Dateline: Boston -- Because I Asked

OK, I just got a response to my item about the Boston cabbie's claim about Pat Boone and Metallica. This one came from my editor:

No, the cabbie is all wrong.

I happen to have a copy of Pat Boone's In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy. It's a classic! His version of Judas Priest's "You've Got Another Thing Coming" never fails to crack me up and appall whomever happens to be in listening distance.

But actually Pat Boone never wrote anything - he's always covered other folks' songs and like a lot of classic crooners, he relies on his producers to assemble the songs. In addition to the brass section and the violins, he has some classic metal folk doing cameos on the album (Ronnie James Dio, Ritchie Blackmore, Dweezil Zappa). He does a cover of Metallica's "Enter Sandman" on the album. And he used to be Ozzie Osborne's next door neighbor. But no, that's all pure Boston cabbie b.s. Never wrote a song in his life, much less Metallica.

As for the Barry Manilow rumor. Piffle. No idea where that one came from but not possible - heck, Barry Manilow only wrote about half his own songs, others were covers of others'. (In a particular odd moment, he made a hit out of an Ian Hunter song, "Ships." Ian Hunter, of course, was the lead singer of the classic Mott the Hoople. OK, classic to me...)

I pointed out that Pat Boone wrote the theme song to the movie "Exodus," and he replied:

That's one he is credited with. I always assumed that was so much b.s. - just the way Elvis used to get co-writing credit on his hits even though he never wrote a note (through the 60's anyway).