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

PAPA DO RUN REDUX

This post is in response to a question on the previous post from my friend and fellow blogger, Kat. She asked about the origin of the name of this blog – Papa Do Run. Well, Kat, both the blog title and the title of my book of rock and roll oldies trivia are taken from lyrics (and titles) that can be found in several oldies from what I call the vintage era. I have live links to YouTube for the songs on the book’s website, but sometimes they have to be removed, and when you click on them, the live links are "deceased.” So I'll take this opportunity to post fresh lively links here and hopefully they will stick around for a while, so we all can have a listen to these classic oldies. And if anybody ever comes across any other songs with Papa Do Run (or any variant spellings) in the title or lyrics, please contact me, I’d love to hear about it!

Here’s the three main songs:

New Girl in School– Jan& Dean, 1964
Teenage Love - Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers, 1957
I Met Him on a Sunday – The Shirelles, 1958/66

Pappa Do Run – The Levettes, date unknown. This song isn’t on YouTube yet. I doubt it ever will; it’s some prit-tee obscure doo wop.

THE TRUE STORY OF PAPA DO RUN

People have asked me how I came up with the exact title for my book. Well, when it came time to think of one, I knew it had to be based on a song title from the vintage era. Various working titles included "Those Oldies But Goodies," "It Will Stand," and "That Old Time Rock and Roll." Not bad. I mean, they all certainly had the music connection covered, but they were just way too serious. I wanted something that would suit not only the the subject ('50s & '60s rock and roll trivia) but also fit with my overall approach to the material (humorous, irreverent, downright goofy in places). Then one fine day I was listening to my favorite Internet oldies station, WPON, when they happened to play Jan & Dean's "New Girl in School." What a good one that is, I thought to myself, and went on with my day. Later on, I happened to hear them play "I Met Him on a Sunday" by The Shirelles, with that wonderful opening phrase. All of a sudden it came to me in a bright flash of channeled genius, as if all the cool spirits of those departed music legends up in Rock and Roll Heaven got together and zapped me with a collective lightning bolt: "Papa Do Run." The perfect choice.

Since then, I've also come across a rockin' little number from Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers (to be perfectly honest, I didn't recall it from my youth) called "Teenage Love." Anyway, you guessed it, that one contains the immortal lyrics, "papa do run" too. Next I found out there's a band called Papa Do Run Run, a group of talented musicians who are kind of California's "house band." They've been closely associated with the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean for donkey's years. Wow. It looks like "papa do run" is at the very foundation of rock and roll. Those ghostly musicians really nailed it. So, now I wonder - are there more songs out there with "papa do run" in the lyrics? There just may be. Here's the deal. I'll give a free copy of my book to anyone who can find me another song with those three words, in that order. There you go; that's your homework.

Meanwhile, I'm posting YouTube links to the songs on my website, www.papadorun.com. Someone just posted the Shirelles, and I'm going to get that link up ASAP. It's not the original 1958 version, but a 1966 re-do, a little pale in comparison; at least you can hear the song. Ciao for niao.