Radio ... and Me - 14

One of the earlier styles of rock ‘n’ roll music on the radio was known as ‘Doo-Wop.’
I see you have your hand up (old teacher phrase! ) , so I’ll define the term as, insert nonsense words here.
It was usually heard in groups’ songs, with the major words doing the background support for the lead singer, most often by the ‘Bass Man.’ Due homage was later paid in 1963, in the song, ‘Mr. Bass Man,’ by Johnny Cymbal.
‘Doo-Wop’ was not new. Oh, no.
The style comes from a great tradition of silly songs, and we can have fun with a few offering, from the pre-1940s:
-- Boop-boop-a-doop! , the famous tag line from the ‘20s;
-- Chickory-chick, cha-la, cha-la,
Chicka-la-roney, in a banana,
Kah-bolla, wolla--kah, Can’t you see?
Chickory-chick is me.’
and then, there was,
-- ‘Mairsy-dotes, and dozy-dotes,
and little lambs eat ivy;
A kit’ll eat ivy too,
Wouldn’t you?

Nostalgia fans out there may shedding a tear and saying ... ‘They sure don’t write songs like that, any more!’

Early rock ‘n’ roll hits included a big hit called, ‘Get a Job’, by the Sillhouettes, which was judged to be ... and I cite my source ... ‘one of the best known 'Doo-Wop' songs of the 1950s.’
The opening goes like this, led by the 'Bass Man,'
Yip yip yip yip yip, yip, mum,
Sha na na na, sha na na na na,
Sha na na na, sha na na na na,
Sha na na na, sha na na na na,
Sha na na na, sha na na na na,
Yip yip yip yip yip yip yip yip
Mum mum mum mum mum mum
Get a job Sha na na na, sha na na na na ...

You can check out the original song on ‘You Tube.’
It was later featured in the movie, ‘American Graffiti.’
I feel we’re ‘on a roll’ here!

Now, let’s look at a couple of later examples,
-- Neil Sedaka’s 1962 hit, ‘Breaking up is Hard to Do’ has a background track that begins this way,
Doo-doo-doo, down, doo-be-do, down, down, Come-ah, come ah,
Down, doo-be-do, down, down, Come-ah, come ah,
Down, doo-be-do, down, down,
Breaking up is hard to do.
He released the same song in the 1970s, this time reworked as a slow ballad, without the ‘Doo-Wop’ track. Again, a great song ... new version, for a new generation.

During that same era, the California ‘surfing, girls and hot cars’ duo, Jan and Dean, came up with this intro, on, ‘New Girl in School’,
Boppa do ron-de ron-de, do ron-de ron-de, do ron-de ron-de, oo.

Rock ‘n’ roll was not the only type of music on the radio to use ‘Doo-Wop’ lyrics.
Frank Sinatra’s ‘Strangers in the Night’ (a beautiful duet with his daughter, Nancy) needed a last line, and so ‘Ol’ Blue Eyes’ can be heard crooning,
Dooby-dooby, doo, doo-doo-doo-dee-dah ...
into the final fade.
He was greatly criticized at the time for including that phrase, but -- I ask you -- who was gonna tell SINATRA that he shouldn’t do it?

Maybe YOU have some great ‘Doo-Wop’ favourites.
Please send them along so we can share them!

All of these ‘modern’ examples cited here are available on ‘You Tube.’ Please remember, with respect, all the lyrics are copyright.