"Worn Down Piano" is a song by the American group The Mark & Clark Band, from their album ''Double Take''.
The song was written in 1977 by twin brothers Clark and Mark Seymour. The record was produced by
Ron Dante
Carmine John Granito (born August 22, 1945), known professionally as Ron Dante, is an American singing, singer, songwriter, Session musician, session vocalist, and record producer. Dante is best known as the real life lead singer of the fiction ...
of
Archies fame, and was released as a single.
The song (duration 8:10) is about a piano that is being bid for at an auction. It starts in 6/8 time and changes to 4/4 time at the beginning of the piano solo.
The song reached sixth place in the
Dutch Top 40
The Dutch Top 40 () is a weekly music chart compiled by ''Stichting Nederlandse Top 40''. It started as a radio program titled "Veronica Top 40", on the offshore radio, offshore station Radio Veronica in 1965. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" ...
. Since the first edition in 1999, "Worn Down Piano" has consistently been in the
Top 2000
The ''Top 2000'' is an annual Dutch marathon radio programme that plays the 2,000 most popular songs listeners have deemed the best of all time. Hosted by the station NPO Radio 2 since 1999, it has since become "an indispensable part of the collec ...
, a popular Dutch year-end list, peaking at number 59 in the 2002 edition and at number 387 in the most recent edition of 2024.
Credits
These musicians appear on the recording:
*Clark Seymour, piano, vocals
*Mark Seymour, piano, vocals
*
Allan Schwartzberg
Allan Schwartzberg (born December 28, 1942) is an American musician and record producer. He has been a member of the rock band Mountain, Peter Gabriel's first solo band, toured with Brecker Brothers' Dreams, B. J. Thomas, Linda Ronstadt, Stan Ge ...
, drums
*Errol "Crusher" Bennett, percussion
*
Elliott Randall
Elliott Randall (born June 15, 1947) is an American guitarist, best known for being a session musician and performing with popular music artists. Randall played the well-known guitar solos on Steely Dan's song " Reelin' in the Years" and Irene Ca ...
, guitar
*Frank Owens, keyboards
*
Hugh McCracken
Hugh Carmine McCracken (March 31, 1942 – March 28, 2013) was an American rock guitarist and session musician based in New York City, primarily known for his performance on guitar and also as a harmonica player. McCracken was additionally ...
, guitar
*
Jimmy Maelen
Jimmy Maelen (born March 26, 1940 – January 14, 1988) was an American percussionist from the 1960s to 1980s, who worked with many artists including Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry, Peter Gabriel, James Taylor, Dire Straits, Barry Manilow, Alice Cooper ...
, percussion
*Jimmy Young, drums
*
John Tropea
John Tropea (pronounced 'tro-pay'; born January 7, 1946) is an American jazz guitarist and composer.
Career
Tropea began guitar studies at the age of 12. His musical education continued at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he studied jaz ...
, guitar
*
Kenneth Bichel
Ken Bichel is an American actor, composer, conductor, pianist, and synthesizer musician.
Musical career
Bichel attended the Juilliard School where he graduated with a master's degree in piano performance in 1969. While at Juilliard he met Gersh ...
, synthesizer
*
Paul Shaffer
Paul Allen Wood Shaffer (born November 28, 1949) is a Canadian musician, actor, and comedian who served as David Letterman's musical director, bandleader, and sidekick on ''Late Night with David Letterman'' (1982–1993) and ''Late Show with D ...
, keyboards
*
Will Lee
William Lee (born William Lubovsky; August 6, 1908 – December 7, 1982) was an American actor who appeared in numerous television and film roles, but was best known for playing Mr. Hooper, the original store proprietor of the eponymous Hoope ...
, bass
References
Songs about pianos
Songs about old age
1977 singles
1977 songs
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