Contributor David Was used to be half of a band called Was Not Was. They had a club hit in 1979 called "Wheel Me Out," and it has now been remixed into a big hit in England. David Was explains what a remix is, how it's done, and how it feels to have your work run through a technological blender.
ALEX CHADWICK, host: This is DAY TO DAY.  I'm Alex Chadwick.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: Now to contributing writer David Was with a personal tale that he calls I      Was Remixed.</s>DAVID WAS: In 1980, an old school chum of mine from Detroit called me in California      and said he was about to rob a dry cleaner's if I didn't return      immediately and cut a couple of records with him, as we did avocationally      through high school. I decided to save him from a life of crime, and we      did indeed record two funky dance singles, one of which was called "Wheel      Me Out" featuring my mother on lead vocals.</s>Ms. LIZ WEISS: You did it to me, and I'm next.</s>DAVID WAS: I wrote the lyrics and played sax.  My partner Don Was, future      Grammy-winning producer, did all the rest.</s>DAVID WAS: Lo and behold, we were signed to Island Records right out of the      box. "Wheel Me Out" caught on with the dance deejays in London and New      York, and we were on our way to worldwide obscurity and near minimum      wage.  We called ourselves Was (Not Was), spelled W-A-S, which we also      took as our nom de plume.</s>Unidentified Man: (Singing) You ...(unintelligible) and I'm next.</s>Ms. LIZ WEISS: And I'm next.  You--you did it--you did it.</s>DAVID WAS: A quarter century later, after a bit of luck on the pop charts here      and abroad, we got a call from our music publisher in London.  He said a      deejay record producer named Eric Prydz wanted to remix our old groove.      We agreed immediately, especially as we would retain 100 percent of the      new copyright. And, oh, yes, the publisher wanted to know, Eric would      like to rename the new track "W-O-Z not W-O-Z," "Woz not Woz," if we      didn't object.  `Sure,' I said, `I don't care if he names it "The Woz      Brothers Are Has-Beens."'  What the heck.</s>Unidentified Woman: (Singing) ...(Unintelligible)...</s>DAVID WAS: Basically, all the good Mr. Prydz did was sample a few four-bar      segments of the original...</s>Unidentified Woman: (Singing) ...(Unintelligible)...</s>DAVID WAS: ...and start overlaying it with new beats, sending the signal      through filters and compressors and digital delays.</s>Unidentified Woman: (Singing) ...(Unintelligible)...</s>DAVID WAS: It's the modern-day version of how bluesmen used to embellish each      other's material.  Even Duke Ellington did it.  Reportedly, Duke would      keep a keen ear on his soloists as they played, then use their      spontaneous improvisations as the kernel for a new song.  He'd slip them      a hundred for a composition that might wind up being a standard.</s>DAVID WAS: Well, like all good fairy tales, this one has a happy ending.  Eric      Prydz is now a household name on the dance charts in Europe, having had      two smash singles last summer, one a revamp of an old Stevie Winwood hit      and the other the aforementioned "Wheel Me Out," now known as "Woz not      Woz."  If you Google the new spelling and not our band name, you'll find      a million different remixes, and you can even download the song as a      polyphonic ringtone.  Who knew?</s>DAVID WAS: And now my good friend Mr. Prydz has added a new lyric to the remix      track.  He's putting it out on his new album that'll probably sell a      million copies or more.  And, yes, he wants a better deal now that he's      the big man and I'm the mere senior citizen who wrote the original track.      I told my publishers to give him what he wants and keep an eye out for      my new self-help guide, "How to Have a Hit Record While Playing Golf in      Maui."</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: Musician and DAY TO DAY contributor David Was.</s>Unidentified Woman: ...(Unintelligible)...</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: DAY TO DAY returns in a moment.  I'm Alex Chadwick.