THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

247-Cass Elliot-Make Your Own Kind of Music.

1969-It has never charted in the UK.

Best Bit-At 0.28. In 2005 the American science fiction adventure drama television series ‘Lost’ used this song for the opening scene of series 2, episode 1, called ‘Man of Science, Man of Faith,’ which is considered by ‘Spin Magazine’ to be one of the ‘Best Musical Moments From TV’s Latest Golden Age.’ As the man said, ‘I’ll see you in another life brother.’

‘Cass Elliot (see also best songs 660) was born Ellen Naomi Cohen on September 19th, 1941, in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, she died in her sleep due to heart failure on July 29th, 1974, at the age of 32. There are two stories as to how Ellen chose the name ‘Cass,’ one is probably due to her admiration for the American actress ‘Peggy Cass,’ (1924-1999) as Ellen was interested herself in becoming an actress, and the other is that her father called his spirited daughter ‘the mad Cassandra,’ after the Greek mythological Trojan priestess. It was quite a while after that, that she took the name ‘Elliot,’ in memory of a friend who had died.

After leaving high school to pursue an entertainment career in New York, Elliot toured in the musical ‘The Music Man’ in 1962, under the name Cass Elliot, but it was as a singer rather than an actress that she would eventually succeed. Cass Elliot started out as part of the American Folk music trio the ‘Big 3,’ with whom she recorded two Albums with, in 1963, and 1964. After the demise of the ‘Big 3’ which splintered into the Folk/Rock band the ‘Mugwumps’ she recorded one studio Album in 1965 called ‘The Mugwumps,’ as part of that quartet. That group stayed together for eight months, with Elliot then having a brief spell as a solo act, before being asked to join the ‘Mamas & the Papas’ with whom she recorded six Albums between 1966-1971. The discography of Cass Elliot as a solo artist includes eight solo Albums released between 1968-1973, with five of them being issued while she was still a member of the Mamas & the Papas, she also released 16 singles within the same time period, and there are also three official compilation Albums available. In America on the Billboard Hot 100, three of her solo singles have reached the top 40, with ‘Dream a Little Dream of Me’ peaking the highest at Number 12 in 1968, while ‘Make Your Own Kind of Music’ stalled at Number 36. In the UK, Cass Elliot has had two solo top 40 hit singles, with ‘It’s Getting Better’ peaking the highest at Number 7 in 1969.

Cass Elliot’s weight fluctuated, and she weighed over 300lb at times. She became a drug user, and had admitted to having a shot of heroin before going on stage, she also used cocaine, the embarrassment of this led to Elliot plunging into a deep depression. It was while staying in an apartment in Mayfair, London, owned by the singer Harry Nilsson (1941-1994) (see also best songs 388 and 39) on July 29th, 1974, that she died in her sleep from heart failure, the forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsy found there to be no drugs in her system. Elliot died in Flat 12, 9 Curzon Place, where four years later on September 7th, 1978, ‘The Who’s’ drummer Keith Moon (1946-1978) (see also best songs 926-306 and 265) also died in the same room, also aged 32. In 1998, Cass Elliot was posthumously inducted into the ‘Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’ for her work with the Mamas & the Papas, and on October 3rd, 2022, she received the 2,735th star on the ‘Hollywood Walk of Fame.’

‘Make Your Own Kind of Music’ was added to Cass Elliot’s second solo studio Album ‘Bubblegum, Lemonade, and…Something for Mama’ from June 1969, it was after the moderate success of the single (Billboard Number 36) that the Album was re-packaged, and re-named ‘Make Your Own Kind of Music/It’s Getting Better,’ in November 1969, increasing the track listing from 11 to 12 tracks. ‘Make Your Own Kind of Music’ was co-written by the husband and wife songwriting team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil (1940-2023) (see also best songs 782 and 568) and produced by Steve Barri. Mann and Weil who had also been responsible for Cass Elliot’s previous hit ‘It’s Getting Better,’ first had the song recorded by the American Folk/Rock group the ‘Will-O-Bees’ in 1968, who would record a lot of their material. The song finally became a hit in the UK in 2018 when the English singer Paloma Faith released a very similar sounding version to that of Cass Elliot for a television commercial promoting ‘Skoda Cars, Faith’s version peaked at Number 28 in the UK.

‘Make Your Own Kind of Music’ was produced by Steve Barri (see also best songs 527) who was born Steven Barry Lipkin on February 23rd, 1942, in New York, New York, United States, he is a singer, songwriter, and music producer. As a producer his biggest commercial successes include ‘Eve of Destruction,’ for Barry McGuire, (1965-Billboard Number 1 & UK Number 3) ‘Dizzy’ for Tommy Roe, (1969-Billboard Number 1 & UK Number 1) and ‘Undercover Angel’ for Alan O’Day (1977-Billboard Number 1 &UK Number 43.) Steve Barri had started out as a staff writer for ‘Dunhill Records,’ and stayed on in the 1970’s as head of Artists & Repertoire (A&R) after the label was acquired by ‘ABC Records.’ In 1975 he departed to become A&R chief at ‘Warner Bros. Records,’ before moving to ‘Motown Records’ as vice-president of A&R, in 1982, until departing in 1986.

‘Nobody can tell ya there’s only one song worth singing. They may try and sell ya,’ ’cause it hangs them up to see someone like you.’