Today was Marie Prevost day.  She died of alcoholism on January 21, 1937. Her dog wouldn't stop barking...for two days...so the neighbors called the police. They found her in her apartment on the 23rd. Nick Lowe changed her last name to Provost , maybe to protect the innocent. He also changed the facts. January 23 became July 29. The two days between her demise and discovery became two or three weeks.  The alcoholism that killed her - the police found several empty bottles in the apartment - became a pill overdose or something. Most importantly, especially for the chorus, the scratches that her dog made - it seems while trying to revive her - became a tale wherein doggie feasted on her corpse.  Maybe Nick thought using her real name would be in bad taste.

There was a time when I would've scoffed at Carol King's induction...hard to take seriously.  Sure, she wrote "Don't Bring Me Down" for the Animals, and "Pleasant Valley Sunday". The Beatles covered one of her songs on their debut. The Byrds  put a couple of songs on Notorious Byrd Brothers - their best album. There were two songs on Head - two songs that one would take seriously if one didn't know they were by the Monkees. Even the Trashmen - or their handlers - got the word. Nevertheless, I'd always filed her under either Brill building pop or singer/songwriter, until I saw her on Letterman, backed by the band and Slash.