In the early 1960s it seemed that all you needed to be a successful North American male singer was to be called Bobby. Bobby Darin, Bobby Vee, Bobby Rydell all had hits then. The middle one of those, Bobby Vee, died this week.
Singer of the outrageously catchy Rubber Ball, and teen ballads like More Than I Can Say and Run to Him, the admonitory The Night has a Thousand Eyes and the yearning Take Good Care of My Baby, Vee’s star fell along with that style of recording once the Beatles came along.
Take Good Care of my Baby was a typically breezy sounding song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King with an attendant less than breezy lyric. Note those plucked strings fixing its vintage.
Bobby Vee: Take Good Care of My Baby
Robert Thomas Velline (Bobby Vee): 30/4/1943–24/10/2016. So it goes.
I woke up this morning to the news that Gerry Goffin has died.
In his collaborations with Carole King hewrote the lyrics to some of the most enduring popular songs from the 1960s. The list is stunning. At the end of the article in the link are songs he wrote with others.
His lyrics tended to be carefully worked out and belied the frothy nature of the productions of the era.
Look at the words of Will You Love Me Tomorrow. Their underlying poignancy was highlighted in King’s own version on her album, Tapestry.
Tonight you’re mine completely/You give your love so sweetly.
Tonight the light of love is in your eyes/But will you love me tomorrow?
Is this a lasting treasure/Or just a moment’s pleasure?
Can I believe the magic of your sighs?/Will you still love me tomorrow?
Tonight with words unspoken/You say that I’m the only one
But will my heart be broken/When the night meets the morning sun?
I’d like to know that your love/Is love I can be sure of.
So tell me now and I won’t ask again/Will you still love me tomorrow?
This, though, is the early 60s take by The Shirelles.
The Shirelles: Will you Love Me Tomorrow
And then there’s this:-
A little bit of freedom’s all we lack.
So catch me if you can I’m goin’ back.
Dusty Springfield: Goin’ Back
Gerald “Gerry” Goffin: 11/2/1939 – 19/6/2014. So it goes.
This might be true of British politics but in the area of popular entertainment an argument could, instead, be made for the film Headfrom which the song I’m featuring comes and which was, perhaps, deliberately designed to alienate the following the band which recorded it had accrued. Along with the bad publicity for apparently not playing instruments on their hits, it more or less did for their pop career, though over-exposure also had a lot to do with it. Head as a title, of course, has many resonances and connotations I needn’t go into and which no doubt contributed to their demise.
The film itself is now, of course, regarded in some quarters as something of a masterpiece. In the time since their heyday the group has also been critically reappraised. They did bang out some cracking pop tunes in their time (including a disguised ditty about the Vietnam War.)
Though apparently out of their normal oeuvre the film’s theme, Porpoise Song, was written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. It has overtones of the Beatles – naturally – but also of the 1960s Nirvana and manages to prefigure some of the prog rock which was to come in the 1970s.
On You Tube The Wondermints have a (reasonably faithful) cover while this does have the single but someone talks for a while before playing it.
Below is a clip from the first last few minutes of the film itself. Porpoise Song does not appear till some way into the clip and finishes about three minutes in.
