BREAKING NEWS

I have some some good news and some bad news. The bad news is, Papa Do Run is going on sabbatical. Or a hiatus. Or something like that, and for an unspecified amount of time, but maybe into the summer. We're busy working on a lot of music and book related projects, plus some other stuff, and there just aren't enough hours in the day. So, while we're away, we hope that wherever you are, you keep on listening to those oldies but goodies. The good news is when we come back, we'll have a brand new music trivia book to tell you about. So, until we see you again, here's a little something from The Hollies - Pay You Back with Interest.












Video by YT member vinylWindsor
Photo from Shutterstock

ONE HIT WONDERLAND

Some of my favorite songs from the "vintage years" (50s and 60s) are OHWs. One Hit Wonders. Why do you think that is? I don't think of myself as a person who automatically roots for the underdog. But I do believe that a lot of pretty decent talent kind of withered on the vine. Maybe it was lack of decent material to record, or lack of decent promotion promotion by the label. Or lack of funds for payola. Anyway, this little number, "He's Mine", was a fave of mine back in 1963, and it still is today. Alice Wonder Land (sometimes written as Wonderland) was born Alice Faye Henderson. There's a story out there that Alice's discovery resembles that of the Little Eva with "Loco-motion" - being a maid and/or babysitter for a songwriter, or a friend of a songwriter, or...something like that. Both stories may be all or in part apocryphal, and for our purposes here, I don't think it matters. We just want to hear a great and maybe long-forgotten oldie, right?! Little Eva didn't stay a OH Wonderwoman. We also remember her for one of the great girl group smack-down songs of the era - "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby" which unfortunately, isn't on YT at all. That's a shocking omission I hope some YT channel member rectifies soon!





Anyway, I tried to come up with a photo of Alice, but between Alice Faye the actress, and the little blonde Alice of the book and the Disney movie, it wasn't happening, so I posted them instead. Also, the embedding for this video has been disabled, so I'll have to give you the YouTube link.
LINK to "He's Mine"





Alice in Wonderland photo from Wikimedia Commons
Alice Faye photo from www.classicmoviemusicals.com

NBC stands for “NOT BACKING CHARLIE”

[Okay, I know this isn’t my usual topic for this blog; nothing “vintage” or "musical" about it, but I just had to get this little television rant off my chest, so please, if you'll just indulge me…]


FAREWELL TO LIFE!

No no no – I’m not going to off myself! I’m talking about the procedural cop show, Life. Last Wednesday we saw the Season 2 finale, which couldn’t have looked more like a Series finale if NBC (a pox on their house!) had put yellow crime scene tape around it. In case you aren’t familiar with it, Life is/was a smart hip funny show with a terrific cast, notably starring Damian Lewis as the wrongly accused, newly exonerated, fresh-fruit addicted Detective Charlie Crews, recently released from prison, returned to the job, and backing his badge with a Zen attitude. Then there’s Sarah Shahi as his fresh-out-of-rehab no-nonsense partner, Dani Reese. The mismatched detectives are thrown together, but soon bond into a quirky delightful team. The third main star of Life is Donal Logue, who is letter-perfect as Captain Tidwell, a transplanted NYC cop finding his feet in his new L.A. precinct—oops I mean station (a little inside joke for the fans). And Tidwell's hook-up with Reese was one of the best romantic pairings out there, IMHO. I must admit, there was no middle ground with fans of the show; they either loved or hated Tidwell/Reese (or “Tideese” to the diehards). Personally, I thought the sometimes awkward, finish-each-other-sentences chemistry between the two was sexy and appealing—but I’m what you might call a “Tidwell bunny” so maybe my opinion is biased.

Regardless of who or what anyone liked best about the show, it was the entire ensemble that endeared Life to it’s devoted fans. Evidently not enough devoted fans, you’re probably thinking. Well, NBC (I spit on the ground at the mention of that name!) really didn’t do diddlysquat to properly promote the show right from the get-go. And when they got the expected results that too little promotion brings, they started playing time-slot roulette with Life, either burying it a ratings dead zone or putting it up against giants like Lost and American Idol. The 2008 writers strike probably didn’t help, either. Anyway, although NBC (boo, hiss!) has all but officially declared the show DOA, fans are signing polls and petitions like mad, and writing snarky letters to the network. Will it be enough to bring the deeply comatose Life back to life?

If you’d like to join the throng of Life Supporters giving NBC an earful, go to this LINK and scroll down to “feedback” at the very bottom.

[And thank you,readers; I feel much better now]

A LIFETIME OF NUMBER ONE SONGS

A friend recently sent me a link to finding the number one song on just about any date in history. Well, make that modern, recent history. I don't think Billboard was around when the Spanish Armada was defeated. Anyway, as into oldies as I am, I must admit I didn't know what song was topping the Hit Parade the day I was born, so of course I looked mine up right away. I'm not posting this today because it's my birthday. That won't be until next month (I'm not getting old, it's only the 2nd anniversary of my 31st birthday!), but I just couldn't wait to pass this along to you. So here you go, now you can calculate the song that was playing on all the significant events in your life.

http://www.joshhosler.biz/NumberOneInHistory/SelectMonth.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_number-one_hits_(United_States)


And here's what I found listed as the song on my day/year - "Heartaches" by the Ted Weems Orchestra. (I don't know why it says 1938 on the YouTube vid) - I was born in '47.







Video by YT member 240252
Photo at http://www.dewittco.com/storefront/xcart/images/T/73652_vintage_crafts_books_patterns.jpg

AND HOW WAS YOUR NIGHT?

Last night was one of those nights. You know what I'm talkin' about. From the minute you hit the pillow until the break of dawn, you're stuck on the old rotisserie. So what else can we listen to today than Mr. Bobby Lewis' 1961 hit, Tossin' and Turnin.' This is a terrific old tune, am I not right?! And at least there's one thing about have a rotten sleep one night; you're pretty much guaranteed to crash and burn the next.








Video by YT member JohnB1948Two
Photo at www.luxuryhousingtrends.com

THE DAY AFTER APRIL FOOL'S

Okay, so there you are in the kitchen, or maybe the break room, pouring yourself a big cuppa joe after sorting things out, i.e. putting the sugar back in the sugar bowl and the salt back in the salt shaker. Funny how you fall for that every year. But now everything is right in your world again. And here's a couple of songs to go with. The first is "No Salt On Her Tail" by the Mamas and the Papas. That's a saying you don't hear much at all anymore: No salt on her (or his) tail. It comes from the old wives' tale that if you put salt on a bird's tail, it won't be able to fly. Yes, I can hear you going, "Duh! If you're close enough to a bird to be able to put salt on it's tail, you can grab that sucker like that (finger snap)!" I couldn't agree more, but the wisdom of all those old wives is not to be tampered with on a whim! And it makes the perfect metaphor for love, which brings us back to the M&P song, with it's lyrics:

This little bird, she can fly away;
No salt on her tail--
No cage to make her stay.



Our other selection today is the bubblegum classic "Sugar Sugar" by The Archies. Talk about a perfect April Fool's band, The Archies never actually existed. Here's from Wikipedia:

The Archies are a fictional garage band founded by Archie Andrews, Reggie Mantle, and Jughead Jones, a group of adolescent fictional characters of the Archie universe, in the context of the animated TV series, The Archie Show. The fictional band's music was recorded by session musicians featuring Ron Dante on vocals and released as a series of singles and albums. Their most successful song, "Sugar, Sugar", became one of the biggest hits of the bubblegum pop genre that flourished from 1968 to 1972.




So happy day after, everybody. Let's do this again next year! And no more tricks, I promise...

Videos by YT members mulluy (top) suzydastar2007
Photo from Wikimedia Commons

FIRST DAY OF APRIL

Video from YT member pensaki