(1606) Almost evening all. (1659)
Nostalgia?
The Corries had a little ditty, one verse going:
The hills are bare now
And Autumn leaves lie thick and still
O’er land that is lost now
Which those so dearly held
Uh huh … that could also apply to any of our lives “back then” in our yoof (not in the ’45) … better to leave it undisturbed? Or allow us to go back in the time machine?
Until this summer, there wasn’t really time to look back, except as part of the blogging, but this summer, some of us have gone on holiday, other things have happened … I found myself looking back … in fact, I looked up an exgf from decades ago … and there she was. Uh huh.
Today, I tried to pin down, not songs released at the time but songs staying on the mind. I mean there were hundreds released from, say, 1963 to 1966 but only a few have remained on the mind … a tumultuous time when I changed schools twice, not a stable time.
Though I know there were Chubby Checker, Dion, Del Shannon, other individual male singers … Elvis for some … though I was never into him … the male bands didn’t really register in the conscious of quite a few boys until the Beatles and Stones … and that was mainly 1964/5, with Satisfaction coming out in 66.
No, it was before then and the flurry of female artists who remain significant for me … Helen Shapiro, Leslie Gore, Little Millie, Little Eva, The Exciters … there were girl singers constantly in 63. Paul and Paula, April Stevens … Nino Tempo, Roy Orbison were some males I recall.
To my mind, something was certainly lost between 63 and 64, as I changed schools.
It also changed in my consciousness … Beatles, Stones, other bands … remember Thane Russell and Three? That was 66 onwards. Where were the girls then? Melanie was the only one I remember from the time … the Ruby Tuesday cover came in 67, outside the range of this post item.
Before 1963? Purple People Eater and Running Bear were never my music, too early … The Shadows were in 1962, no singing bands I remember. Dion, Ricky Nelson yes. Eddy Cochrane not really … way before my time.
Going to sign off with a song from 1963 … now which one? 🤔
Elvis was discovered, and ruined, by an (alleged) illegal immigrant from Lithuania, which was one of the reasons why Elvis never performed outside the USA, Parker realising that if he accompanied Elvis abroad, he’d never be allowed back in.
As he matured, so did his voice, and it was felt that there wasn’t a song he couldn’t sing (“If I can Dream” from his comeback special, after discharge from his military service, is just one example)(perhaps an example of this song in a future blog would not go amiss).
What could Elvis have achieved under proper management?
Ernest Evans is said to have used the stage name of Chubby Checker as a play on words of Fats Domino. Sadly, his career seemed to revolve around that atrocious activity called The Twist, and it didn’t last, as did those who failed to adapt to music tastes (I’m afraid I include Ricky Nelson in this).
Many British pop stars seemed to try to be clones of the early Elvis, and few survived very long, though Harry Webb seems to have done quite well.
I could go on, but would note everybody. Music tastes, like humour, is subjective after all.
……
JH: Your wish shall be my command, sir.