FOUR DAYS IN ROCK 'N' ROLL CLEVELAND AND NOTABLE ONE HIT WONDERS

Last month, we took a pilgrimage to Cleveland, Ohio, to visit the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. Although Cleveland has often been the butt of jokes, many of which were true, we enjoyed our 4 day stay at the Doubletree Hotel. The city has cleaned itself up, and we were impressed, especially with the restaurants in the trendy Warehouse District. Cleveland has become an international city, at least while we were there.

The Hungarian president, Pal Schmitt showed up outside our hotel to lay a wreath in front of the statue of Hungarian patriot Lajos Kossuth who visited Cleveland in 1852.Schmitt gave a speech to a group of Hungarian-American boy scouts and others. Although we don't understand much Hungarian, we hung around to watch him because the street was blocked off by Secret Service guys in incongruous suits while everyone else was dressed casually. Cleveland has a large and active Hungarian community.

The R & R Hall of Fame was an all day event for us with about 6 floors of exhibits, none of which are devoted to the Hungarian contributions to rock 'n' roll music. They don't let you take photos in most of them. One piece of information I took out of there was that John Lennon was a big fan of Buddy Holly's Crickets and was inspired to also name his group after an insect. The Beatles? So there you have it! John Lennon was also reportedly a closet Republican.

The exhibit that captured our attention most was the One Hit Wonders display. The computerized exhibit allowed you to scan the alphabet to find One Hit Wonders by group or artist and play the song. We spent over an hour going through the alphabet. While there are literally thousands of these to pick from, below I have featured some of those with interesting stories.

One Toke Over the Line, Brewer & Shipley (1971) According to Mike Brewer and Tom Shipley, the Kansas City based singer-songwriters, the song is about smoking marijuana. They wrote it supposedly while they were high. One toke over the line sweet Jesus, one toke over the line, sittin' downtown in a railroad station, one toke over the line... Radio stations played it because they weren't sure if it was a gospel song or a drug song. While Vice President Spiro Agnew railed against it as subversive to American youth, Lawrence Welk, who was conservative middle America promoted the song. The wholesome looking Gail Ferrell and Dick Dale (Gail & Dale) performed it on his show. They thought the words were "one toe over the line." The song is mentioned in Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas by gonzo writer Hunter S. Thompson. Apparently it was his favorite song.

Playground in my Mind, Clint Holmes (1973). This novelty song by Holmes with lyrics like "My name is Michael, I've got a nickel..." rose to Number 2 on Billboard. Holmes is now a very popular Las Vegas headliner. He was elected by a tourist magazine as "Best Singer in Las Vegas" two years in a row, as well as "Best All-Around Las Vegas Performer". We've enjoyed his show, and he always trots out that song because it is so incompatible with his image today. Holmes is a high energy performer although he had a broken leg the night we saw him. Holmes has a interesting background. Born in England, his father was an African American jazz musician and his mother an English opera singer. He learned to sing from his mother, and he learned how to have fun doing it from his father.

Susie Darlin', Robin Luke (1958). The 16 year old Mr. Luke was living in Hawaii when he wrote this song about his 5 year old sister Susie. Apparently he had many girlfriends, but to avoid the appearance of favoritism, that was his story and he was sticking to it. He made the rounds of the Dick Clark Show for awhile, meeting Buddy Holly and others, but his family insisted that he continue his education. Today, Dr. Luke is a college professor and the head of the Marketing Department at Southwest Missouri State University. Sister Susie Robison lives in Columbia, MO. and works for the state.

The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia, Vicki Lawrence (1973). Don't confuse this song with Midnight Train to Georgia by Gladys Knight, Rainy Night in Georgia by Brook Benton, or Georgia on my Mind by Hoagy Carmichael or Ray Charles. My wife, Dianne is from Georgia, so I had to write about this one. After recording this song, Vicki Lawrence became better known for her comedy work on TV shows ranging from the Carol Burnett Show and Mama's Family to Love Boat, $100,000 Pyramid and even LaVerne & Shirley.

The song was written by Bobby Russell, Ms. Lawrence's first husband. It was offered to Cher, but was turned down by Sonny Bono. Ms. Lawrence became pro-Bono when her song soared to Number 1 on Billboard and sold over 2 million records. Last year, Ms. Lawrence stirred up some controversy among advocates for the homeless when she made a parody about Ted Williams, the homeless man who became famous for about 15minutes when he landed a job doing some voice-over work. He couldn't hit a baseball like his namesake, however, and the Ted Williams Expressway in Boston is not believed to be named after him.

Speaking about lights going out, the BeeGees who were NOT a One Hit Wonder had a song called Massachusetts with the recurring line "and the lights all went down in Massachusetts..." Songwriters take inspiration from everything including power failures.

In the Summertime, Mungo Jerry (1970). I picked this one because I liked the name of the artist. One would expect to find a comma between Mungo and Jerry. Actually there is nobody with that name. This English band was formed by Ray Dorset and is still performing today led by Dorset, although the others in the group are interchangeable. The name of the group comes from a T.S. Eliot poem. Outside of England, this group was a One Hit Wonder. Mungo Jerry had several other recordings that sold well in England though not in the U.S. They bring out this song every summer, and the recording has sold 30 million copies over the years, bringing in a nice annuity for Mr. Dorset. Another favorite Summer song was It's Summertime by the Jamies (1958).It's summertime, summertime, sum sum summertime, summertime, summertime sum sum summertime...etc. So much for original lyrics.

Teen Angel, Mark Dinning (1959). This was a teenage tragedy song like several others by One Hit Wonders, e.g. Endless Sleep by Jody Reynolds; Patches, by Dickie Lee; and Last Kiss by J. Frank Wilson. Teen Angel was written by Mark's sister Jean and brother-in-law Red Surrey. When the song was released, nobody was sure what to make of it, but it rocketed to Number 1 on the charts. Unfortunately, Mr. Dinning's life was a tragedy also. He had a severe alcohol problem and, after appearing at performances in an inebriated state, they stopped booking him. He died of a heart attack at age 52. Back in the 1970's, I met his nephew Howard Dinning, an incredibly talented artist who was performing at a local supper club near Chicago. Between sets, I went up to him and asked if he was related to Mark Dinning. "Yeah, that's my uncle," he said. He agreed to sing Teen Angel for us.

Hang on Sloopy, McCoys (1965). We know that every state has a state song, but did you know that Ohio has a state rock song? Well, this is it. The Ohio State University Marching Band plays it before the fourth quarter of every football game. The song is also played at every Cleveland Indians baseball game. The Ohio Legislature passed a resolution in 1986 in response to the State of Washington making Louie, Louie by the Kingsmen their official state rock song.

Hang on Sloopy (not Snoopy), originally recorded as My Girl Sloopy, was written by Wes Farrell (once married to Tina Sinatra) and Bert Russell. For whatever reason, they wanted to honor jazz singer Dorothy Sloop (1913-1998), from Steubenville, Ohio (also Dean Martin's hometown) who called herself Sloopy on stage. Incidentally, Russell also co-wrote Twist and Shout, a big hit for the Isley Bros. and also the Beatles. Hang on Sloopy has much longer staying power than the group that performed it.

The McCoys was originally Rick & the Raiders, from Union City, Indiana, but to avoid confusion with Paul Revere & the Raiders, they had to change the name. Sixteen year old Rick Derringer and his combo were recruited by the producers of the song to sing it on an already completed backing track by the Strangeloves (I Want Candy) who were still riding that hit and didn't want to release a new record so soon. They needed to get the record released quickly to beat out the Dave Clark Five who were also planning to record the song. They succeeded.

I Want Candy, The Strangeloves (1965). Their story IS strange, if not outrageous. The group was composed of Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein and Richard Gotteher who proved to be brilliant marketers (see Hang on Sloopy above). They claimed to be shepherds from Australia named Giles, Miles and Niles Strange, and their story was they made a fortune crossbreeding sheep. Not many bought that story (their New York accents may have given them away), but they were successful anyway. They recruited and created the McCoys (see above), naming them after a Ventures song. They also produced My Boyfriend's Back, a big hit by the Angels.

San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair), Scott McKenzie (1967). This song was written by John Phillips to promote the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. It became the anthem of the hippie generation and has been featured in several movies including Forrest Gump. McKenzie's real name was Philip Blondheim, but nobody could remember his name. In show biz, name recognition is key, so he brainstormed after a gig with several friends to come up with a new name. Somebody said he looked like a Scottie dog, and he got his first name. McKenzie was the middle name of John Phillips' daughter Laura, now known as actress MacKenzie Phillips. I didn't make this up, it's on Scott McKenzie's website.

Dianne and I met Scott McKenzie in 1986 on an elevator in Dallas. As he stepped on, I greeted him by name, and he was quite surprised that anybody would recognize him. He was gracious, and we talked a little bit.

While living in Virginia around 1960, he became friends with and sang with Phillips who later formed the Mamas and Papas with his wife Michelle, Denny Doherty and Cass Elliott. After Elliott died, the group broke up, but in 1986, McKenzie joined a reconstituted version of the group and was their musical arranger when I met him and saw his performance. Among other accomplishments, McKenzie co-wrote the Beach Boys' song Kokomo with Phillips. He retired in 1998 and lives in Los Angeles.

Sugar, Sugar, Archies (1969). This recording was the Number One song for the whole year, and there is no artist that claims responsibility for performing it. The Archies are cartoon characters--Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica, etc. The song was written by Jeff Berry and Andy Kim and performed by studio musicians managed by Don Kirshner. Berry offered the song to the Monkees who turned it down. Sometimes the best deals are the ones you don't make.

To paraphrase Barbara Walters, the most fascinating character in that group is Forsythe Van Jones II whom we know as Archie's loyal friend Jughead. (Nobody would name their kid Jughead, would they?) His shtick is his laziness, winning eating contests and avoiding female companionship, not because he doesn't like them, but because he likes eating better. He wears a beanie shaped crown on his head and has a big "S" on his sweatshirt. He plays the drums in the Archies band. He does have a sometime girl friend, Big Ethel, a large gangly but friendly girl whom he usually tries to avoid.

How Do You Do, Mouth & MacNeal (1972). This was a short lived pop duo from the Netherlands. "Mouth" was Willem Duyn (1937-2004), a large man with a full beard, loud clothing and a loud mouth. He also plays the violin in the song. His partner, Maggie MacNeal, by contrast is a sweet looking blond girl, 13 years younger. Together they had good chemistry. Maggie's real name is Skoukje Van't Spijker, and in recent years she performed in Europe as Skoukje Smit. This song rose to the top of the U.S. charts in 1972. I highly recommend one of several YouTube videos of the duo because they mingle with the audience and really enjoy performing the song. They performed together for only a year or two and had some success in Europe, but How Do You Do was their only U.S. hit.

You can find all the above songs on YouTube. Enjoy!

KENNETH SUSKIN

ROCK 'N ROLL HEAVEN--THE 1963 TOP 40

It started one spring day several years ago on a trip from Georgia to Chicago. My wife, Dianne, and I had been visiting her family in Marietta. We decided to take a different route home, driving through Birmingham, Memphis and then North to Chicago. Driving through northern Mississippi, we rolled into Tupelo. I said to Dianne, "Do you know who came from Tupelo?" She replied, "No, who?" "Elvis", I said. Sure enough, we passed a sign for the turnoff to Elvis's birthplace.

Since Dianne and I have been known to drive 50 miles out of the way to see stuff like the World's Largest Ball of Twine, certainly we could stop to visit the birthplace of a historical legend like Elvis Presley. After all, I've been a rock music fanatic since I was the first kid on the block to have a Bo Diddley album--in 1959.

The Presley house was a nondescript small shotgun house, common in the South. Shotgun houses get their name because a shotgun fired through the front door will exit through the back door. The house had a small gift shop in the back room and a historical marker in the front yard. We spent no more than a half hour there before continuing on to Memphis and Graceland.

Although we're not serious fans of Elvis who, of course, died in 1977, it got me thinking about top-40 rock music from the Elvis era.

Elvis is one of those unique people who need only one name and people know whom you're talking about, like Cher and Madonna. If you're referring to Elvis Costello, who is also in the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame, you need to use both names. How many people even know Madonna's last name, or what name she uses to sign checks?

In any event, I had been on a quest for over 40 years seeking an obscure recording from the early 1960's called Mind Over Matter, sung by Nolan Strong and the Diablos, an R & B and doo-wop group. I looked it up in music catalogs and libraries and couldn't find it. Recently, by the miracle of the Internet, I was able to find the recording on a MySpace site and save it on my computer. It's still a terrific song.

Strong was the cousin of Barrett Strong who wrote several Motown hits like I Heard It Through the Grapevine , and recorded his only hit, Money which was later covered by various artists including the Beatles.

Nolan Strong died in Detroit in 1977, the same year as Elvis, at age 43. He had a high pitched (some call it etherially high) tenor voice, influenced by Clyde McPhatter of the Drifters, and who in turn influenced the young Smokey Robinson. Nolan Strong was the biggest thing in Detroit prior to the arrival of Berry Gordy and Motown Records. The song, Mind Over Matter was a regional hit in Detroit, reaching No. 1 locally in 1962, and it received some play in Chicago (where I listened to it) but it was little known nationally.

Since we're talking about top-40 music, I'd like to share with you the Top-40 from June 28, 1963 (pre-Beatles) on Chicago's WLS-890-AM Radio. For brevity's sake, I omitted some of the songs that I never heard of, although somebody must have purchased them. In those days, radio stations may have had other reasons to place a song on the Top-40 (e.g. bribes, a/k/a payola). Thus, by placing a song on the Top-40the public would buy the record, rather than the record appearing on the Top-40 because people were buying the record. Kind of like the tail wagging the dog.

WLS Top-40 June 28, 1963 (artist listed after the song title)

1. Easier Said than Done , Essex. A one hit wonder by a girl group.
2. Sukiyake, Kyu Sakamoto. The lyrics are in Japanese. No hablo Japanese.
3. Shutdown, Beach Boys. "Tack it up, tack it up, buddy gonna shut you down" A song about a drag race in California between a fuel injected Sting Ray and a 413 (souped up Dodge with 413 horses under the hood). Gas was only 30 cents a gallon.
4. Blue on Blue, Bobby Vinton. Dobrze, which means OK in Polish.
5. Surf City, Jan & Dean. "Two girls for every boy". A classic song from the kings of surf, Jan Berry and Dean Torrence.
6. Gypsy Woman, Ricky Nelson. The younger son of Ozzie & Harriet was a clean cut teen idol, more acceptable for middle class teen girls than Elvis.
7. One Fine Day, Chiffons. This all girl group from the Bronx recorded many hits including He's So Fine. About 10 years later, George Harrison recorded a musically similar song called My Sweet Lord which prompted a copyright infringement suit. The lawyers made a lot of money and the judge found that Harrison had unintentionally (!) plagarized the Chiffons' song and had to pay damages.
8. Fallen, Roy Orbison
9. You Can't Sit Down, Dovells
11. Memphis, Lonnie Mack. The instrumental version of the Chuck Berry song.
16. Your Graduation Means Goodbye, Cardigans. A syrupy graduation song. The title speaks for itself.
17. Come Go With Me, Dion. I'm a great fan of Dion, but I liked Runaround Sue and Teenager in Love better.
18. Till Then, Classics. A 1930's or 40's song brought back to life.
19. Ring of Fire , Johnny Cash. A classic song by an all time great country artist.
21. Ten Commandments of Love, James MacArthur. Performed (but not sung) by the actor son of Helen Hayes, this was the Caucasian version of the song. The more well known version was done by Harvey and the Moonglows as a classic R & B doo-wop song. MacArthur became better known for starring in Hawaii Five-O.
22. Be True to Yourself, Bobby Vee.
23. Goodnight My Love, Fleetwoods. The lesser known follow up song to their big hit, Come Softly to Me .
24. From Me to You, Del Shannon. The Beatles version of this song came shortly thereafter and put the song on the map.
30. Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport, Rolf Harris. An Australian folk song.
31. Land of 1000 Dances, Chris Kenner. A great song by a New Orleans artist. A few years later a version of this song by something called Cannibal and the Head Hunters reached the Top-10. Headed by Frankie "Cannibal" Garcia from East L.A., it was one of the first Mexican-American groups to have a hit record in the U.S.
32. Don't Try to Fight It Baby , Eydie Gorme. I don't remember the song, but Eydie is a legend.
33. Rat Race, Drifters. I don't remember this one either, but the Drifters featuring Ben E. King had many hits.
34. Just One Look, Doris Troy. This song was used in a recent car commercial. Troy co-wrote the song and it was her only hit record although it later became a hit for Linda Ronstedt and others. Troy's career included singing back-up for the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, George Harrison and Carly Simon, among others. A stage musical, based on her life, ran for 1500 performances at the Heckscher Theater in Harlem. It will be released as a motion picture in 2009 starring Patti LaBelle and others.
35. No One, Ray Charles. I don't remember this song either, but Ray was the greatest--What'd I say, Georgia on My Mind, Night Time is the Right Time
36. Daughter, Blenders. The lyrics read something like "Daughter leave those boys alone"


The Dion song reminds me of a story. Last year, we went to Las Vegas when he was appearing there. I went to our hotel ticket center to buy tickets for his concert. The agent said, "Oh you want to see Celine Dion." My response was "Who the heck is Celine Dion?, I want to see the real Dion, like with the Belmonts!" Incidentally, the concert was great, as he sang all his hit songs.

The Belmonts, which were named after a street in the Bronx where they came from, aren't around anymore, but Dion's backup group sounded just like them. Back in the 1950's they toured with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. On February 2, 1959, Dion declined to pay the $36 for a short flight across Iowa, electing to drive instead. The plane crashed, killing Holly, Valens and the Big Bopper on "The Day the Music Died", memorialized in the Don McLean song, American Pie.

Another favorite of mine, not on that week's Top-40 list was Gary U.S. Bonds, who performed the hits New Orleans and Quarter to Three.
Several years ago, he was appearing with Jim Belushi's band and we saw him perform at a party those two songs (and no others) in Las Vegas. We were on the stage dancing next to him. What a great feeling to hear a favorite song performed by the actual artist.

Enough for now, but I have a Top-40 from 1958 for a future article.

KENNETH SUSKIN

THE DEATH OF RAMA LAMA DING DONG

I was dismayed to hear of the recent death of George "Wydell" Jones Jr., not to be confused with country music legend George Jones. Today, October 5th, would have been his 72nd birthday. George "Wydell" Jones was a songwriter in the 1950's who penned the famous doo wop song hit Rama Lama Ding Dong and performed it as the lead singer of The Edsels (originally they were "The Essos" as in the oil company, but they would have had to change it to the Exxons).

Unfortunately for the group, it wasn't any more successful than its namesake automobile. Its other 25 or so recordings remain largely unknown to most Americans. Jones, who died from cancer, was survived by his wife, 6 children, 16 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. Jones, a native of Youngstown, Ohio, where his father worked in a steel mill, formed the group while serving in the Air Force, where he wrote its signature song, Rama Lama Ding Dong.

The Edsels also featured Larry and Harry Green, James Reynolds and Marshall Sewell. To capitalize on their sole hit recording, they performed several times on Dick Clark's American Bandstand, and also at the famous Apollo Theater in New York. They split up in 1963, but continued to perform separately.

The song, Rama Lama Ding Dong was originally recorded in 1957 and released under the erroneous title "Lama Rama Ding Dong" in 1958. The song didn't hit the charts until 1961 when a New York disk jockey began playing it in conjunction with the Marcels' doo wop version of Blue Moon. Rama Lama became popular and eventually rose to Number 21 on the Billboard charts.

Although it's one of the most ridiculous songs I've ever heard, after hearing it played repeatedly, it grows on you. The lyrics are as follows:

Oh, oh, oh, oh
I got a girl named Rama Lama, Rama Lama Ding Dong
She's everything to me,
Rama Lama, Rama Lama Ding Dong
I'll never set her free
For she's mine, all mine
Oh, oh, oh, oh
I got a girl named Rama Lama, Rama Lama Ding Dong
She's fine to me
Rama Lama, Rama Lama Ding Dong,
You won't believe that she's mine, all mine
I love her
Love her, love her so
That I'll never, never let her go
You may be certain she's mine, all mine
She's mine all of the time.

(and so on and so forth!)

We can laugh all we want, but the song has had an impact on American culture.

According to Wikipedia:

A cover version of the song was performed on The Muppet Show once (in Episode 89).

A cover was made by Serbian doo wop band Vampiri in 1991. (How do you say Rama Lama Ding Dong in Serbo-Croatian?)

In 1961, Barry Mann wrote and performed a song called Who Put the Bomp which contained the lyric, "who put the ram in the Rama Lama Ding Dong" when describing his girl falling in love with him after listening to the "romantic" lyrics.

The song is heard in the movie Children of a Lesser God and is used by the William Hurt character "James Leeds" to teach his class of hearing impaired teenagers.

Somehow I can imagine using this song to teach English to foreigners.

It's not known if the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame dimmed its lights in tribute, but George "Wydell" Jones Jr. did contribute uniquely to American culture.

KENNETH SUSKIN