I'm Leaving It All Up To You by Donny and Marie

Leaving it All up to You

1974

Donny and Marie

Donny Osmond wouldn't see another solo hit for a decade and a half, and the Osmonds' days as a major force in Pop (And some would argue, if very briefly, Rock) had pretty much ended, but MGM decided there was still some mileage (And most importantly profit) left in them.

See, there was yet another musical Osmond, and this one was every bit as talented and way prettier than the rest of The Osmonds...and her name was Marie. She hadn't just been hanging around gossiping with her girlfriends, shopping, and obsessing over male singers not her brothers over the last few years, either...Marie had gone the Country route with her own music, and had already made a name for herself in that genre while she was at it. In 1973, at 14 years old, she took her cover of the Anita Bryant's 1960 Pop-Country cross-over ballad 'Paper Roses' to #1 on the Country charts, and # 5 on the Hot 100...

So the suits at MGM, Mike Curb among them, looked at Donny and Marie, wondered if the two of them would work as a Duo (Wonder if they even really had to think about that one????) and wondered if there was a song out there that was just freakin' made to be covered by a boy/girl duo. Guess what gang...there were two of 'em. The first one, in fact, topped the Billboard Hot 100 as a girl-guy duet back in 1963

That was the year that the newly-minted Pop duo of Dale and Grace (Dale Houston and Grace Broussard) covered a tune called 'I'm leavin' It Up To You' that had been written, recorded and released (But apparently didn't chart,) by Don Harris and Dewey Terry. Dale and Grace saw their cover of the song climb to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed for two weeks, in November of 1963. Their version of the song was a classic Sixties pop tune, and it's passed the test of time with flying colors.

Then Linda Ronstadt covered it on her 1970 album 'Silk Purse', and, with the addition of some steel guitar, took it in a more country direction. It was never released as a single, but still got a good bit of airplay on both Country and Top Forty stations as I recall.

Then four years later, in mid-1974, Mike Curb and the rest of the suits at MGM were looking for a song for Donnie and Marie to cover as a duet...and someone brought this tune to their attention. They buttonholed Donny and his pretty and uber-talented little sis, let them take a listen, and from what I've heard Marie really fell in love with it (I've also read, in a comment or two on a couple of YouTube vids, that she was the one who actually suggested it).

They stayed absolutely true to the melody with only a couple of tweaks here and there, and the only change they made to the lyrics was the addition of 'all' in the lead off line (And title) of the song. They done good, as the old fella says...I'm leaving It (All) Up To You' would be their top-charting single as a duo. Donnie and Marie recorded it in June of 1974, and it debuted on The Billboard Hot 100, at #90, on July 6^th, '74. It grabbed a following fairly quickly, cracking the Top 20, at #19, on Week 6, and the Top 10, at #9, a week later on August 17^th, 1974. It'd spend the next four weeks climbing through the Top 10, peaking at # 4 on September 14^th, and staying there for a single week. It'd drop off of the charts fairly quickly, dropping out entirely on October 12^th. And, somehow, I get the feeling that this kind of became The Osmonds'/Donny Osmond's/Donny and Marie's sort-of forgotten hit.

This one got lots of air-play on both WLEE and Richmond's upstart FM Top-40 station, WRVQ as my Senior year in high school started, and I remember hearing it, but there was so much truly awesome music...much of it destined to be classic music...around back then that it kind of got overshadowed. Think about it...when you think 'Top 10 Hits in 1974'. how far down the list is 'I'm Leaving it All Up To You' by Donny and Marie Osmond?? Is it even on your list? Thought not. Full disclosure here...it's not even in the first 20 songs I'd think of.

Both the original and Donny and Marie's cover of the tune can be heard very occasionally on Oldies stations , though not as often as they should be heard...both are great little tunes, that'll have you head swaying and at least humming along with 'em before the first few bars are finished. Interestingly enough, you're almost as likely to hear Linda Ronstadt's very Country-leaning version of the tune as either the original Dale and Grace version or Donny and Marie's cover...even though her version was never released as a single.  It's been quite awhile, though, since I've heard any of them on an Oldies station. 

Thing is, that's not fair to either the song or the singers, because it really is a great little tune and Donny and Marie's cover of the song really is that good...their voices blend into near perfect harmony, and both of 'em really can sing (And I use the present tense because, well, they can still sing.). Of course, when a legitimately good song like this sort of gets pushed back into the shadows of time a bit that says something about the quality of music during the era during which it was released...I keep telling you guys, Seventies Music really was the most awesome music ever.

So Enjoy! I'm Leaving It All Up To You' by Donny and Marie Osmond.


A pair of bonuses with this one...First up, the original, from 1963, by Dale and Grace.



Next up...Linda Ronstadt's cover from her 1970 album Silk Purse. You don't even have to listen all that hard to hear her cover's obvious Country leanings.

An interesting little factoid about the Dale and Grace version...In one of the all time dark coincidences of all time, the song was #1 during the Week of November, 1963 that Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President John F Kennedy in Houston, Texas, and Dale and Grace were scheduled to perform that same night...they had actually waved to the President only minutes before he was assassinated.

Morning Side of The Mountain by Donny and Marie

Morning Side Of The Mountain

1974

Donny and Marie Osmond

MGM...like any and all businesses anywhere...likes to strike when the iron is hot, and they really wanted to get another single out while the soothing notes of 'I'm leaving It All Up To You' were still echoing in the heads of the music-buying public at large. Donnie and Marie had proven that they were more than able to sell records as a duo, so the obvious, sensible and likely profitable thing to do would be to record and release a second single. And, though they didn't realize it until the search for this second single was well under way, they already had Donny and Marie's next Top 10 hit in their own house, tucked up in the back of a shelf in one of the spare room closets, so to speak.

See, back in 1951 the team of Lawrence Stock and Dick Manning wrote, and Tommy Edwards recorded, a little tune about a boy and a girl from different worlds, towns and maybe even regions...two kids who would have very likely fallen head over heals for each other had they ever met, but, alas, they never did and one of the great loves of modern times never got to bloom. Stock and Manning used a mountain as the metaphor for what ever barrier separated our star-crossed never-got-to-be-lovers and Tommy Edwards took it to #24 on the charts. He then re-recorded it in 1959, annnnnd...took it to #27. It wasn't gonna set the music-world on fire. So it was put on a shelf to gather dust and slowly slip from the memories of most people other than Tommy Edwards and various record label execs...OH!...did I mention that Tommy Edwards' label was MGM???

And lets be honest here...it was all but freakin' written for a girl/boy duet. So, as all the MGM execs pondered on just how they were going to strike while the afore-mentioned iron was still hot, someone said something like 'Wait A minute!” or 'AHA!' or some other exclamation of enlightenment, turned to the rest of the MGM suits-in-attendance, and said 'Anyone remember that old Tommy Edwards song...?

SO they got Donnie and Marie Osmond in on it, probably let the two of them listen to Tommy Edwards' original version, and I have a feeling that the two of them smiled those famous smiles of theirs and had already figured out exactly how they were going to sing it before the song was half over.

I wish I could have found more behind the scenes info (Or, indeed, any behind the scenes info ) about the recording of their hits, because if Donny and Marie Osmond stayed true to form, both musically and professionally...and I have absolutely no reason to think they didn't...they probably had what would become arguably their best remembered hit down before lunch on the day they recorded it. Really, gang, this tune was all but made for them.

They stayed faithful to both the lyrics and melody, taking it up-tempo and changing the instrumentals (Read that 'Getting rid of the flute).  Vocals-wise, Donny took the first verse, Marie took the second, and the two of them harmonized on the third. They followed this same theme throughout the song's just under three and a third minutes. Very effectively I might add, and it was pretty much a hit from the first time a DJ spun it.

Notice I didn't say a huge hit, or even big hit, but it drew a following...it debuted on The Hot 100 at #74 on Nov 16^th, 1974 and jumped about 10-12 spots a week for the next five weeks before barely cracking the Top 20, at #20, three days after Christmas of 1974. It slipped into the Top 10, at #9, 18 days into 1975 and peaked at #8, a week later, on January 25^th, 1975. It'd stay there for a pair of weeks before heading back down, dropping off the chart on the first of March for a not at all shabby sixteen week chart run.

I think everyone who was around in the mid Seventies remembers this one, and not just us Seventies Kids, because of the video...one of the first 'Music Videos'...for a short version of the song that was shown on The Donny and Marie variety show. This, keep in mind, was at least two years and change after the song actually charted. The two of them also performed the song when they appeared on numerous other variety and Late Night talk shows during that same time-frame. Really, it was hard to get away from 'Morning Side Of The Mountain' over the course of the next several years...it pretty much became their unofficial theme song (Much as 'A Little Bit Country...Little Bit Rock And Roll' became their ...and their show's, or at least a major segment of the show's...official theme song.)

And it really was...and still is...a great little tune. Their voices blended perfectly, it was a fun little song to listen to (And sing along to), and it was performed by a pair of...well...pretty natural performers. It wouldn't break through any new boundaries, or set new benchmarks, or even break any records...but it was and indeed, still is, pretty well loved and well remembered, and you can still hear it...and, BTW, I'm not talking about hearing it on the radio (In fact it's been a good while since I've heard it on an Oldies station) I'm talkin' live, Because Donny and Marie are still performing at The Flamingo in Las Vegas, usually to sold out crowds, and 'Morning Side Of The Mountain' is one of the songs they regularly perform.

The magic's still there, too, from what I've seen and heard...They've been regular performers at The Flamingo since 2009, their contract has been extended through the end of 2015, and they've been voted 'Best show in Las Vegas' several times, because of the same thing that was evident in The Morning Side Of The Mountain from the first time they went in the studio to record it...they truly are that close, and they really do love to perform together. You just absolutely can not fake that kind of chemistry

And to think it all started because MGM wanted to see if they could squeeze a second Top 10 hit out of 'em.

So Enjoy! The Duet That, happily, will probably never die...Morning Side Of The Mountain by Donnie and Marie Osmond.


A trio of bonuses on this one. First bonus...Donny and Marie's official video for the song. This is the vid that appeared on their variety show, Donny and Marie', a couple of years after the song had dropped off of the charts. There's a shot, about midway through the vid, of Marie riding hell-bent-for-leather, straight at the camera, with a huge smile on her face and her hair bouncing on her shoulders...a really, truly beautiful shot of her. I'm firmly convinced every teenage boy in the U.S. who didn't already have a bit of a crush on the Prettiest Osmond fell head over heels for her because of that few seconds of video.



Second bonus, Donny and Marie perform Morning Side of the Mountain live at Ceaser's Atlantic City, in August of 2012, proving that they do indeed still have it!  They changed it up here...Donny led it off instead of Marie...and you also get to hear the good natured bantering that's always been a trademark of their act.


Final bonus...The original, by Tommy Edwards, from 1951. He nevver got it int the Top 2, despite re-recording and re-releasing it. Donny and Marie proved what they should have realized from the get-go. This was made to be a boy-girl duet! And they needed to loose the flutes!

A Little Bit Country...A Little Bit Rock And Roll

A Little Bit Country...A Little Bit Rock And Roll

1976

Donny And Marie Osmond

Every successful artist has at least one sing that's a hit 'Everywhere but the scoreboard', so to speak...one that everyone's heard and lots of people like, but never charted because it was never released as a single. 'A Little Bit Country...A little Bit Rock And Roll' was a special case, though...the reason it got so well known was because of 'Donny and Marie'. No, not just the talented brother and sister duo with the identically and almost unnaturally perfect dental work...I'm also talking about the TV show that was both named after them, and hosted by them. The song was the theme song for a segment of the show where, every week, Marie would cover a country song and her bro would knock out a rock song. Both tended to knock the week's song of choice out of the park. And the segment's theme song ultimately became the unofficial theme song theme song for the show itself.

'Wait....?' you ask 'Donny and Marie Osmond had their own TV show????...' Really? If you're really asking that question, you obviously didn't grow up in the Seventies (If you were born after about 1975 or so, making you, at the oldest, a toddler as the decade wound down, I'll give you a pass on this one...) And, if we're gonna look at the history of the song, we kinda got to look at the history of the show, too, because they pretty much go hand in hand.

The Show was ABC's  successful effort to, temporarily at least, breath new life into a dying format...the variety show. And it came about because Donnie and Marie Osmond spent a week co-hosting The Mike Douglas Show (A morning talk show) sometime around 1975, and their back and forth banter and natural chemistry so impressed Fred Silverman, who was the head honcho at ABC at the time, that he decided he just had  to use them for something..

He approached Donny and Marie and broached the possibility of giving them a weekly variety show. Now, as noted above, the variety show as a format was on the way out. If you don't know what a variety show is, it was a usually hour long show hosted by a well known celebrity (Usually a comedian or comedienne) that featured jokes, musical guests, famous guest stars, songs, and comedy skits. They got their start in the Fifties, and there were loads of them in the Sixties and early Seventies, several of which were not only good, but legendary.

They probably peaked, quality-wise, in the late Sixties and early Seventies, but by the latter half of the Seventies, they were dying out. 'Sonny and Cher' and 'The Carol Burnett Show', the last two really big, long-lasting variety shows, would end in 1977 and 1978 respectively, so launching a new variety show in 1976 was a huge risk. On top of that, Donny and Marie would, at 18 and 16, be the youngest two celebs to ever host their own weekly, prime-time show. Of course, as big a risk as that was, their youth would very likely add a breath of fresh air to the genre as well as drawing a slew of younger viewers.

Donny and Marie accepted, and the show kicked off in January 1976...everyone knew it'd be different when a slew of ice-skaters appeared at the beginning to kick it off. And it was a fresh look at the Variety show. Donny and Marie's youth, energy, and chemistry was unique and refreshing, and their constant banter, and joking barbs at each other (Usually Marie affectionately slamming her older brother) was just as funny as some of the comedy sketches, which, as I recall, were usually pretty good. The kids proved them selves just as good at comedy as they were at music.

As for music...they really didn't need musical guests because they could provide their own music. Donny's musical talent was a given, but Marie was just as talented (And a hell of a lot cuter) than her big brother...at fourteen years old she became the youngest singer to snag the top spot on the Billboard Country Singles chart with her cover of Paper Roses. So you had two extremely talented young singers , both of whom had awesome voices, who sang in two different genres. And they were brother and sister. And had their own variety show...

I have a feeling that it really didn't take too long for the Suits at ABC to come up with the concept of, weekly, having Marie sing a Country tune, while Donny followed up with a Rock or Pop song. This segment, which they christened 'The Concert Spot', would later evolve to both covering popular songs of all genres, and it became one of the most popular parts of the show. It usually kicked off with the two of them playing off of each other in a short Comedy monologue (Duologue??) that then segued into the music, with Donny and Marie kicking off the tunes with the first verse of 'A little Bit Country...A Little Bit Rock And Roll', and ending the segment with the two of them doing an alternate version of the first lines...Donny singing 'She's a Little Bit Country', then Marie singing 'He's a Little Bit Rock and Roll. As with the rest of the show (And any other time they appeared together) you could see the genuine affection they had for each other, which was a big part of what made the show a success.

'A Little bit Country...A little Bit Rock' And Roll quickly became the show's unofficial theme song, and I really wish there was more info on just how the song came to be. I believe Donny and Marie co-wrote the tune, which was not only an integral part of the show for it's first two seasons, it was also included on a 1976 sound-track album from the show, which was certified Gold, and made it to #60 o the Billboard Hot 200 Album charts.

Musically, this was a Country song...really, just listen to the instrumentals. Steel guitars all over the place, with that characteristic 'Twang' that all those 'Laid-back Country Song's that Marie sings of are loaded with. (And this fact alone kinda tells me which one of them had the most say in how it would sound). The concept was simple...Marie and Donny, in that order, switching off singing about their favored music genre. (Marie being the lead-off singer is probably another reason for it's very-country instrumentals)

It was, and is, a truly fun little tune...both to listen to, and I have a feeling, to perform...and there were two versions of it. The short version, which was basically the first verse of the tune, kicked off The Concert Spot, but there was also a full version that clocked in at just shy of 2:30...this was the version that they sang regularly at other venues and was, of course, the version that was included on the sound track album. I may be mistaken here, but I think I remember it getting some air-play here and there, too, once the soundtrack album was released.

The show only lasted for two seasons in it's original form, then spent a third season as The Osmonds' Family Hour, featuring the rest of the clan, and not featuring The Concert Spot. After 'Donnie and Marie' was canceled, ABC attempted one more season with just Marie hosting (Changing the name of the show to 'Marie') before pulling the plug and pretty much giving up the ghost on Prime-time variety shows, though they're still very popular on late Night (I'm looking at you Saturday Night Live) and Kid's networks ('All That' on Nickelodeon comes instantly to mind).

Though the Prime Time Variety Show's dead and gone, 'A Little Bit Country-A Little Bit Rock And Roll' lives on, still performed by Donnie and Marie for their long-running show at the Flamingo Las Vegas,where they still have the same chemistry, and still engage in the same light-hearted banter.. So yep, ya can still hear this one live.

So Enjoy! A Little Bit Country...A Little Bit Rock and Roll by Donny and Marie Osmond.


First bonus...We get another legendary performer! Donny and Marie perform 'A Little Bit Country...A Little Bit Rock And Roll' on a Bob Hope National Bicentennial special on July 4th, 1976. Donny and Marie kinda ganged up on Bob Hope and aimed their good natured banter at him rather than each other here...of course this was scripted, where a good bit of it on their show was spontaneous. Needless to say, their performance was flawless.

Second Bonus...one of  the 'Concert Spots' from their show...they kick this one off with 'Ask Donny and Marie', a common comedic lead-in to the spot. Though this lead-in was, of course, always scripted the two of them made it sound spontaneous with-out even breaking a sweat (And likely improved here and there as well). Also, the youngest Osmond...Jimmy...got in on this one, making it even funnier.  Listen closely to Marie...she was about to loose it, and her laughter was most definitely not scripted.

Their performance was on-point in a big way...Donnie could most definitely cut a rug, and Marie's voice, IMHO, was particularly lovely when she swung into 'Don't Say You Don't Remember'.  Happily, you can find a bunch of the 'Concert Spot's (As well as full shows) on YouTube, but I picked this one specifically because of the song they finished up with. They sang a medley of songs that were popular during the era, and I'm not gonna spoil it...you'll have to listen to see what tune it was. Lets just say that this video kinda ends where The Osmonds came in.