I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s impossible to listen to this week’s “Remake of a Classic” and not feel good. “More Today Than Yesterday” (sometimes called, “I Love You More Today Than Yesterday”) was first released in January 1969, and was written by Pat Upton and recorded by Spiral Starecase (not Staircase). There are a few versions as to the origin of the song. One claims the premise of the song was first made famous in a poem by Rosemonde Gérard, the wife of poet and playwright Edmond Rostand, author of Cyrano de Bergerac. The other story is that a kid from Archbishop Murray Memorial High School wrote a poem for his girlfriend, and was similar to the lyrics of the song. The kid's poem was published and then supposedly swiped by Spiral Starecase. He contacted the band, but because the poem wasn't copyrighted, there was nothing he could do. Of course I guess it's always possible that he pirated it from the Rosemonde Gérard poem.
It reach number 12 on Billboards Hot 100, and went to number 6 in Canada. Over the years the tune has been covered by some pretty big names, including Andy Williams, Sonny & Cher, Lena Horne, Diana Ross, and Chicago.
After Spiral Starecase disbanded in 1971, Upton moved to Los Angeles and worked as a studio session musician. He was eventually introduced to Ricky Nelson, who asked him to join his band. What was supposed to last only a few months turned into four years. On December 30, 1985, after Nelson's concert at Upton's Guntersville, Alabama club, PJ's Alley, Nelson asked Upton to accompany him on a flight to Dallas, but business obligations prevented Upton from going, but he did drive Nelson to the airport. The flight crashed, killing Nelson, Nelson's fiancée Helen, and five members of Nelson's band.
Pat Upton passed away in 2016 at the age of 75.
Covering this was a lot of fun. Normally I would splice out spots were I'm not singing or playing an instrument, but I was having such a blast I decided to leave most of it in.
