• Home
  • About me: Jim Fitzpatrick
  • Contact

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

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« The Sunday Times jackhammers The Donald
Death by dereliction: KCPD hits a new low »

Bands that strike a chord with their names and their songs

October 21, 2020 by jimmycsays

Let’s take a break from politics and enjoy some good Oldies.

Today I bring you four songs by “bands with great names,” as selected by the staff at JimmyCsays (a pretty fair name in itself).

Here we go…

The Shirelles

The group that later became the Shirelles was formed in 1957 by four teenage girls from Passaic, New Jersey, under the name the Poquellos or Pequellos. The founding members were Shirley Owens, Doris Coley, Addie “Micki” Harris and Beverly Lee.  They entered a talent show at Passaic High School at the suggestion of a teacher. After hearing them sing “I Met Him on a Sunday,” which they had written for the show, their classmate Mary Jane Greenberg convinced them to meet with her mother, who owned a record company. They briefly used the name Honeytunes, but by the end of the year they had changed their name to the Shirelles, a combination of the first syllable of Shirley and -el, reminiscent of then-popular group the Chantels.

Here’s one of their biggest hits, “Soldier Boy,” which was released in 1962 and soared to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. On the comments section of this YouTube page, a man named Shane wrote, “When I was leaving for Nam in ’69, my wife would always sing this song to me.”

 

The Monotones

I couldn’t find out how they got their name, but it’s a good one, and “mono” — meaning “alone,” “single” or “one” — is fitting because the group had only one hit. It was a classic, however, “The Book of Love,” which was released in September 1957 and peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1958.

The group members got their musical start singing with the New Hope Baptist Choir in Newark, New Jersey. One member of the group, Charles Patrick, was listening to the radio one day and heard a Pepsodent toothpaste commercial, which contained the ditty “you’ll wonder where the yellow went.” From there, Patrick got the idea for the first line of a new song: “I wonder, wonder, wonder who! who wrote the book of love.” With two other group members, Patrick embellished the line and expanded it.

What gave the song its main energy, of course, were those dramatic, emphatic syllables the writers placed in the middle of the first sentence: badoo-ooh-ooh! This version, from American Bandstand, was poorly lip-synced, but as you can see from the teenagers’ reaction, it didn’t matter.

 

The Human Beinz

This band name, one of my all-time favorites, came about by accident.

The group started in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1964 as The Premiers. In 1966, they changed their name to The Human Beingz because they felt their old name didn’t fit with the feel of the late 1960s. They were signed to Capitol Records in 1967, and at that time Capitol misspelled their name, leaving out the “g.” The Beingz were told the name would be corrected on the next release, if the debut single was not successful. “Nobody But Me” came out in August 1967, became a Top 40 hit, and Capitol left the name alone.

“Nobody But Me” peaked at No. 8 in February 1968. This is a herky-jerky, poorly filmed video, but it gives you a sense of the group’s vigor and personality.

 

The Mamas and Papas

The Mamas and the Papas were formed by husband and wife John Phillips and Michelle Phillips, and Denny Doherty. The last member to join was Cass Elliot, who had been in a band with Doherty. Wikipedia says John Phillips was concerned “that Elliot’s voice was too low for his arrangements, that her physical appearance would be an obstacle to the band’s success and that her temperament was incompatible with his.”

The group considered calling itself the Magic Cyrcle, but, according to a website I found, Cass provided the initial inspiration for the name that stuck. They were supposedly watching TV one night, when an interview with the Hells Angels came on, and one of the bike club members said something like, “We call our women mamas.” Cass remarked, “Well, we got mamas in our group, and we got papas!” John then suggested the name The Papas and The Mamas, but Cass and Michelle wouldn’t hear of it, so they flipped it and became The Mamas and The Papas.

Here’s one of their great hits, “California Dreamin’,” written by John and Michelle. It was released in December 1965 and peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100…When you see the number of views this video has attracted, it makes you wonder how it didn’t reach No. 1.

Rolling Stone ranked it No. 89 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

8 Responses

  1. on October 22, 2020 at 12:35 am gayle

    The boys of the Human Beinz (that name is a hoot) should be glad to know their song has been memoralized on an episode of the now-classic series, The Office. Residual checks, anyone?
    I don’t think M&P would have been nearly as big (pun unintended) without Cass. Just try to do “Words of Love” without her. And she’s powerful on “This is Dedicated…”


    • on October 22, 2020 at 8:44 am jimmycsays

      Good to see you pumped about this post, Gayle, and staying up late to read and listen…I almost went with “Dedicated to the One I Love,” which went to No. 2 in 1967, but I didn’t like the lead video, which featured a lame-looking Michelle Phillips. It was the first time she was given the lead over Cass.

      And you’re certainly right about Cass…I kind of doubt the group would have gone anywhere without her; she provided the power and depth.

      I’ve never seen The Office episode that features “Nobody But Me,” but I’ll have Patty, who loves the series, run it down on Netflix. That should be good…


      • on October 22, 2020 at 10:24 am gayle

        It is. It’s a cold open, where the staff is vying for some virtual recognition


  2. on October 22, 2020 at 7:42 am Maneesh Jhunjhunwala

    I wonder if The Polytones would have had more success with additional hits?!? The Monotones reminds me of the movie, “That Thing You Do!” I think the movie is charming and a delicious homage to the early sixties music scene, but that’s tangential. The band decides to name itself “The Oneders” (word play on Wonders), but the name is continually mispronounced as “The Oh-NEE-ders.” I might have to go rewatch that one now.


  3. on October 22, 2020 at 10:55 am lesweatherford

    Jim,

    Regarding “Nobody,” by the Human Beinz, this from Wikipedia

    The Human Beinz
    The song was covered by Youngstown, Ohio’s The Human Beinz[4] and made them one-hit wonders after the song reached number eight on the Billboard pop singles chart in 1968.[5] It was included on some versions of Lenny Kaye’s Nuggets compilation.

    “Dave Marsh, in his Book of Rock Lists[6], named the version by the Human Beinz “The most negative song to hit the Top 40,” noting that the word “no” is sung over 100 times in a mere 2:16. Marsh also counts the word “nobody” 46 times more; he adds “for balance, they throw in the word Yeah once.”

    I think that this was also listed in the Guinness world records at one time.


  4. on October 22, 2020 at 9:07 pm Rick Nichols

    Yes, Jim, I do recall these songs from a previous lifetime. Thank you for retrieving them from the vault.


  5. on October 24, 2020 at 9:42 am Brooks

    You left out Question Mark & the Mysterians. 96 Tears is such a good song! And what an amazing band name!! They use an actual “?” in the name, the moniker of the lead singer…he claimed he was from Mars and walked with the dinosaurs, also a great dancer!


    • on October 24, 2020 at 10:32 am jimmycsays

      You are so right, Brooks…I don’t know why that didn’t occur to me. I didn’t know they used an actual question mark in the name.



Comments are closed.

  • Pages

    • About me: Jim Fitzpatrick
    • Contact
  • Archives

    • February 2023
    • January 2023
    • December 2022
    • November 2022
    • October 2022
    • September 2022
    • August 2022
    • July 2022
    • June 2022
    • May 2022
    • April 2022
    • March 2022
    • February 2022
    • January 2022
    • December 2021
    • November 2021
    • October 2021
    • September 2021
    • August 2021
    • July 2021
    • June 2021
    • May 2021
    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
    • December 2014
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
    • December 2013
    • November 2013
    • October 2013
    • September 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • May 2013
    • April 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
    • December 2012
    • November 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • April 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
    • December 2010
    • November 2010
    • October 2010
    • September 2010
    • August 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010
    • May 2010
    • April 2010
    • March 2010
  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 563 other subscribers

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


  • Follow Following
    • JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC
    • Join 563 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
%d bloggers like this: