JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

Sometimes the “oldies” seem to jump up out of nowhere and grab me.

That was the case last night when Patty and I were at another couple’s house and were introduced to the TV series “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” which is available on Amazon. The show is set in the 1950s, and one scene was set to the backdrop of one of my favorite songs, “Teach Me Tonight.”

Many artists have recorded the song, but the best version — the one that reached the highest rank on the pop charts, No. 2 in 1955 — is by The DeCastro Sisters. And that’s the one, wisely, the creators of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” used in that scene.

My heart soared when I heard the first notes of that song, and I was disappointed it was such a brief cut. But no problem; I’ve got it on vinyl…45 RPM. (And, yes, by all means, I do have a working turntable!)

So today I went down to the basement and dug out several 45s that were at the front of a plastic crate, otherwise filled with 33 RPM records.

With the able assistance of YouTube, I’d like to play some of those songs for you now.

We’ll start, of course, with “Teach Me Tonight.” It was written by Gene De Paul, with lyrics by the incredible Sammy Cahn, who wrote the lyrics to dozens of memorable songs, including two big Sinatra hits, “Call Me Irresponsible” and “Love and Marriage.”

Here you go…

“Starting with,
The a-b-c of it.
Right down to,
The x-y-z of it.
Help me solve the mystery of it.
Teach me tonight.”

**

Now let’s pick up the pace and go to a song I bet you haven’t heard in years, maybe decades — “Bony Moronie.”

Written and recorded by Larry Williams on the Specialty label, it peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 list in 1957 and got to No. 4 on the R&B chart.

Williams, from New Orleans, was a longtime friend of Little Richard. The Beatles and several other “British Invasion” groups recorded some of Williams’ songs. According to Wikipedia, “Williams’ life mixed tremendous success with violence and drug addiction.” He died at age 44 of a gunshot wound to the head…very likely self-inflicted but “there was much speculation otherwise,” according to Wiki.

“I want to get married on a night in June,
And rock and roll by the light of a silvery moon”

**

Next up is a Roy Orbison classic, “Blue Angel.” It will always be special to me because I got my first kiss to it at a party in a schoolmate’s basement when I was in high school. The girl’s name was Sharon Bridger. We were dancing behind a sheet that was hung out on the line, and somehow, magically, our lips found each other’s. In 1960, “Blue Angel” rose to No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 list.

“sha-la-la, dooby wah, dum-dum-dum
yeh-yeh, um, wah-wah-wah-wah”

**

Dionne Warwick and Burt Bacharach were a phenomenal musical team, and one of their big hits was “Alfie,” written by Bacharach and Hal David to promote the 1966 movie by the same name. Wiki says the composers weren’t keen on writing the song because, in David’s words, “Writing a song about a man called ‘Alfie’ didn’t seem too exciting at the time.” The inspiration for the song’s opening words was a line in the film uttered by lead actor Michael Caine: “What’s it all about?”

The song got to No. 32 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“And if only fools are kind, Alfie,
Then I guess it is wise to be cruel”

**

A personal favorite of mine — can’t really tell you why, except I love most of the old the droopy drawers songs — is “A Million to One” by Jimmy Charles and The Revellettes. It was written by Phil Medley, better known for co-writing “Twist & Shout,” which both The Isley Brothers and The Beatles had hits with.

“A Million to One” was released in 1960 and topped out at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Interestingly, most of the sites I went to for the lyrics said that one stanza goes like this…

“They’re betting everything that our love won’t survive
They’re hoping
(Hoping)
In time we’ll forget
Each others’ lies”

But that last line makes no sense. For 57 years I’ve been singing it like this “…each other’s alive.”

If Medley was alive — he died at age 81 in 1997 — I’m sure he’d set the “record” straight.

Hope you enjoyed the show! Tell me about some of your own favorites…