Although she has been a mainstay in my musical soundscape for decades, until recently I haven’t paid much attention to folk singer Judy Collins. It hasn’t been until my current research on Leonard Cohen, and the important role that Judy played in launching him to fame, that finally got me to do some serious deep listening to her albums in my collection.
On the other hand, Alice Cooper is a favorite in our house. I’ve had the pleasure of actually meeting Alice a number of years ago (he is a very smart and genuinely nice guy), while Griz has seen him in concert five times and often has a better working knowledge of Alice’s material than even I do.
But one of the fun facts that I brought to Griz’s attention a number of years ago was the unlikely link that bridges Judy Collins and Alice Cooper together. I recall we were going for a walk, and I was just yammering on about music, as I am often known to do, and I said “Hey, did you know Judy Collins recorded the original version of ‘Hello Hooray’?” Griz didn’t know that, so I pulled Spotify on my phone, and we listened to it. Although Judy Collins’ version of the song sounded almost unrecognizable compared to Alice Cooper’s famous version, the key lyric was undeniable:
“Hello! Hooray!
Let the show begin
I’m ready
Hello! Hooray!
Let the lights grow dim
We’ve been ready.”
“Huh,” Griz remarked. “I wonder what made Alice record this song? Do you think he lost a bet or something?” I laughed at the idea, but the statement played back in my head since I’ve been relistening to Judy Collins, and as I’ve been getting more familiar with her story, I wanted to know just how did “Hello Hooray” go from being a folk song about reincarnation and rebirth to a shock rock anthem. The answer led me down an interesting rabbit hole which introduced me to Canadian singer-songwriter Rolf Kempf, and how he turned disaster into success by writing “Hello Hooray.”
In the mid 1960’s, Rolf Kempf was an English major at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario where he and pals Dave Morrow, Renny Heard and Dennis Murphy formed a group called The Gass Company. Initially a cover band, the group performed songs by The Lovin’ Spoonful and The Byrds, and once perfecting the folk-rock sound, they began to write original material of their own. Becoming a staple in Hamilton coffee shops, they eventually changed their name to the much groovier Colonel Popcorn’s Butter Band, and moving into Toronto, became a part of the vibrant Yorkville music scene. In 1967 they released a single called “Ship Ahoy,” backed with a song Rolf wrote called “Saturday Morning – Sunday Eve,” but the disc didn’t really go anywhere. However, they maintained a following, and eventually became managed by a man named Syd Kessler.
Although he’d eventually become one of the biggest figures in Canadian advertising, at the time that Syd Kessler came into contact with Colonel Popcorn, he was working for the US based radio advertising company Chuck Blore Creative Consultants, which gave him unique inroads into the recording industry south of the border. Kessler had a contact with the Blore Company who was looking to produce records for the bubblegum market. Although Colonel Popcorn balked at the idea, Kessler got the group a car and sent them towards LA to meet with his producer friend. However, when the group arrived things went very bad. Few details are given in regard to exactly what went down, but according to Kempf in an interview with SOCAN Magazine, during the meeting bandmate Dave Morrow got in a fist fight on the producer’s desk which marked the end of Colonel Popcorn’s Butter Band. As the band packed up their gear to head back to Canada, Rolf decided to stay in Los Angeles to continue with his music, but further misfortune awaited him when everything he brought to LA, including his guitar, was stolen. Now moneyless, guitarless, directionless, bandless and stranded in Los Angeles, Kempf found himself down on his luck and with no prospects.
Rolf ended up shacking up in Laurel Canyon with a woman he met that was really into transcendental meditation, and for the next few weeks he found himself taking lots of psychedelics, learning Eastern religion and listening to The Doors’ second album, “Strange Days.”
One afternoon, during a moment of clarity and inspiration, Rolf borrowed a guitar and went down by the pool and began to pen a new song. Inspired by the cover art to “Strange Days,” featuring carnival folk performing on a cobblestone street, Rolf began to compose a festive sounding dirge about where he was, and where he wanted to be. As Rolf would later say in an interview, “My inspiration [for ‘Hello Hooray’] was the concept of self-renewal and re-invention to help me through a frustrating period of my life.” Inspired by the Eastern philosophy he had been learning, including concepts such as reincarnation and rebirth, he began to ponder his inevitable evolution and what was to come:
“Hello! Hooray! Let the show begin
I’m ready
Hello! Hooray! Let the lights grow dim
I’ve been ready.
Ready as the rain to fall, just to fall again
Ready as a man to be born, only to be born again
I’ve been waiting so long for another song
I’ve been thinking so long I was the only one
We’ve been hoping so long for another song
So I will sit and I’m so thin
And I will laugh when this thing begins and begins
And begins
It’s then we’ll be above the time and the weather
Dancing to a rolling good time on a feather
All it want is coming here to stay
Each of them an actor, each one a play.”
I’ve been waiting so long for my song
I’ve been thinking so long I was the only one
We’ve were hoping so long for another song
So we will sit and we’ll act so thin
And we will laugh when this thing begins and begins.”
Calling his song “Hello, Hooray,” the lyrics almost became a sort of meditation of its own, and within days it would manifest the opportunity that would become Rolf Kempf’s ultimate musical legacy.
Although she was based in New York, for her eight-studio album, “Who Knows Where the Time Goes,” Judy Collins had relocated to Los Angeles to explore the colourful music scene in Laurel Canyon. The new hub of the contemporary folk scene, Laurel Canyon was where it was all happening. Having just had the biggest selling single of her career with “Both Sides Now,” from her 1967 album “Wildflowers, “Collins was meeting song writers and musicians in new musical circles to put a more folk-rock vibe to her new album.
Now Judy Collins was not so much a singer-songwriter as an interpreter of songs. Maintaining a tight control over the material she recorded, Judy was always on the look out for new talent and yet to be discovered song writers whose music she could perform, and in return she’d promote and support their careers. Judy also seemed to have a certain affection in particular for Canadian song writers, often being the first to record classic songs by future legends such as Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and Buffy Sainte-Marie. So, when she heard about this down on his luck unknown Canadian stranded in Laurel Canyon, Judy sought him out and asked if she could hear what he had.
Sitting down by the same pool where he had been doing his writing Rolf played Judy all of the fully worked songs that he had brought with him from Canada, but she didn’t seem to connect with any of them. Not yet defeated, he decided to take a chance and said “Well, this is something I’ve been working on,” and he played “Hello, Hooray.” Harnessing all the emotions that he had been feeling over his past number of weeks for his performance, Judy saw something in his new song and told Rolf that she wanted to record it. Now according to Rolf, he didn’t think that Judy fully got the song, and when they discussed its meaning, she couldn’t quite get the philosophical aspects of it and, instead, interpreted the lyrics on a more literal level. But Rolf wasn’t about to argue with Judy Collins, because she was the one that was cutting the record, and he needed the dough to get himself back on his feet.
Judy Collins released “Who Knows Where the Time Goes” in November 1968 with the opening song on the album being “Hello, Hooray.” Acting as a perfect introductory song guiding the listener into the album, Judy’s interpretation of the song was ambitious, if not a little bit chaotic compared to the other tracks that she cut. However, the single off the album would end up being a different song written by another Canadian songwriter, “Someday Soon” by Ian Tyson. Originally released on Ian and Sylvia’s 1963 album “Northern Journey,” it became Judy’s second Billboard hit. The album also contained the first recorded versions of Leonard Cohen’s “Bird on a Wire” and “The Story of Isaac,” as well as a cover of Bob Dylan’s “I Pity the Immigrant.” Although the album was certified gold and moved as high as the 29th position on Billboard’s album sales charts, “Hello, Hooray” got lost amongst the more traditional numbers. But the money he made from selling the song got Rolf back on his feet and eventually got him back to Canada.
But just as the lyrics reflect on being born again, “Hello Hooray” was about to get another rebirth and evolve in a way nobody could have expected.
Flash forwards a few years and Rolf Kempf is at a party in Toronto when he is introduced to music producer Bob Ezrin. One of the most legendary music producers in the history of rock n’ roll, Bob Ezrin would eventually be called “the Geroge Martin of hard rock,” producing such classics as KISS’s “Destroyer,” Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” and Lou Reed’s “Berlin.” However, Ezrin’s closest and longest relationship has been with shock rocker Alice Cooper. Starting his relationship with Alice Cooper when it was the name of the band instead of a solo performer, Ezrin produced Cooper’s first commercially successful album, 1971’s “Love it to Death,” and continued to collaborate closely with him throughout the decades, raising his star power and profile to higher heights with each release. Although Ezrin was still in the early part of his career when he met Rolf in Toronto, he was already a pretty big deal having just put out Alice Cooper’s 1972 album “School’s Out.” Well, the conversation between Rolf and Ezrin is lost to time, but Ezrin left the party having learnt of the existence of “Hello, Hooray” and eventually listened to Judy Collins’ recording of it.
Now while Alice Cooper would eventually go on to record a lot of cover songs and compositions by other artists, a talented singer/songwriter himself, he had not relied on cutting covers during the early part of his career. In fact, between his first album, 1969’s “Pretties for You,” and “School’s Out,” the only cover Cooper had recorded was a jaunty cover of Stephen Sondheim’s “When You’re A Jet” from “West Side Story.” But as they were completing the sessions for their most ambitious album yet, Alice felt they were stuck for an anthem. Despite having a batch of powerful songs for the new album, including soon to be classics such as “Elected,” “No More Mister Nice Guy,” “I Love the Dead” and his chilling duet with Donavan Leitch, “Billion Dollar Babies,” Alice was looking for one more song that would open the album. Well, Bob Ezrin remembered Rolf Kempf and “Hello, Hooray” and he brought it to Alice. I mean, if it could be an opener for Judy Collins’ folk album, why not be for Alice Cooper’s shock extravaganza? Well, while maybe the music didn’t fit, Alice liked the feel of it and agreed that they should take a go at it for themselves But, if Alice was going to do it, there was going to have to be a rewrite, and he sat down with the song and put his own lyrical spin on it:
“Hello! Hooray! Let the show begin
I’ve been ready
Hello! Hooray! Let the lights grow dim
I’ve been ready
Ready as this audience that’s coming here to dream
Loving every second, every moment, every scream
I’ve been waiting so long to sing my song
And I’ve been waiting so long for this thing to come
Yeah, I’ve been thinkin’ so long, I was the only one
Roll out! Roll out with your American dream and its recruits
I’ve been ready
Roll out! Roll out with your circus freaks and hula hoops
I’ve been ready
Ready as this audience that’s coming here to dream
Loving every second, every moment, every scream
And I can stand here strong and thin
And I can laugh when this thing begins”
So, what did Rolf Kempf say when he was told Alice Cooper wanted to record his song but with some lyrical revisions? Well, what do you say when one of the biggest musical acts in the world comes calling? Rolf gave Alice his blessing. In fact, he believed that Alice had a better handle on the material than Judy Collins had and felt that the new lyrics only enhanced it. In his interview with SOCAN Magazine, Rolf stated “Alice really got it. He made the song better and stronger, more bombastic. His outro, ‘I feel so strong.’ I think is perfect for the tune.”
“Hello Hooray” became the opening song on what would become “Billion Dollar Babies,” and was released in February 1973 to a hungry public waiting for Alice Cooper’s next release, which quickly rose to the number one spot on the Billboard sales charts, becoming one of the highest selling albums of the year. Much like it was for Judy Collins, “Hello Hooray” welcomed the audience to the music that waiting for them inside, albeit a very different kind of music for a very different kind of audience. But, unlike the Judy Collins’ version, “Hello Hooray” was selected to be released as a single, boosting it forward into the popular soundscape. The second single, following the chart topping “Elected,” “Hello Hooray” made it to #36 on the Billboard charts, but climbed all the way to #6 on the UK Billboard charts where it proved to be an even bigger hit.
Following the successful release of “Billion Dollar Babies,” Alice Cooper embarked on their most ambitious tour yet. Playing 64 shows in 59 cities over 90 days, the box office receipts broke the American record for the highest grossing concert tour ever, which had previously belonged to The Rolling Stones. A horror sceptical like nothing that had ever been seen before, excited fans flocked to see the show, and each night Alice Cooper stepped into the spotlight and welcomed them the same way – “Hello, Hooray! Let the show begin! I’ve been ready.”
In 2016 Rolf Kempf was inducted into the Canadian Song Writers Hall of Fame for “Hello Hooray.” Still active in music today, Kempf currently lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, and he released his own version of “Hello Hooray” on a 1993 album he titled “Woodstock Album” The story of Rolf Kempf and “Hello Hooray” is a reminder that success can come out of great misfortune, and even in the face of defeat, something special can happen if you give yourself over to a creative spirit.. When Kempf gave birth to “Hello Hooray,” Judy Collins breathed life into it, and Alice Cooper transformed it into a hit. An unlikely trio, together they have made “Hello Hooray” an unforgettable and powerful anthem beloved by music fans worldwide.
