Goodbye Golden Ear

Don Kirshner, Carole King, Gerry Goffin

This article by Greg Shaw of Rock's Back Pages is a great look into the bottoms-up publishing life of dynamo Don Kirshner (1934-2011).  Responsible for (what seems like) thousands of hits, Kirshner, as one half of Aldon Music is one reason we have so many great pop standards thanks to "the Brill Building Sound" Kirshner sweated out of his writers - “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,” “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” “The Loco-Motion,” “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling”).  A few of the great songwriters/songwriters-turned-artists with Aldon: Neil Sedaka, who brought in Carole King; Carole/Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann, Barry/Cynthia Weil, & Neil Diamond.  Also, not to forget is the incredible success Kirshner later found and developed with the Monkees and the Archies.

"The Brill Building Sound" is in honor of the actual Brill Building, up the block at 1615 Broadway (Aldon was at 1650 Broadway).  The Brill Building had been the home of the American music publishing industry for an earlier generation of predominantly Jewish entertainers and businessmen on Broadway and Tin Pan Alley.