Why Do Fools Fall In Love?

(Click on the video above to play)

Monday morning, that age-old question. You might wonder if the woman in purple singing the Frankie Lymon part is Joni Mitchell. It is. (Frankie Lymon, born in Washington Heights, can be seen in the video’s black and white clip of kids dancing. Frankie is the shortest of them, but also the guy who wrote and recorded the song when he was 13 in 1956, making it a big hit. Unfortunately, Frankie died tragically young at the age of 25.)

Thanks to YouTuber MysticPieces

Never Let You Go

Monday morning, Brooklyn’s own The Five Discs with John Carbone on lead. While they never had any big commercial successes, this once inter-racial group was recognized by other Doo-Woopers as one of the great purveyors of that kind of song.

Thanks to YouTuber PJDooWop

The Bristol Stomp: The Dovells

Monday morning, the kids in Bristol take over. I had the 45 RPM record of this when I was in grade school.

You may recognize the MC as the Dovells’ fellow Philadelphian, Chubby Checker.

Bristol refers to Bristol, PA. And what performers wouldn’t kill for an enthusiastic audience as in the video? The youth, the sheer energy…LOL.

Thanks to YouTuber James Birkett

 

“Here’s My Story, Sad, But True…”

By 1961, Dion had ditched the Belmonts, for the somewhat longer-in-the-tooth Del-Satins. Fans may remember that it was in Dion’s number one hit song for that year that Mr. DiMucci delivered to us the explosive, shocking, world-shaking news headline that Runaround Sue, “Goes out with other guys!”

More at Dion

Pretty Little Angel Eyes

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It’s Monday morning, summer of 1961, Evergreen Avenue in Bradley Beach, New Jersey to be exact, and the kid across the street has hauled out his record player to the front porch and is playing Curtis Lee’s “Pretty Little Angel Eyes,” over and over, far into the night, the fireflies flashing in syncopated time, stopped only by the sound of the approaching ice cream truck …

Thanks to YouTuber brianfromLI

Blue Moon: Reina and Toni

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Reina del Cid and Toni Lindgren wax astronomical this Monday morning with a tip of the hat to the Marcel’s great Doo-Wop arrangement of the Rodgers and Hart standard.

More at Reina del Cid

The Boy From New York City: The Ad Libs

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Monday morning, The Ad Libs a one-hit wonder group from 1965 with a great American Bandstand beat. Mary Ann Thomas from Bayonne, New Jersey on vocals.

Thanks to YouTuber shoderzmuzik

Quality

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Monday, the singing teen-agers on the corner wake you up at 4:00 in the morning.

In 1996, Paul Simon, along with Derek Walcott, wrote the music and book for the Broadway play, Capeman,. The critics killed the show, unfairly in my opinion, but the songs are some of Simon’s best work. The play took place in 1950s New York City, and the music was an amalgamation of doo-wop and salsa. This song was one of the decidedly doo-wop influenced songs.

Click on the video to play

Thanks to YouTuber nostalgicdoowop