Forget The Bad

For the good times, folks. Presenting a six pack of songs of rememberance, with unforgettable artwork by the one and only Tinca. "Where you go I tag along..."

Stuart Hamblen - (Remember Me) I'm The One Who Loves You
Sonny Stitt - I Remember You
The Shangri-Las - Remember Walking In The Sand
Mickey Newbury - Remember The Good
Junior Byles & Rupert Reid - Remember Me
Hamza El Din - I Remember

Before I Even Knew You

"I would never, never do anything to you,
To make you blue...
But yesterday I got this letter,
From a boy I loved,
Before I ever knew you,

Before I even knew you..."

Presenting one of the greatest mini-operas in popular music: Train From Kansas City by the Shangri-Las. Sung by Marge and Mary Anne Ganser and Mary Weiss. Written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. Produced by the amazing Shadow Morton. Drama supreme in 3 minutes and 22 seconds. She tells her current boyfriend not to worry, as "nothing in this world could tear us apart" but somehow I´m not entirely sure. It´s nearly ten after two... Will she or won´t she? Here comes the train...

And for a very different-sounding cover version, we turn to Superchunk, those indie darlings from Chapel Hill. Is it me, or does this train approach even faster?

Shangri-Las - Train From Kansas City MP3

Superchunk - Train From Kansas City MP3

There Were Moments When

The past...

"Past... well now, let me tell you about the past,
The past is filled with silent joys and broken toys,
Laughing girls and teasing boys,
Was I ever in love? I called it love... I mean, it felt like love,
There were moments when, well, there were moments when..."

This is such an amazing, weird song... In 2 minutes and 44 seconds the writers trio of Jerry Leiber, Arty Butler and Shangri-Las discoverer/producer Shadow Morton manages to conjure up a mysterious mini-opera in three parts. The song´s clever arrangement winks at classical music, setting the perfect scene for leadsinger Mary Weiss´s close-to-tears, spooky spoken vocals, which alternate from the - almost - resigned to the downright desperate.

Present...

"Go out with you? Why not...
Do I like to dance? Of course...
Take a walk along the beach tonight? I'd love to,
But don't try to touch me, don't try to touch me,
Cause that will never happen again...
Shall we dance?"

What´s going on here? Just when you thought this was just another song about a past romance gone wrong, the ´don´t try to touch me´ line hints at something darker, something far worse and traumatic. Rape maybe? And that´s probably one reason why the Shangri-Las, undisputed queens of melodrama, never scored a big hit with this ´66 masterpiece, as they did before with predecessors like Leader Of The Pack and Give Him A Great Big Kiss.

The future...

"Tomorrow? Well, tomorrow´s a long way off...
Maybe someday I'll have somebody's hand,
Maybe somewhere someone will understand,
You know, I used to sing - a tisket a tasket a green and yellow basket,
I'm all packed up and I'm on my way and I'm gonna fall in love,
But at the moment it doesn't look good,
At the moment it will never happen again...
I don't think it will ever happen again..."

Phew.

The Shangri-Las - Past, Present And Future MP3

´When I say I´m in love...

...you best believe I´m in love L.U.V.´ What a way to start off a song. I played an old girl groups compilation today and was surprised just how fresh all these old hits still sound. The Shangri-Las ones especially. Give Him A Great Big Kiss is probably my fave, owing both to the classic spoken intro and to ´he´s good bad, but he´s not evil´, surely one of the best lines in song ever. But with competition from Leader Of The Pack (with another wonderful spoken intro btw), Remember (Walking In The Sand), Out In The Streets and I Can Never Go Home Anymore choosing sure was tough.

Shangri-Las - Give Him A Great Big Kiss MP3

As you probably know already, the L.U.V. intro was also used with great success a couple of years later by the New York Dolls as the start of Looking For A Kiss. Johansen and Thunders knew their classics very well.

New York Dolls - Looking For A Kiss MP3