Koufax, Sandy (Sanford Koufax), 1935-, American baseball player, b. New York City. A superb pitcher, he played (1955-66) with the Dodgers, remaining on the team when the franchise was moved from Brooklyn, N.Y., to Los Angeles. Three times he received the Cy Young Award for his outstanding pitching (1963, 1965, 1966), and he pitched in four World Series (1959, 1963, 1965-66). A left-hander with overwhelming speed and a brilliant curve, Koufax struck out 2,396 batters between 1955 and 1966, when he was forced into premature retirement by an arm ailment at the peak of his career (he won 26 and 27 games his last two seasons). In 1972 he became the youngest player ever elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

in full Sanford Koufax orig. Sanford Braun

(born Dec. 30, 1935, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. baseball pitcher. Koufax's mother divorced when he was young, and he took the name of his stepfather. In his youth he played sports at the Jewish community centres in his native Brooklyn, and in high school he was known more as a basketball player than as a baseball player. He attended the University of Cincinnati on a basketball scholarship before joining the Brooklyn (later Los Angeles) Dodgers in 1955 as a left-handed thrower with a blazing fastball and a sharp breaking curveball. Once he gained control of his pitches he set several season records for strikeouts (including 382 in 1965), and his career average of one strikeout per inning is a rare accomplishment. In 1965 he pitched his fourth no-hit game, until 1981 a major-league record; the fourth no-hitter was also a perfect game (no player reached first base). Despite his early retirement in 1966 because of arthritis, he is regarded as one of baseball's greatest pitchers.

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in full Sanford Koufax orig. Sanford Braun

(born Dec. 30, 1935, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. baseball pitcher. Koufax's mother divorced when he was young, and he took the name of his stepfather. In his youth he played sports at the Jewish community centres in his native Brooklyn, and in high school he was known more as a basketball player than as a baseball player. He attended the University of Cincinnati on a basketball scholarship before joining the Brooklyn (later Los Angeles) Dodgers in 1955 as a left-handed thrower with a blazing fastball and a sharp breaking curveball. Once he gained control of his pitches he set several season records for strikeouts (including 382 in 1965), and his career average of one strikeout per inning is a rare accomplishment. In 1965 he pitched his fourth no-hit game, until 1981 a major-league record; the fourth no-hitter was also a perfect game (no player reached first base). Despite his early retirement in 1966 because of arthritis, he is regarded as one of baseball's greatest pitchers.

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Wasteland, northern Western Australia. It extends from Eighty Mile Beach on the Indian Ocean eastward into the Northern Territory and from the Kimberley Downs south to the Tropic of Capricorn and the Gibson Desert. An arid expanse of salt marshes and sand hills, it roughly coincides with the sedimentary Canning basin. Canning Stock Route (1,000 mi [1,600 km] long) spans the region from Wiluna via Lake Disappointment to Halls Creek.

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"4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)", often known just as "Sandy", is a 1973 song by Bruce Springsteen, originally appearing as the second song on his album The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle. It is one of the best-known and most praised of his early efforts, remains one of his most popular ballads, and has been described as "the perfect musical study of the Jersey Shore boardwalk culture." It was recorded as a 1975 single by The Hollies.

Themes and recording

Set on, as the title suggests, the Fourth of July in Asbury Park, New Jersey, the song is a powerful love ballad, dedicated to one Sandy and describing the depressing atmosphere that threatens to smother the love between the singer and Sandy. Locals include the "stoned-out faces," "switchblade lovers" and "the greasers" who "tramp the streets or get busted for sleeping out on the boardwalk till dawn." The singer is tired of "hangin' in them dusty arcades" and "chasin' the factory girls."

The song begins with the line: "Sandy, the fireworks are hailin' over Little Eden tonight". Writer Ariel Swartley views the song's verses as depicting the narrator as something of a "adolescent loser ... [who's] ruining his chances with the girl: he can't stop telling her about the humiliations, about the girls who led him on, about the waitress that got tired of him." Nevertheless, Swartley observes the choruses to be warm, immediate, and portray an irresistibly romantic atmosphere.

Van Morrison's influence can be heard in this song, as "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" closely parallels his romanticization of Belfast in such songs as "Cyprus Avenue" and "Madame George".

"Sandy" showcases the wistful side of Springsteen; Los Angeles Times writer Robert Hilburn later wrote that "the verses [were] whispered as if he was singing into his girlfriend's ear." During recording of the song for the album, Springsteen wanted a children's choir to sing on it, but they did not show up for the session. Instead, he recorded the high, clear voice of Suki Lahav, overdubbing it repeatedly, to give a choir-like effect.. Lahav, the wife of Springsteen's sound engineer at the time, would not be credited for her role,. but would later join the E Street Band for six months as a violinist and singer.

No singles were released from The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle. "Sandy" would, however, along with "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)", become fan favorites from the album, and would garner progresive rock radio airplay during the ramp-up of Springsteen's visibility preceding the 1975 release of Born to Run. The song would be released as a single in Germany, in late 1974 or early 1975, with the title reversed into "Sandy (4th July, Asbury Park)". "Sandy" also attracted the attention of other musicians; it was one of the two Springsteen songs that drummer Max Weinberg knew when he auditioned for Springsteen's E Street Band in late 1974. Once Born to Run made Springsteen a major rock figure, "Sandy" received additional airplay on progressive and album oriented rock formats.

Live performance history

"Sandy" was included on Springsteen and the E Street Band's best-selling 1986 box set Live/1975–85, in a 1980 Nassau Coliseum performance that nevertheless had a "club feel" to it. Its sequencing in the box set represented the opening stages of the journey that the core characters in Springsteen's work take; Springsteen said, "Then you get 'Sandy'. That's the guy and he's on the boardwalk, and I guess that was me then, when I was still around Asbury. And there's the girl.... Here it is. This is the beginning of the whole trip that's about to take place." It is also included on the 2003 compilation The Essential Bruce Springsteen.

The song was a mainstay of Springsteen and the E Street Band's concert set lists during the early part of his career, and a 1975 performance is included on the 2006 Hammersmith Odeon London '75 audio and video release. It became much rarer to hear after the 1980–1981 River Tour, appearing only very sporadically, and then usually in New Jersey.

Within the E Street Band, the song was heavily identified with Danny Federici's accordion part, which is the main musical element. "Sandy" was played several times late on the first leg of the 2007–2008 Magic Tour, including Federici's final regular appearance in November 2007 before taking a leave of absence for melanoma treatment. When Federici made his only return to the stage after that, on March 20, 2008, when he appeared for portions of a Springsteen and E Street Band performance at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, "Sandy" was the one song that he requested be performed. Following Federici's April 17 2008 death, "Sandy" was performed in tribute to him, with Roy Bittan taking over the accordion part. In July 2008, the live EP Magic Tour Highlights was released, with the final Federici performance of "Sandy" the closing track.

Other versions

One of the first artists to cover Springsteen were The Hollies who recorded a single of "Sandy" (under that title) in 1975, and included it on their Another Night album. Released on Epic Records in the U.S. in April 1975, it only achieved minor airplay, reaching number 85 on the U.S. pop singles chart. It had better success in New Zealand, reaching number 12 on their singles chart. It was not released as a single in the UK. While not a big hit unto itself, The Hollies use of "Sandy" presaged other artists mining the early Springsteen songbook for material, a notion that would soon be exploited to much greater commercial success by Manfred Mann and others.

This song was chosen by Tony Blair as one of his Desert Island Discs, apparently because he listened to it many times when he was courting his future wife Cherie Booth.

Air Supply recorded "Sandy" for their 1985 album Air Supply. Singer-songwriter Richard Shindell recorded what has been described as a "near-holy reading" of this song for his 2002 live album, Courier.

Madam Marie

One of the song's most famous lines is:

Did you hear, the cops finally busted Madame Marie,

for tellin' fortunes better than they do ...

The "Madame Marie" mentioned in the song was a real-life fortune teller on the Asbury Park boardwalk named Marie Castello, who died June 27, 2008 aged 93. Springsteen offered memories and condolences of her on his website, saying:

"Back in the day when I was a fixture on the Asbury Park boardwalk, I'd often stop and talk to Madam Marie as she sat on her folding chair outside the Temple of Knowledge. I'd sit across from her on the metal guard rail bordering the beach, and watched as she led the day trippers into the small back room where she would unlock a few of the mysteries of their future. She always told me mine looked pretty good - she was right. The world has lost enough mystery as it is - we need our fortunetellers. We send our condolences out to her family who've carried on her tradition. Over here on E Street, we will miss her.

Springsteen said some of the same remarks on stage during the next show on the Magic Tour, dedicating a performance of "Sandy" in Gothenburg, Sweden on July 4, 2008 to her.

The dedication, word-by-word, from Gothenburg.

We always send this one out to Danny,

and just a few days ago, Madame Marie,

who was the gypsy teller in the Asbury Park

boardwalk passed away, she was 98,

that's a lot of fortune-telling.

There's enough mystery lost in the world,

we need all the fortune-tellers we can get,

so tonight we're gonna send this one out to

''Madame Marie...

Springsteen incorrectly noted she passed away at 98; she was in fact 93. The song is always dedicated to Danny Federici as of April 17 as this was "his" song, featuring a prominent accordion throughout the song.

References

External links

• Lyrics, at Bruce Springsteen official web site