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Another one for Popular here Paul Anka.
However I don't think Tom and the gang covered this one adequately so I'll add my two penny's worth.
This is significant as the first wholly self-penned number one by a solo artist and at 17 Paul is the youngest hitmaker encountered so far.
He was born in Ottawa, the son of Christian Lebanese immigrants and followed his musical instincts from an early age forming a vocal group, the Bobbysoxers at 13. In 1956 he travelled to Los Angeles and hustled the opportunity to cut a single for RPM records "I Confess" with the black vocal quartet The Sharps though his father paid for the recording session. It was not one of his own songs though he got "Blau-Wile-Deveest -Fontaine" (hmm, wonder why RPM didn't want that one for the A-side ? ) a co-write with his father on the B-side. It's a syrupy doo-wop number with the 15-year old Paul's chipmunk vocal making it just too treacly for comfortable consumption.
Undeterred Paul returned to New York and got a deal with ABC-Paramount for whom he recorded this monster hit. His voice had matured a bit so that he sounds like Elvis's kid brother especially when the song speeds up halfway through. The song is full of hooks from the nagging sax to the clipped guitar riffs so its success is unsurprising.
Paul's never really garnered much critical respect perhaps because this record stole a march on the much more popular guy coming up next. His goodbye post will be interesting because it's a song which many people seem to loathe with a peculiar intensity.
I get where you are coming from on the Elvis' kid brother angle - he does sound like the version of Elv that mother's would like.
ReplyDeleteGiven my parents were born in 1952/53, this kind of stuff was never around when I was growing up - Elvis apart, neither of them listened to stuff from the fifties. This morning may have been the first time I've heard it in many years: it's decent enough, I suppose - I dig the sax, but some of the lyrics cause the eyes to roll and it pales in comparison to the Everly Brothers.
Nice pink shirt/black jacket combo on the cover too!
Yes - I particularly like "I'm so young and you're so old " That's the way you're going to keep her, mate.
ReplyDeleteIt 's been long thought to be about his babysitter but in recent years he's claimed it was inspired by someone he hardly knew ( a la James Blunt ) . There was a net rumour that happened because the babysitter was after some money off him ( presumably to pay her care fees ).