock tried to get the cadet to remove the hat from his face to ascertain his identity, but the man refused. Eventually, the captain left to find back up while the students rallied together, one of them shouting, get your dirks and bayonets and pistols. If you have them before this night is over, Hitchcock will be dead. And they weren't joking. The cadets hurled wooden sticks at Hitchcock's door and shattered

his windows with rocks. They paraded up and down the hallways bayonets and muskets, ready for action. One cadet fired a pistol at the captain but missed when another bumped into him. Throwing off his aim. But Hitchcock managed to find someone who wasn't part of the riot and told him to bring reinforcements, which the man mistook to mean bombardiers or are hillery forces. As a result, they armed

themselves despite never being under any kind of threat. They broke dishes, furniture and other items in the barracks and an effort to defend against foes that were never actually coming. By the time the cadets had sobered up and realized what they were doing, Commandant Worth showed up to bring an end to the riot once and for all. The

North Barracks were in shambles. Pieces of crockery lay strewn on the floor, banisters had been ripped away from staircases, windows had been broken, and furniture had been smashed to bits. In the end, nobody died, but two officers were injured. And then there were the hangovers. You see, the riot hadn't been started from displeasure among the cadets or anger towards Hitchcock. It was because of a drink, because of eggnog. Several months earlier, Colonel Fair had instituted a new rule

at West Point, no alcohol on the premises. Apparently, at that year's Independence Day celebration, the cadets had gotten drunk and carried combanant worth away on their shoulders. After their disgraceful conduct, Colonel Fayer banned all alcoholic beverages from being consumed or stored at the academy. However, the students weren't going to let their Christmas tradition just die because of

one silly rule. Instead, they crossed the Hudson River and procured gallons of booze from a local tavern, which they consumed in glasses of homemade eggnog back in their barracks. What transpired resulted in the court martialing of nineteen cadets and one soldier, Jefferson Davis, and twenty one others were

placed under house arrest on December. Of the nineteen who were court martialed, only eight were pardoned for their participation in the eggnog riot of eighteen six and five actually graduated from the academy afterward, and honestly, who knew that West Point was such a party school. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on podcasts, or learn more about the show

by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show and you can learn all about it over at the World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,