Oh Neil!

You are the answer to my lonely prayer; you are an angel from above. I was so lonely ‘till you came to me with the wonder of your love. I don’t know how I ever lived before; you are my life, my destiny. Oh my darling, I love you so. You mean everything to me.

You guessed it: I am singing You Mean Everything To Me as I type this piece. The song was one of Neil Sedaka’s big hits and I’m sure he will include it in his repertoire when he performs at the Araneta Coliseum on May 17. It’s his third time to visit the Philippines. The first was in the late ’50s and then a few years later. Neil performed in both shows at the Araneta Coliseum. According to a photocopy of both shows, furnished Conversations by contributor Celso de Guzman Caparas, the admission prices for the first show were P3 for upper and lower boxes, and P.70 (centavos) for general admission. Neil’s co-performers were The Shepherd Sisters, Les Spencers and The Hilltoppers. For his second concert, with Anita Bryant, admission prices were: P5  for lower box and ringside; P3 for upper box and P.80 (centavos) for general admission. How time flies!

For the May 17 show, titled Neil Sedaka Sings His Greatest Hits Live, produced by Concertus, you have to shell out P5,250 for VIP, P4,725 for patron, P3,675 for lower box, P2,625 for upper box A, P1,323 for upper box B and P525 for general admission. (Note: For inquiries, call Ticketnet at 911-5555, Concertus at 813-2617.)

It’s worth it, if you ask me.

Conversations did a 20-minute exclusive interview by phone with Neil. You are invited to eavesdrop.

Good morning, Neil. It’s 10 o’clock in the evening here in the Philippines.

“Oh, good evening! It’s 10 o’clock in the morning here in New York.

“Thank you for calling.”

I’m curious. Whatever happened to Carole?

“Ahhh.... You know, I wrote Oh Carol for a friend of mine, Carole King.”

Oh yes, of course! Carole King the singer (Both Sides Now, etc.).

“Yes, the singer. We dated in high school when we were teenagers. And you know, of course, that Carole went on to do her own very successful recording.”

Nice to hear that. By the way, we are eagerly waiting for your concert at the Araneta Coliseum on May 17.

“I’m very excited about going to the Philippines. You might know that I was one of the first American rock ‘n roll singers to go to Manila in the late ’50s.”

You remember!

“Oh yes. I performed at the Araneta Coliseum and I’m coming back there. I must tell you that everytime I meet Filipino people all over the world, they get very excited and they remember all of my songs. The Filipino people love romantic, melodic music. And not only do they know my greatest hits but they also know many of my B-sides and my other songs in the LP. So it’s very flattering to me when I meet the Filipino people in America.”

You’ve been to Manila twice before...

“...yes, I have. I think the second and last time was 25 years ago.”

And what are your memories of the Philippines from those two visits?

Well, I remember that the people were a very responsive and a very warm, wonderful audience...very receptive. They knew all of the music that I have written. This is 50 years in show business for me. And I can remember, of course, the Araneta family very well, and all of the fans. There was even a young man who called himself The Neil Sedaka of the Philippines. His name is Norie Jacinto. He used to sing my songs.”

What can we expect from your concert this time around?

“I’m coming with my band and we are doing, of course, all of my greatest hits. Oh Carol, Calendar Girl and Breaking Up is Hard to Do. I’m also doing some new songs and some of the B-side, like My World is Getting Smaller; I Must Be Dreaming; One Way Ticket to the Blues; Run, Samson, Run; The Diary; Little Devil; You Mean Everything to Me; Solitaire; and Love Will Keep Us Together.”

The sum total of Neil Sedaka.

“It has been a wonderful career in singing and writing. You know, I started as a concert pianist, so maybe I will try something on the piano of Chopin.”

Do you remember the first song that you ever sang professionally?

“It was The Diary, 1958, on RCA-Decca Records and I sold 40 million records between 1958 and 1963.”

Wow, really? You know, Neil, I made a list of 10 of your songs and I want to ask you what was on your mind when you were writing them. First, The Diary.

“The Diary was inspired by Connie Francis who was a good friend of mine. I know that she was in the Philippines a few months ago. She used to write in a diary and that inspired me to write the song. And as you know, I wrote so many hits for Connie Francis, like Where The Boys Are and Stupid Cupid.”

Run, Samson, Run...

“It was a country-and-Western feeling for me; it was based on Biblical characters, Samson and Delilah, and the story, of course, is that when Delilah cuts the hair of Samson he loses his physical power. It was something that the Filipino people remember very well for.”

Little Devil...

“It’s a typical Neil Sedaka song with doo-bi-doo-bi-doos, wow-wow-wow and shalala. It’s about a girl who is very devilish and I’m trying to turn her into an angel. And she runs around and cheats on me and I hope that she stops roving and running around. I was very happy with the record.”

Is she a real person?

“No. The Little Devil is fiction.”

What about You Mean Everything To Me?

“It’s one of my personal favorites. My mother loves it because it was in a minor key and a minor tone which is a sad key in music. It was also a love song, fictional. You know, sometimes my songs are autobiographical but You Mean Everything To Me is fictional. It’s about trying to keep a love affair together.”

Calendar Girl...

“She’s also fictional. I came up with the idea of doing a song with each month of the year, from January to December. I thought that it was a unique idea that each month ends on something special — you know, January starts the year off fine...February, you’re my Valentine. I tried to mix in all the holidays.”

Solitaire...

“It’s about a lonely man who, unfortunately, stays at home and plays the card game and he had a bad personal thing happen to his life. But he must be optimistic and he must wake up the next day and try again and go on because each day is a new day, and he must hope for the best.”

Stairway to Heaven...

“I found this girl who is so heavenly that she almost lives in heaven. So I have to build a stairway so I can walk up to her everyday.  compare her to things that are heavenly, like the stars, the sun and the moon. Very ethereal.” 

One Way Ticket To The Blues...

“It has been my most successful international song. It’s self-explanatory. I’m going to take a trip to lonesome town and stay at Heartbreak Hotel. I’m a fool for the girl. My love is fading away, so I want to take a train with a one-way ticket which, unfortunately, goes to unhappiness. You know, I hear this song in many karaokes and many groups in the world have covered it.”

What about Breaking Up is Hard To Do?

“It has a very universal sentiment. I came up with the tune and the title first. Many couples go through hard times and want to break up but it’s a very difficult thing to do. So instead of breaking up, I wish that we’re making up. Many couples today have relationships that do not work but I beg of them not to say goodbye...you know, must give their love another try; let’s not break up, let’s try to make up.”

What have you been doing since the last time you were in Manila 25-plus years ago?

“I have been singing, mostly in the United States...in cities, nightclubs, casinos, symphony. This year is my 50th year in show business.”

How do you plan to celebrate your 50th year?

“I had a great celebration here at the Lincoln Center in New York City. They gave me a great tribute. My songs were sung by singers who made them popular, such as Natalie Cole, Connie Francis and Clay Aikin, and other artists who have covered my songs. Being written is a musical play about my life; it’s coming out in 2009. It’s about the Neil Sedaka life, with all my compositions, and it has many characters in my family.”

Will the musical reveal something that the public doesn’t know yet about Neil Sedaka?

“Yes. There’s going to be many surprises. There are many things that people don’t know about Neil Sedaka. I won’t give away the surprises. All I can tell you is that my mother was a very unusual woman, a very wonderful mother. She lived a secret life. My writing partner at that time, Howard Greenfield, a great lyricist, also had a life that was cut very short. And it has in it my friendship with Bobby Darin who was my great friend, with Carole King and Connie Francis.”

When you look back at the past 50 years, what do you think are your three biggest achievements, aside from your hit songs?

“I think the fact that I was inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame. I was also given a star on the street in Hollywood. And I have a street named after me — Neil Sedaka St. in Brooklyn, New York, where I was born. I have reached many, many people emotionally, which is a great achievement through my music. People write to me and say that I have helped them go through emotional and physical hard times. Music has that ability. And to think that I wrote them in the privacy of my own home in New York and they went around the world and reached people’s emotions was a great achievement.”

How are you like when you are not working? How do you enjoy yourself?

“Oh, I live in New York with my wife of 45 years, Leba, who is also my manager as well. We have many friends and two wonderful children, Mark and Dara. I’m a grandfather now. Mark has three young children — twins Charlotte and Amanda, five years old, and a two-year-old Michael.”

Didn’t your children follow in your footsteps into showbiz?

“Dara, who is not married, sings for radio and television commercials. I had a hit record with her in the ’80s. It was very rare because there have only been three father-and-daughter hit records — Frank and Nancy Sinatra, Nat and Natalie Cole, and my daughter and I.”

If you were not a singer, what would you have been?

“I cannot do anything else well. I love to write and sing. I can’t imagine doing anything else. My father and mother said I was only eight when the music was playing on the radio. As a concert pianist when I was eight years old, I got a scholarship for the piano at the Julliard School here in New York, which is the best music school in the country. So I had every intention of becoming a classical pianist. I won many classical competitions on the piano, and I had to decide when I was 19 whether to continue being a concert pianist or to sing it right my own song. It’s wonderful to play a Beethoven sonata but it’s more wonderful to go around the world singing your own songs.”

And you haven’t stopped since then.

“I’ve been singing 50 years and writing 56 years. My songs will outlive me. I think everybody wants some form of immortality. And in this way, my legacy will go on. I hear my songs being sung all over the world, My wife and I were touring the Great Wall of China a few years ago and the Chinese tour guide was singing a song on the bus; he was singing Oh Carol. I walked up to him and said, ‘Thank you so much; that’s my song.’ He said, ‘No, it’s not. It’s Neil Sedaka’s song.’ He couldn’t believe that he was meeting me. Music transcends the language barrier. Even though he spoke in Chinese, he knew Oh Carol.”

When was the last time you saw Carole King?

“I see her frequently. She lives in Los Angeles where I also live and sometimes we see other other in restaurants and in parties.”

In Oh Carol, there’s a line that says, Darling, I love you though you treat me cruel. Did Carole treat you cruel?

“It was a made-up story. Many relationships have ups and downs, and I made up a story about Carole treating me cruel — you know, I’m a fool but I will stay with you ‘till the day I die; there’ll never be another girl like Carole. You know, many, many people in the world learn English by listening to Oh Carol.”

How did Carole react to the song?

“She was very flattered. In fact, she did an answer record called Oh Neil. It’s a very cute record. In those days, answer records were a fad.”

What else keeps you busy these days?

“I am finishing two albums. One is called The Greatest Hits: The Show Goes On. And the other is a children’s album because my grandchildren inspired me. I have unusual songs. I did my first rock ‘n roll song but I changed the words. So, I have Waking Up is Hard To Do instead of Breaking Up is Hard To Do; Lots Will Keep Up Together, instead of Love Will Keep Us Together, and I changed one word so that Where The Boys Are becomes Where The Toys Are.”

Which of your songs do you want to be remembered for?

“I’ve written more than a thousand songs and they are all like my children in many, many ways. But I would say that there are 15 or 20 that would outlive me. I think the most special is Laughter in The Rain because it was a big comeback. I was out of work for 12 years and I only wrote songs. Then, I met Elton John who became a great friend of Neil Sedaka and he took me under his wing. He started a record company and signed me up. Laughter in The Rain was the first single in 1975 that brought me back on the charts to No. 1. So I have remained friends with Elton John and I will forever be grateful for his help.”

Thank you so much for your time, Neil.

“Thank you so much. Salamat po!”

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