You probably know this, but...
...before they were the Four Seasons, they were the Four Lovers. Here's their first hit. Note Frankie Valli in the lead:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgteu0I9fSYAmong New Yorkers of a Certain Age, this Channels hit is perhaps the most iconic Doo Wop:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTktRmMHyp0Into the Sixties, when I worked on Wall Street, I used to see Italian guys in NY Stock Exchange gray smocks, get together in office building vestibules (for the echo effect) to sing this song.
But, I prefer their second hit. I used to stay up all night, after Alan Freed went off the air, to hear Jocko Henderson play this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsOtxaS9W1Y(I had this record on 78 rpm.)
Yes, I do know about the Four Lovers. That's actually a pretty good song by them. Some aren't too good lol. Frankie Valli was always played in my household WAY TOO MUCH!!! But my father hung around those guys. They were acquainted through mutual friends.
I definitely posted The Closer You Are in my first list of songs because it's one I heard many times. And they still sound AMAZING singing it!!
I never knew you were on Wall St. That's a fantastic story. Did you see the subway doo wop battles too? That must have been so much fun.
Did the young people protest when Alan Freed had to go off the air? He seemed to be such an important figure of that time period.
The Gleam In Your Eye is one of my fave doo wop songs. I bought it on iTunes a couple years ago
So, I completely understand how you would wait up until all hours of the night to listen to it. I can listen to it on repeat for hours.
I have a question for you and/or anyone else who wants to answer.
Why do you think that doo wop songs have to always have the lyrics "I love you" in them? During that era did you have to tell a girl you loved her right away? Would the girls you date talk about getting married after a month of dating lol? It seems like it.
When I was younger there were places where we could go dancing or roller skating. There would of course be a DJ there. So, I would bring my records to the place because I had all the good stuff. If there was a party, I'd bring my records. Then, I started to help the cheerleaders and song leaders in junior high and high school with their dance choreography. I cannot think of a time when I was NOT dancing or listening to music. As I got older I would always get picked to go up on stage to dance. I was an assistant cheer coach for Pop Warner. I had a blast teaching kids how to cheer and had to choreograph dances for them to compete. The City of Anaheim wanted me to teach a cheer and dance class but I was much too busy at that time running my tutoring and house cleaning businesses plus going to college. So, I couldn't do it. My friends had a DJ business from the late 80's to mid 90's that I would help with. Music is my life. Right now I have my headphones on listening to my playlist as I'm typing this post.
