Observations placeholder
Previn, André – with Dory Previn
Identifier
025960
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
We have an entry for Dory in the site already. At the time Dory was married to Andre Previn, LSD was being used a great deal.
Andre Previn took it as part of the experiments of Dr Janiger, and from songs like Mythical Kings And Iguanas, with its talk of astral walks and riding comet tails in search of magic rings (and as one journalist said did the LSD get passed to the left or the right back then?), it appears that Dory Previn also took LSD.
The Valley of the Dolls was about amphetamines and barbiturates, but there are hints that Dory had suffered as a result of the taking of drugs and her mental illness was brought on by drug use. Whether she was introduced to LSD by Previn or Janiger is not known, at least not with reliable accuracy, on the other hand ........
Michael Michael by Dory Previn [appears on the album On My Way To Where (1970)]
Michael, Michael, Superman
Muscle bound and super tan
Leather jacket, denim pants
Never did learn
How to dance, how to dance
Digs karate, raps on Zen
Michael makes it best with men
Digs karate, raps on Zen
Michael makes it best with men
Michael, Michael, Michael, Superman
Muscle bound and super tan
When he walks and talks and moves
Michael proves and proves
And proves Michael
Is a hyper Superman
Pushes acid, peddles hash
That's how Michael gets his stash
Rides his cycle likes a king
Knows his number
Does his thing, does his thing
And if he wants to
He can con any bird
He's turning on, if he wants to
He can con any bird
He's turning on
Michael, Michael, Michael, Superman
Muscle bound and super tan
When he walks and talks and moves
Michael proves and proves
And proves…
A description of the experience
DORY PREVIN theme from VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (narration by BARBARA PARKINS)
from the 1967 movie soundtrack - MUSIC by ANDRE PREVIN and LYRICS by DORY PREVIN. Patty Duke, as Neely O'Hara, died at age 69; from sepsis as a result of a ruptured intestine. Patty fought manic depression for most of her adult life, and was finally diagnosed in 1982. This version of the theme is sung by Dory Previn with the narration by Barbara Parkins.
The novel tells the story of three young women who become fast friends in the turbulent post-war worlds of Broadway and Hollywood: Anne Welles, a reserved New England beauty who sees New York as the romantic city of her dreams; Neely O'Hara, an ebullient vaudevillian with a talent she doesn't fully understand; and Jennifer North, a sweet-natured showgirl who wants only to be loved. As life becomes difficult, each woman grows increasingly dependent on "dolls," the amphetamines and barbiturates which, for a time, seem to help.
Wikipedia
In 1959, Previn married Dory Langan, now known as Dory Previn. A singer-songwriter, Dory became widely known as a lyricist with whom André Previn collaborated on several Academy Award-nominated film scores during their marriage. After Previn divorced her in 1969 during her hospitalization for a mental breakdown, Dory Previn resumed her career as a singer-songwriter with On My Way to Where (1970), an "influential" and "critically acclaimed" album whose "searingly honest" confessional lyrics famously chronicled both her mental health struggles and the infidelity that she alleged had at once precipitated the end of her marriage to Previn and exacerbated her intermittent mental illness.
In 2013, jazz singer Kate Dimbleby and pianist Naadia Sheriff revisited Dory Previn's musical reflections on her marriage to André Previn in the London cabaret show, Beware Of Young Girls: The Dory Previn Story.
- Why Are We Afraid?, text of vocal version: Dory Previn (1960, for The Subterraneans – recorded amongst others by André Previn (for the soundtrack) and Art Pepper)
- The Faraway Part of Town and That's How It Went, All Right, texts by Dory Previn (1960, for Pepe – The Faraway Part of Town was performed by Judy Garland in the movie, Academy Award Nomination for Best Original Song of 1960; That's How It Went, All Right was performed by Bobby Darin in the movie, with Previn at the piano on screen)
- A Second Chance, text by Dory Previn (1962, for Two for the Seesaw, Academy Award Nomination for Best Original Song of 1962)
- You're Gonna Hear from Me, The Circus Is a Wacky World, text by Dory Previn (1965, for Inside Daisy Clover – You're Gonna Hear From Me recorded among others by Shirley Bassey, Bill Evans (twice), Ella Fitzgerald, André Previn (twice), Diana Ross and the Supremes, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Stanley Turrentine, Scott Walker and Andy Williams)
- Livin' alone, text of vocal version: Dory Previn (1966, for Harper – recorded amongst others by André Previn (for the soundtrack))
- (Theme from) Valley of the Dolls, It's Impossible, Come Live with Me, I'll Plant My Own Tree and Give a Little More, texts by Dory Previn (1967, for Valley of the Dolls – (Theme from) Valley of the Dolls recorded amongst others by Dionne Warwick and Burt Bacharach, Gladys Knight and the Pips and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles)