Clowns Exit Laughing - The Jimmy Webb Songbook

Ace’s highly regarded and extremely popular Songwriter Series continues apace, with several exciting projects in place for release in the second half of 2022 and beyond. This month we welcome Jimmy Webb onto our expanding list with “Clowns Exit Laughing”, a deep dip into this prolific tunesmith’s extensive catalogue of the past six decades.

After a period of establishing his credentials as a writer with Motown’s West Coast office, Jimmy really came into his own in the mid-60s with classic songs like ‘By The Time I Get To Phoenix’, ‘Wichita Lineman’ and ‘Up, Up And Away’. Everyone wanted to record a Jimmy Webb copyright, and a great many people did as this CD demonstrates.

Although Jimmy has never stopped writing, “Clowns Exit Laughing” naturally concentrates on a time when a new Jimmy Webb classic seemed to appear every other week. As is always Ace’s policy with the Songwriter Series, each featured artist performs only one song but we are sure that inclusions by the likes of Tony Joe White, Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield and other major names will disappoint nobody.

Also included for collectors are several rare, seldom-heard original versions of songs primarily associated with other artists, such as Don Ho’s original of ‘Galveston’ and James Darren’s first recording of ‘Didn’t We’.

1. BY THE TIME I GET TO PHOENIX - Glen Campbell
2. UP, UP AND AWAY - Dionne Warwick
3. CARPET MAN - The Nocturnes
4. WHEN EDDIE COMES HOME - The Everly Brothers
5. I NEED YOU - Shane Martin
6. HONEY COME BACK - Chuck Jackson
7. WHERE’S THE PLAYGROUND, SUSIE? – Everything But The Girl
8. MIDNIGHT MAIL - Joey Scarbury
9. THE MOON’S A HARSH MISTRESS – The Walker Brothers
10. WICHITA LINEMAN - Tony Joe White
11. DIDN’T WE - James Darren
12. MacARTHUR PARK – Waylon Jennings & The Kimberlys
13. I KEEP IT HID - The Supremes
14. DO WHAT YOU GOTTA DO - Nina Simone
15. GALVESTON - Don Ho
16. THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN - B.J. Thomas
17. REQUIEM: 820 LATHAM - Mel Tormé
18. MAGIC GARDEN - Dusty Springfield
19. ROSECRANS BLVD. - The 5th Dimension
20. WHICH WAY TO NOWHERE - The Brooklyn Bridge
21. CLOWNS EXIT LAUGHING - The Fortunes
22. P.F. SLOAN - Rumer
23. HIGHWAYMAN - Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson
24. IF THIS WAS THE LAST SONG – Dee Dee Warwick With The Dixie Flyers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SreY8nof_qI