The Dean And I

If you're an incurable fan of jurassic hits radio, you'll know Dean Friedman as the man who gave the world such sentimental tissue-friendly ballads as "Lucky Star", "Ariel", "Lydia" and "McDonald's Girl" (the latter banned by the BBC) in the late seventies.

But those of a more musically adventurous mind will know him as the man whose songs have been covered by such contemporary noiseniks as Barenaked Ladies and the Ben Folds Five, not to mention Half Man Half Biscuit's momentous tribute, "The Bastard Son Of Dean Friedman". Now, after 17 long years without an album release, Friedman is back with a double CD called Songs For Grownups.

So why the long delay, Dean?

“Despite being rejected by the industry and feeling quite disillusioned by the whole thing, I suppose I've never really lost the bug for writing and recording, and with bands like Barenaked Ladies and others quoting me as a serious influence on their music, the time seemed to be right for me to do an album with all the songs I'd written over the years since I last had a record deal,” he explains.

Although sales of his singles and albums in the '70s were counted in the millions, Dean is not quite rolling in it. Due to the usual record industry shenanigans, he received little or no royalties for his recordings and only after a fight did he manage to start getting royalties for his songwriting. He was also left with a substantial tax bill, but he prefers not to worry about exactly how much he was ripped off.

“I could get very angry if I started to dwell on that too much, but I prefer to look on the positive side,” he reflects. “I've a very happy family life, no drink or drug problems, I've got my health and a long and happy marriage and I just accept that I have to earn my living just like every other American guy. When I look at it that way, everything's fine.”

Friedman fondly recalls the thrill of hearing his songs on the radio for the first time way back when.

“I was on a bus trip crossing New York and on came 'Ariel' on this tiny transistor radio. I wanted to jump up and down and tell everybody, that's me! Doing Top Of The Pops and American Bandstand, that was fun too.”

Dean can recall one other occasion that made him feel that, well yeah, maybe he'd actually made it.

“I was checking in at LA airport when I spotted this dishevelled tramp-like figure ahead of me rummaging in this paper bag full of junk, candy wrappers and stuff for his ticket. He turned out to be John Belushi of the Blues Brothers, who I was a big fan of. After I introduced myself, we retired to a discreet part of the airport to have a smoke of something not quite legal and I remember thinking, 'I've just had a hit record, I've just done American Bandstand and I'm here smokin' with John Belushi'. So I leaned back to relax and enjoy my private euphoria when I accidentally set off the security alarm and we quickly found ourselves surrounded by very nervous airport security people. Eventually they realised we weren't international terrorists. Headlines were flashing across Jimmy's mind, while all I could think of was my Mom hitting me on the head with a newspaper if she found out what I'd been doing!”

While he was becoming a big cheese on both sides of the Atlantic, he was getting an allowance of a mere $135 dollars a week from his record company. He accepts this now as merely the way the music industry works.

“This industry is designed to exploit innocent young talent and take advantage of the imbalance of power between the people who run the industry and the artists. Even the legal advisors will cheerfully approve deals which they know are not in the artist's best interests,” he says resignedly.

Now, though, the acclaim he is receiving from bands at the cutting edge more than compensates for past disappointments. “Yeah, well, the Canadian band Barenaked Ladies, they've covered some of my songs. There's also the Ben Folds Five from North Carolina. I think they're on the Godzilla soundtrack. If you listen to their song 'Kate', it's really a retelling of my own song 'Ariel' verse by verse, including the facts that she wears a peasant blouse and smokes pot! That obviously makes me feel good.”

Friedman now lives in Fulham, London, from where he put together his deal with the English-based Eagle Records for his new double CD set, which contains some vintage Friedman snapshots of modern life, like "Saturday Fathers" and "She's A Working Mom", and for which he resisted the temptation to submerge his unmistakable style under modern production techniques.

Not that Friedman is unfamiliar with technological "toys". He wrote one of the first guidebooks to synthesisers and has paid the bills for the past few years designing and reviewing computer games. When he visits Ireland for solo gigs later this year, you can bet he'll include the songs that made his name for him, probably enhanced by his trademark Fender Rhodes DX7 sound. But in the meantime you can check out Songs For Grownups and decide for yourself whose lucky stars to thank.

- Songs For Grownups by Dean Friedman is a double CD release now available on Eagle Records. The official Dean Friedman website is www.DeanFriedman.com or you can email him at [email protected]