Doo(-)wop: trivial observation

[Wilson Gray]

I'm sorry that I didn't make myselff clear. After I'd thought about it a
while, it occurred to me that all oldies DJ's  - those who define both the
doo(-)wop genre and the concept "(moldy) oldie but (golden) goodie)" - are
or were white. Hence, if a white person says, "X is (true of) doo(-)wop,"
I'm in no position to deny that, merely on the basis of my personal opinion,
absent my having access to a competing theory of the genre. Therefore, as I
said, I capitulate, maintaining only what is the undisputed truth: that the
earliest example that I *personally* know of the use of the actual, literal
syllables, "doo(-)wop," occurs in the song, "The Bells," by Billy Ward and
the Dominoes, released in 1952 as the "slow" side of the R&B jump song,
"Have Mercy, Baby." itself an outstanding example of Gospel-influenced black
pop. Change the title to "Have Mercy, Jesus" and  the refrain to "Have
mercy, mercy, Jesus"  and no one would have guessed that it wasn't a Gospel
song. Here, I'm abstracting away from those numerous instances in which a
Gospel song is morphed into a secular tune merely by erasing "Jesus" from
the lyrics. I exaggerate, of course.

But Ray Charles's "This Little Girl of Mine," Marion Walter "Little Walter"
Jacobs's "My Babe," and Barbara George's "I Know"  are examples of instances
in which not a single note of the original Gospel song has been changed,
just the words.

As for what we called the music ... Well, it was just music. Saint Louis's
Spider Burkes intro'ed it with, ca.1948-:

"Let's take a stroll down the alley behind my house, for these are the
boogie-joogie sounds."

L.A.'s Hunter Hancock went with, ca.1957:

"Playing everything from be-bop to ballads and blues to boogie."

But there was also, ca.1957:

"K-FOX! K-FOX! First in _rhythm-and-blues!_ First in sports and news!
Southern California's most listened-to station: K-F-O-X!"

FWIW, my favorite song by The Velvets is "i." backed by "Tell Her."

Speaking of "backed," the only reason that I can think of that the oldies
people are unaware of "The Bells" is that they're basing their claims on hit
lists and not on the actual recordings. "Have Mercy, Baby" reached number
one on the R&B hit parade in 1952. "The Bells," as its B-side, didn't
receive so much as a mention. Nevertheless, it received just as much play at
parties - too much, for my taste; I thought that "The Bells" sucked - and
dances and on jukeboxes as "Have Mercy, Baby." I can't imagine why it hasn't
occurred to the oldies DJ's to flip the records and listen to the other
sides. We always did.

-Wilson

On 7/31/06, Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu > wrote:
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU >
> Subject:      Re: Doo(-)wop: trivial observation
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I wrote:
> >
> > -----
> > http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:2tkvu3u5an1k
> > The Odessa, TX-based Velvets are best remembered for their
> > violin-enriched 1961 Top 40 hit "Tonight (Could Be the Night)," during
> > which the group chanted "doo-wop" behind lead singer Virgil Johnson.
> > It was one of the first uses of the phrase in a song (the Turbans' use
> > of the phrase on the 1955 "When You Dance" predates it by a few
> > years).
> > -----
>
> Wilson Gray wrote:
> >
> > I remember both "Tonight (May Be The Nigh-yi-yi-Night)" and "(Hold Me
> Tight)
> > When You Dance" quite well and I don't recall call that the literal
> > syllables "doo(-)wop" occurred in either of these songs.
>
> Here's one transcription of the Velvets song...
>
> -----
>
> http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/the_velvets/tonight_could_be_the_night.html
> Tonight
> (Doo-wop, doo-wop-de-wop)
> (Doo-wop, doo-wop-de-wop)
> Could be the night
> (Doo-wop, doo-wop-de-wop)
> (Doo-wop, doo-wop-de-wop)
> To hear her say
> (Doo-wop, doo-wop-de-wop)
> (Doo-wop, doo-wop-de-wop)
> Darling, I do
> (Doo-wop, doo-wop-de-wop)
> (Doo-wop, doo-wop-de-wop)
> (Doo-wop, doo-wop-de-wop)
> And tonight
> (Doo-wop, doo-wop-de-wop)
> (Doo-wop, doo-wop-de-wop)
> Could be the ni-eye-eye-eye-ight
> (Doo-wop, doo-wop-de-wop)
> (Doo-wop, doo-wop-de-wop)
> To get the ring
> (Doo-wop, doo-wop-de-wop)
> (Doo-wop, doo-wop-de-wop)
> Around your finger
> (Doo-wop, doo-wop-de-wop)
> (Doo-wop, doo-wop-de-wop)
> -----
>
> > My best guess is
> > that we must be working from different definitions of both doo(-)wop and
> the
> > doo(-)wop genre, given that, beyond what would be a very strange lacuna
> in
> > my memory, IMO, "Tonight" and "When You Dance" are not doo(-)wop songs.
> If
> > you can't "dance on a dime" with your significant other to the rhythm -
> and
> > you can't dance like that to these songs - it's not doo(-)wop.
>
> Well, I was just repeating information from the Allmusic.com website
> about those two songs. I don't personally have a very well-defined
> concept of doo-wop, besides certain key aspects like four-part
> harmony, with the lead vocalist carrying the melody and backing
> singers providing rhythmic counterpoint. Both the Turbans and the
> Velvets songs would seem to fit those criteria, but if they're not
> actually doo-wop as properly construed, then I bow to your superior
> knowledge of the genre.
>
> Here's some more on sung instances of "doo-wop":
>
> -----
> http://www.electricearl.com/dws/origin.html
> As far as we can tell (thanks to doo-wop fan Tim Lucy), the nonsense
> syllables "doo-wop" first appeared on wax in 1954 on a song called
> "Never" by a Los Angeles group called Carlyle Dundee & The Dundees
> (Space 201). The background group sings "doo-wop" in the the song's
> chorus. Members of The Dundees later became The Calvanes.
> The first hit record showcasing "doo-wop" came in 1955 with The
> Turbans' Top 40 recording of "When You Dance" (Herald 458). The group
> chanted "doo-wop" several times, very plainly.
> (Peter Bachelder reminds us that, though it wasn't released until
> 1960, Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters' 1953 recording of "Let The
> Boogie Woogie Roll" featured the group behind Clyde clearly repeating
> "doo-wop" again and again through the course of the song.)
> In 1958 a group called The De Villes on Aladdin Records (3423)
> recorded a song called "Kiss Me Again and Again." The flipside was
> called "Do-Wop."
> In 1961 The Velvets chanted "doo-wop" behind lead singer Virgil
> Johnson on their hit recording of "Tonight (Could Be the Night)"
> (Monument 441).
> -----
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>
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>



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