I got an email a few days ago with a "Doo Wop 30 Oldies Quiz". There were questions about Bobby Darin's "Mack the Knife", the Everly Brothers, Annette Funicello and the Chordettes' "Mr. Sandman"- not exactly Doo Wop. The quiz raised a few questions for someone lucky enough to be retired and not burdened with a lot of responsibilities - me. What exactly is Doo Wop? Is it defined by some aspect of the song itself like the background vocals? When did Doo Wop begin? What was the first Doo Wop song? These questions have been answered before. Just google Doo Wop and have a ball. Maybe check out some performances on YouTube.
Here are some of my favorite Doo Wop songs, the ones I like to sing along to or occasionally chime in with a deep "Yeeaahh". These songs are indisputably Doo Wop. I'll start with the "Night" songs: "Tonight, Tonight" by the Mello Kings, "In the Still of the Night" by the Five Satins, "Tonight I Fell in Love" and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" by the Tokens, "One Summer Night" by the Danleers, "Tonight (Could be the Night)" by the Velvets, "Long, Lonely Nights" by Lee Andrews and the Hearts, "There's a Moon Out Tonight" by the Capris and "Goodnight Sweetheart" by the Spaniels. (The last song was used to close each show of the Sha Na Na TV Series.)
Some other favorites of mine include "Till Then" by the Classics, "Little Darlin'" by the Diamonds, "Earth Angel" by the Penguins, "I Wonder Why" by Dion and the Belmonts, "Heart and Soul" by the Cleftones, "The Great Pretender" by the Platters, "Remember Then" by the Earls, "My True Story" by the Jive Five, "At the Hop" by Danny and the Juniors, "Teardrops" by Lee Andrews and the Hearts, "Hey Baby" by Bruce Channel, "Pretty Little Angel Eyes" by Curtis Lee, "Come Go with Me" by the Del Vikings, "To The Aisle" by the Five Satins, "I Only Want You" by the Passions, "The Book of Love" by the Monotones, "Little Star" by the Elegants, "Blue Moon" by the Marcels, "The Angels Listened In" by the Crests. "Fools Fall in Love" by the Drifters, "Ram a Lam a Ding Dong" by the Edsels, "When You Dance" by the Turbans, "Silhouettes" by the Rays, "Denise" by Randy and the Rainbows, the "Duke of Earl" by Gene Chandler, "Sixty Minute Man" (one of the songs in Bull Durham) by Billy Ward and the Dominoes, "Story Untold" by the Nutmegs, "Could This Be Magic" by the Dubs, "The Ten Commandments of Love" by Harvey and the Moonglows, "What's Your Name" by Don and Juan and "Barbara Ann" by the Regents.
Let's bring back Doo Wop. Imagine that you want to write down all the lyrics and background vocal sounds of an old Doo Wop song so that each member of a new Doo Wop group could accurately sing their parts. You can find most of the lyrics online but it's hard to identify all the sounds. No matter how many times I listen to the song, for some I'm still not sure what they are saying. As I type I ask myself did I include enough "o's" in the ooh ooh oooh's? One problem is that I lose my concentration because I start to just enjoy the song. According to wikipedia, some singers were imitating instruments when singing the nonsensical syllables that mark the Doo Wop style. This makes sense since when they sang on street corners, it was a cappella - no instruments. The article says the term "Doo Wop" did not appear in print until 1961 and that the most accurate description of the music was simply "vocal group hamony". Barbershop is vocal group harmony. Wiki also says that the first songs to use "doo wop" in the refrain were "When You Dance" by the Turbans in 1955 and "In the Still of the Night" by the Five Satins in 1956. In 1961 "Tonight (Could Be the Night)" by the Velvets had the doo wops in the background throughout the song. What was the first song to have the "wop" without the "doo"?
Up tempo Doo Wop songs are the most fun to sing along with and I can't think of any better than "Little Darlin'", a hit in 1957 by a Canadian Group, the Diamonds. The song starts out "ai yiyiyiyi ..." , throws in some "bump, bump di wadi wadi's"?, has a spoken part in the middle, a style made famous by the Ink Spots in the 1930's and 40's, and ends a lot of words with "a" - "a-hoop-a, hoop-a, hoop-a, well-a" and "my dear-a, I was wrong-a", et ceter-a. The song was on the jukebox at the "5 & Diner" restaurant in Cool Springs" (just south of Nashville), a restaurant my wife and I liked for the food and music. "5 & Diner" was one of a fifties style chain of diners that started out in Arizona about 20 years ago and has since spread to other states. Unfortunately, the Tennessee diner proved to be a weak link and went out of business.
My other favorite sing a long Doo Wop song is the answer to my question "what was the first song to have the wop without the doo. Without further ado, it's "I Wonder Why" released in 1958 by Dion & the Belmonts. In the middle of the song they sing "wop wop wopwop wopwopwop" not doo wop - and this from an Italian American group. I once sent an email comment to the Tennessean and spelled out Doo Wop. They wouldn't publish my comment online because of the word "wop". I resubmitted my comment making it one word, doowop, and it was accepted. "I Wonder Why" begins something like "din din din din da din din din ...", does some "da da da din din do wah", a lot of "oooh oooh a oohs", "dom dom da didi's", then the "wops" and more of the "din din da dins". What a song.
I do like a lot of slow Doo Wop songs. "To the Aisle" by the Five Satins is my favorite even though the line "My darling please put me on trial" is a bit hokey. The Satin's "In the Still of the Night" is one of the most famous Doo Wop songs of all time with its "shoo doo shoo be do's". "Till Then" by the Classics (not to be confused with the Classics IV with Dennis Yost, known for hits like "Traces", "Stormy", etc.) sounds like a World War II song. "Teardrops" and "Long, Lonely Nights" by Lee Andrews and the Hearts are also great slow Doo Wop songs.
I remember listening to Bruce Morrow - Cousin Brucie, Alan Freed, Scott Muni and Peter Tripp, who called himself the "curly headed kid in the third row". Cousin Brucie used to call "Tonight, Tonight" by the Mello Kings the greatest song ever written. The early Doo Wop songs were all "golden oldies" by the time I started listening to music on the radio, stations WABC, WMGM, WMCA, etc., and buying 45's.
Unfortunately, I never got to see any of these acts when they originally appeared and I have yet to go to any of these Doo Wop revival shows. I've only seen them on PBS specials. Doo Wop was done in by 1964 by the Beatles led British invasion and the first rock concert I attended was probably Jay & the Americans at Iona College around 1985. After that I saw the Beach Boys, Donovan and a few others at St. John's Alumni Hall. I did get to see a few Doo Wop groups later on like the Tokens and the Crests at the World Trade Center (see post of September 21, 2008). Lead singers Jay Siegel and Johnny Maestro, respectively, still sounded great. I also saw Larry Chance and the Earls back in the 1980's. These old Doo Wop acts sure have provided a ton of listening pleasure, even the groups who turned out to be one hit wonders.
Does Doo Wop have a future? I think it could. It's fun music, uncomplicated and great to sing along to (and dance to for those who dance). A cappella group Straight No Chaser could do Doo Wop. Imagine Doo Wop out of Indiana? SNC's Christmas album was outstanding. They have a new album in the works but I'm not getting my hopes up because who knows what material they'll choose. As I mentioned in my post about Hal Ketchum last September, his 2001 song "You Can't Go Back" has a Doo Wop flavor to it with its "shak a lak a boom boom" background singing toward the end. In a more recent post, I mentioned Ronnie Milsap's "Lost in the 50's Tonight", which includes part of "In the Still of the Night". Ronnie and Hal would have been great at Doo Wop.
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