Fantastic Oldies Game!

[Those RRRRs]

Mickey Dolenz, who is 63 now, has had quite a varied career, from playing Corky in the TV series Circus Boy in the '50s, to his well-known stint as singer/drummer for The Monkees in the '60s, to his hosting the morning show on WCBS-FM in New York (before they switched to the now-abandoned "Jack" format); I enjoyed Mickey's performance in the national tour of Elton John's musical Aida when it stopped here in the Midwest a few years ago.

James Darren's "Goodbye Cruel World" reached #3 on the charts in 1961, scoring him his first top ten hit.

The lyrics were great and read as:

Oh, goodbye cruel world, I'm off to join the circus
Gonna be a broken-hearted clown
Paint my face with a good-for-nothin' smile
'cause a mean, fickle woman turned my whole world upside down

(Goodbye cruel world)

Farewell to love, I'm off to join the circus
Gotta find a way to hide my tears
Bet I'll have them rolling in the aisle
And I'll forget that woman if it takes a hundred years

Oh oh oh, step right up and take a look at a fool
He's got a heart as stubborn as a mule
C'mon everybody, he's good for a laugh
And no one could tell his heart is broken in half

Well, the joke's on me, I'm off to join the circus
Oh, Mr. Barnum, save a place for me
Shoot me out of a cannon, I don't care
Let the people point at me and stare
I'll tell the world that woman, wherever she may be
That mean, fickle woman made a cryin' clown outta me

 

[GridLeakBias]

Mickey Dolenz, who is 63 now, has had quite a varied career, from playing Corky in the TV series Circus Boy in the '50s, to his well-known stint as singer/drummer for The Monkees in the '60s, to his hosting the morning show on WCBS-FM in New York (before they switched to the now-abandoned "Jack" format); I enjoyed Mickey's performance in the national tour of Elton John's musical Aida when it stopped here in the Midwest a few years ago.

James Darren's "Goodbye Cruel World" reached #3 on the charts in 1961, scoring him his first top ten hit.

The lyrics were great and read as:

Oh, goodbye cruel world, I'm off to join the circus
Gonna be a broken-hearted clown
Paint my face with a good-for-nothin' smile
'cause a mean, fickle woman turned my whole world upside down

(Goodbye cruel world)

Farewell to love, I'm off to join the circus
Gotta find a way to hide my tears
Bet I'll have them rolling in the aisle
And I'll forget that woman if it takes a hundred years

Oh oh oh, step right up and take a look at a fool
He's got a heart as stubborn as a mule
C'mon everybody, he's good for a laugh
And no one could tell his heart is broken in half

Well, the joke's on me, I'm off to join the circus
Oh, Mr. Barnum, save a place for me
Shoot me out of a cannon, I don't care
Let the people point at me and stare
I'll tell the world that woman, wherever she may be
That mean, fickle woman made a cryin' clown outta me

The Everly Brothers were both competent guitarists, and used a simple style of harmony mostly based on parallel thirds. With this approach, each line can often stand on its own as a plausible melody line. "Bye Bye Love", written by the husband-and-wife songwriting team of Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, had been rejected by 30 other acts, including Elvis Presley. It became the first million-seller for the Everly’s, reaching #2 on the pop charts and #1 on both the Country and the R & B charts. They went on with other hits on the Cadence Label with "Wake Up Little Susie", "All I Have to Do Is Dream", and "Bird Dog". The brothers left Cadence and signed with Warner Brothers in 1960 and hit the top of the charts again with “Cathy’s Clown”, another million seller and #1 R&B. The lyrics, written by Don and Phil, speak of a clown in love, not a clown in the circus.

 

[AlexBrowne]

During the late 60's, Glen Campbell recorded a number of songs written by composer Jimmy Webb (the two met during the filming of a General Motors commercial), including Campbell's two biggest hits of the decade, "Wichita Lineman" and "Galveston," as well as "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" and "Where's The Playground Susie."

 

[Those RRRRs]

Late 50's / early 60's (again I don't have my books here) but there was a great R&B tune by "The Crystals" called "I Love My Baby," and part of the lyric was:

Henry Ford has got a fine Ford,
General Motors makes Cadillacs,
But I love my baby the way he is,
And I love the way he rolls.

 

[GridLeakBias]

Late 50's / early 60's (again I don't have my books here) but there was a great R&B tune by "The Crystals" called "I Love My Baby," and part of the lyric was:

Henry Ford has got a fine Ford,
General Motors makes Cadillacs,
But I love my baby the way he is,
And I love the way he rolls.

(Thanks, RRRRs. Aladdin 3355, 1957.)

Crystals was a popular vocal group name from mid 50s into the mid 60s, I’ve counted 11 groups using that name. One Crystals group I remember also recorded as the Opals, with “Come To Me, Darling”/”Squeeze Me, Baby”, an obscure 1954 Doo-Wop single Luna 100.

 

[amfmsw]

A classic NY style do-wop hit came from The Shells with "Baby, Oh Baby". (that one is toooooeasy)

 

[GridLeakBias]

A classic NY style do-wop hit came from The Shells with "Baby, Oh Baby". (that one is toooooeasy)

Rosie and the Originals were best known for their single, "Angel Baby". Fronted by lead singer Rosie Hamlin, the group produced two singles (including "Angel Baby") for Highland Records and, like many other artists of the era, ended up in protracted legal battles with their record label over royalties and credits. According to undocumented sources, Rosie Hamlin wrote the lyrics to “Angel Baby” when she was but 14. She and her vocal group recorded a demo the following year which was picked up and released by Highland Records in 1960 before the group had even received their contract. Later contractual language with Highland excluded Rosie from songwriter credits (and future royalties), and although Hamlin secured the copyright to her music in 1961, decades of battles over royalties followed.

Some little known trivia...Rosie currently resides in Los Lunas, NM, (20 miles south of Albuquerque) and she has recorded a Spanish language cover of “Angel Baby” which is often played on a local oldies radio station. Sorry, I’m having trouble with recall of the Spanish lyrics, but the 1st verse begins with:
“Tu es mi cielo,
tu es mi amor,
cuando está conmigo,
lo es mejor...”

 

[AlexBrowne]

Although Seattle's Merrilee Rush had only one big hit, "Angel Of The Morning," recorded with her group The Turnabouts in 1968, it earned her some visibility: she was nominated for a Grammy for Female Vocalist of the Year (against Barbra Streisand, Dionne Warwick, Aretha Franklin, and Mary Hopkin) and was the opening act for Paul Revere And The Raiders, who discovered her; she did have three other singles chart, "That Kind Of Woman" and "Reach Out" (both in 1968) and "Save Me" (in 1977), but none cleared the top 50.

 

[amfmsw]

One of my favs is the "Pleasin' Four Seasons" Save It For Me. I always joke What is IT anyway, and where are you saving it?

Or "That's the best title they could come up with back then. They weren't allowed to say what IT was in 1963."

And here's an open invitation for the great readers of this board not to be bored. JOIN IN the game.

 

[AlexBrowne]

"Save It For Me" is one of my favs, too, amfmsw! I'm linking it, however, to a song I don't like at all...


"I Started A Joke," from 1968, was the Bee Gees' biggest hit of the '60s, when their sound was decidedly different (fans may call these songs "melancholy," critics call them "dreary") from that of their late '70s disco period; the lyrics are vague -- they appear to tell a story of someone who did something as a joke which went horribly wrong (and then died, "which started the whole world living") -- but Robin Gibb, who wrote and sang the song, has confirmed that the droning melody was inspired by the sounds of the engine he heard while on a plane.

 

[GridLeakBias]

"Save It For Me" is one of my favs, too, amfmsw! I'm linking it, however, to a song I don't like at all...


"I Started A Joke," from 1968, was the Bee Gees' biggest hit of the '60s, when their sound was decidedly different (fans may call these songs "melancholy," critics call them "dreary") from that of their late '70s disco period; the lyrics are vague -- they appear to tell a story of someone who did something as a joke which went horribly wrong (and then died, "which started the whole world living") -- but Robin Gibb, who wrote and sang the song, has confirmed that the droning melody was inspired by the sounds of the engine he heard while on a plane.

In May 1958, in a "studio" which Luke recalls was a downtown apartment with the bathroom serving as an echo chamber, 16 year old Robin Luke recorded "Susie Darlin' ", backing up his own vocals with guitar and ukulele while Bob Bertram (of the International record label ) tapped out percussion on a record album cover and provided the unique "clicking sound" in the background by hitting two pens with a stick. Luke credits Moffatt and Ron Jacobs of K-POI radio with making "Susie Darlin' " a hit in Hawaii by playing it two to three times an hour. Art Freeman, the Cleveland distributor for Dot Records, heard "Susie Darlin' " on the radio while honeymooning in Hawaii. Freeman took a copy of the record to Dot President Randy Wood, who then signed Luke. Dot purchased the master for distribution on the mainland and as Luke started his senior year at Punahou, "Susie Darlin' " had climbed to No. 7 on the national pop chart. A mint-condition International original of "Susie Darlin' " once sold for $1,100 at an auction in Newport Beach, Calif.

 

[AlexBrowne]

The best-known entertainer from Hawaii was undoubtedly Don Ho, a singer and actor from the island of Oahu who passed away at the age of 76 last April: his one charted single, "Tiny Bubbles" (by Don Ho and the Aliis), peaked at #57 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966; he played nightclubs in Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, and New York; and in 1976-77, he hosted The Don Ho Show, a daytime variety series on ABC-TV.

 

[amfmsw]

"Tiptoe Through The Tulips" was a top 20 hit for Tiny Tim in 1968. It was on, of all unbelievable quirks, the Reprise label, owned by Frank Sinatra. Also home to Sammy Davis, Dean Martin, First Edition and Hendrix!

 

[GridLeakBias]

"Tiptoe Through The Tulips" was a top 20 hit for Tiny Tim in 1968. It was on, of all unbelievable quirks, the Reprise label, owned by Frank Sinatra. Also home to Sammy Davis, Dean Martin, First Edition and Hendrix!

Frank Ifield, a native of Australia, listened to hillbilly music (now called country) while milking the cows. He learned how to yodel in imitation of country stars like Hank Snow and by the age of 19 he was the number one recording star in Australia. His recording of "I Remember You" topped the charts for seven weeks in 1962; it became the top-selling single of that year and was one of the first million sellers within the UK.

 

[AlexBrowne]

Frank Ifield was actually born in England and moved to Australia when he was about 9 years old; his four charted American singles, all in 1962 and 1963, were nostalgic remakes of recordings that had been hits in the U.S. in the 1930s and '40s: "I Remember You" (for Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra -- the vocal was by Bob Eberly -- in 1942), "Lovesick Blues" (#1 country hit for Hank Williams & His Drifting Cowboys in 1949), "I'm Confessin' (That I Love You)" (Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians -- the vocal was by Carmen Lombardo -- in 1930), and "Please" (#1 hit for Bing Crosby in 1932).

 

[GridLeakBias]

Frank Ifield was actually born in England and moved to Australia when he was about 9 years old; his four charted American singles, all in 1962 and 1963, were nostalgic remakes of recordings that had been hits in the U.S. in the 1930s and '40s: "I Remember You" (for Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra -- the vocal was by Bob Eberly -- in 1942), "Lovesick Blues" (#1 country hit for Hank Williams & His Drifting Cowboys in 1949), "I'm Confessin' (That I Love You)" (Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians -- the vocal was by Carmen Lombardo -- in 1930), and "Please" (#1 hit for Bing Crosby in 1932).

Frank Ifield had a number one hit in 1962 with "Wayward Wind”, which Gogi Grant first recorded in 1956. Grant’s version reached #1 on Billboard, and the song “Wayward Wind” reached #1 on Cash Box that same year after being recorded by two other artists, i.e., Tex Ritter and Jimmy Young.

 

[AlexBrowne]

Bassist Eldee Young and drummer Red Holt had been sidekicks of pianist Ramsey Lewis going back to their work as members of The Clefs in the early '50s, through their days as the Gentlemen of Swing in the late '50s, and then as the Ramsey Lewis Trio in the mid-'60s; in 1966, Young and Holt left to form their own group, The Young Holt Trio, with pianist Don Walker, but Walker left before Young and Holt renamed themselves Young-Holt Unlimited and had their biggest success in 1968 with the million-seller instrumental "Soulful Strut."

 

[amfmsw]

"Soulful Strut" was the instrumnetal track to Babraba Aklin's earlier release of "Am I The Same Girl". Bothe were signed to Brunswick>

 

[GridLeakBias]

"Soulful Strut" was the instrumnetal track to Babraba Aklin's earlier release of "Am I The Same Girl". Bothe were signed to Brunswick>

Jim Reeves, former welder, minor league baseball player and radio station announcer began his music career recording on small independent labels in East Texas. After success with “Mexican Joe”, he moved up to KWKH, Shreveport as announcer and performer on the Louisiana Hayride. He began recording for RCA in May 1954 and his cuts helped get him on the Grand Ole Opry as a member in late 1955. A demanding perfectionist in the recording studio, Reeves worked closely with RCA producer Chet Atkins in choosing material, and their efforts paid off. Hits like “Blue Boy,” “Billy Bayou,” “Home,” and “Am I Losing You” solidified his stardom while demonstrating his versatility. In 1959–60 he scored his biggest hit, “He’ll Have to Go,” which topped the country charts and went to #2 Pop.

 

[AlexBrowne]

The Supremes may have been the most successful of the Motown girl trios, but Martha & The Vandellas -- Martha Reeves, Annette Beard (replaced in 1964 by Betty Kelly), and Rosalind Ashford -- have a lot of fans who think they were the best; their biggest hits from the '60s, including "Come And Get These Memories," "Heat Wave," "Quicksand," "Dancing In The Street," "I'm Ready For Love," "Jimmy Mack," and my personal favorite "Nowhere To Run," all on the Gordy label, constitute an amazing body of truly great music!