FEATURE SONG: PATTY BABY by FREDDY (Boom Boom) CANNON

It’s human nature I’m sure, but when we Baby Boomers were young, and we’d hear a song that mentioned a person by name, we would wonder if the person was real; if the lyrics were truly autobiographical. You don’t think so? Think about it, what bobby-soxer didn’t wonder if Annette really had a tall boyfriend named Paul, or if poor Elvis really got two-timed by a black-haired chick named Marie? You're right, maybe it was just the gals who wondered about things like that. Whatev'. Our feature song today is one I wanted to pay tribute to simply because it’s a great little song, and I always really liked it. But when I looked it up, I discovered that it, too, is about a real person.

The “Patty” in the song is one of the famous American Bandstand regulars from the early days, Pat Molittieri. I logged a lot of hours watching Bandstand, so all the old names are practically as familiar to me as my own high school classmates. As the years roll on, some of the Bandstand Committee members have begun to “graduate” in a different sense, but I was shocked to learn that Pat passed away at such a young age. Still, she is remembered as part of rock and roll history, the Philly chapter. The Freddy Cannon lyrics goes on to include all the other dancin’ “Pattys” all over the country, so we girls can all say we owned a little piece of this tune, in spirit. So, let’s take a moment to remember a great song, a great Philly dancer, and the days when we were young. Ya baby!

Freddy Cannon – “PATTY BABY” 1963