https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMqTuWl3xAA

Thanks, Paul; I didn’t think of alley songs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0fx5h7JtAY

Bud, they had some very sophisticated vocal arrangements. On YouTube you can find a playlist of all the songs on their album “This Is Us”, which is worth a listen.

Yes, Paul, I think that was their only charting song. I found a video of them lip-synching it on a TV show, and at one point a couple of them exchanged glances that clearly said, “Can you believe we’re on TV?”

Paul’s mention of Easier Said Than Done by Shakatak immediately brought this one to mind:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHB6muY-6WI

Jürgen, this song was originally by an early 50’s vocal group called the Four Freshmen, who were a major influence on Brian Wilson, who in turn was a major influence on Tony Rivers.

Harmony Grass was a fairly obscure British group. I discovered them from their guest appearance on a Judith Durham TV special, where…

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I’m not sure we’ve visited an “avenue” yet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ1FrKsHPUs

The Simpsons staging a musical version of A Streetcar Named Desire:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4M899HVB9E

Another masterful piece of melodrama from the Shangri-Las:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jDN2rBThwY

It really surprises me that the Orlons charted at all in the U.K., Paul. I always imagined that the “Philly sound” was intended just for domestic consumption.

It’s not literally a road, but it could be…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beTsDOBRs8I

Funny! It reminds me of a scene from M*A*S*H where Klinger tried to get out of the army by eating a jeep: chewing on a windshield wiper, guzzling nuts and bolts coated with motor oil, etc.

When Colonel Potter confronted him, Klinger said, “You don’t believe I’m actually gonna eat this jeep, do you, sir?” And Potter…

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Jürgen, the Orlons were a group from Philadelphia. Besides South Street they had two other top-5 hits in the U.S.: The Wah-Watusi (which inspired a dance craze) and Don’t Hang Up. I don’t think they were marketed overseas.

I remember when this one came out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgH4SX8IffI

I’m sure Tim A. is expecting me to post this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfQSp92L88I

Who can’t relate to wanting to be this close to Audrey Hepburn?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0udu4KYv1zI

I’ve always enjoyed this toe-tapping little “street” song from the early 60’s:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6q5KM5THAs

Hey, Bud.

Tobacco has long been king both here in North Carolina and in my home state of Kentucky, but I rarely encounter anyone smoking these days except in very rural areas. I think both states have tried to diversify their economies in recent decades, and tobacco companies don’t have nearly the clout that they used to.

…

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As best I can tell, Paul, it has to do with the fact that central North Carolina has historically been a major tobacco growing area. So maybe the idea is that as you drive from one school to another you encounter a lot of tobacco fields.

Somehow I heard this song a lot when it was new, even though I never deliberately listened to the radio in those days. Maybe it was on during the fleeting moments when my mom tuned in to find out if school had been cancelled due to snow.

Specifically I remember when my grade school music teacher passed out the lyrics to a…

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Jürgen, I think her voice got even more nuanced and versatile with age. The Seekers recorded another song around this same time called Far Shore, and Judith’s vocals are just heavenly.

I never suspected they were British either, Paul. Neat!

Around where I am, Tobacco Road refers to the rivalry among the basketball teams at four universities in the area.

Averaged over the past week, I Should Have Known Better is at V = 3658 and C = 7.79. Quite an impressive opening month for this one!

Here’s another “road” song that just emerged from the can of worms: the title track of the Seekers’ 1997 album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6iCKhpNGnQ

Here are the milestone predictions for the next month or so:

Good Day Sunshine: 400,000 views on September 10th

Teach Your Children: 700,000 views on September 10th

Stuck in the Middle With You: 600,000 views on September 14th

Please Mr. Postman / Wipe Out: 7,500,000 views on September 22nd

Won’t You Listen Now: 300,000 views on September…

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Here are the numbers for August. All data cover the entire month, except for I Should Have Known Better, which is for just the last five days.

.

simultaneous views:

1) Please Mr. Postman / Wipe Out: C = 10.83 (+2.28)

2) I Should Have Known Better: C = 8.41 (new)

3) The Boxer: C = 5.81 (+0.64)

4) While My Guitar Gently Weeps: C =…

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Here’s that same power trio in 1981, singing a Chordettes classic from the 50’s:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDBqZBILaLM

Yes, this album was released the year after the group broke up, and three years after the TV series ended. I found it at a record store in the 80’s and bought it, but almost every track is just a formulaic trite love song.

As long as we’re doing “road” songs, I’ve got to throw in the opening track from Davy Jones’ 1971 solo album. Not that I would recommend listening to it…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdDYsQ9aYfc

Apparently this was Dolly Parton’s first record, actually pre-dating the better-known song with the same title by Paul Anka:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDAnp2cZ5Kk

I read an article about Shelley Fabares the other day, and learned how she ended up recording Johnny Angel. She was not a singer, but she was a cast member of the Donna Reed show, whose executives noticed that the ratings of the Ozzie and Harriet show went up because of Ricky Nelson’s songs, so they insisted that she and castmate…

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I’m not really an “album guy”. Most of the songs I know, I learned from the radio. If I liked enough of them by the same artist, I might go out and get a greatest hits compilation, but seldom an original album.

Among the handful of such albums I’ve heard, this one by the Zombies (featured in an MLT WOTT video) is my…

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Averaged over the past week, I Should Have Known Better is at V = 2823 and C = 6.01.

Wow, 3000 songs! That averages out to nearly one per week over her entire adult life.

And the answer to “who’s next” is… Jaye P. Morgan, who died on Monday at 94. I knew her best as a celebrity panelist on The Gong Show in the 70’s.

I never saw The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but I remember Tim Curry from the vastly underrated film Clue, which was based on the board game.

My brother texted me a satirical headline that said “apocalypse draws near as last remaining universally beloved human being passes away”.