Tuesday, October 12, 2010

It Came From 1960! (Part Three) The Belmonts - Tell Me Why




Actually it came from 1961 this time, but I got a request from my friend Will to put some "do-wop" music on this short selection, so I picked one of my favorite songs for that genre.

Dion and the Belmonts had an edgier sound than a lot of groups like "The Lettermen" or "The Four Seasons" had. This recording is without Dion DeMucci (b. 1939) who had left the group in late 1960 to pursue a solo career. They reunited briefly in 1966 and later in the 1970s.

This video for "Tell Me Why" features a lot of great photographs from the era as well. Hope you enjoy this one!

23 comments:

  1. Excellent selection. Great song and great pictures. Not too long after this life changed didn't it?

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  2. Cool song and I love the pics, especially those hunky guys with the surfboards! Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane!

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  3. Good harmonizing there. I loved the television in the video and the woman wearing little white gloves, it looked so lady-like. The thing I like best though, was the old petrol pumps. I used to take pictures of them if I came across one of those tiny country garages on my travels.

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  4. I have always appreciate the do-wop bands They have a soothing sound

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  5. I have always been a fan of Bridget Bardot

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  6. Thanks. Yes, it did Mary Ellen. A lot of news things were happening (Kennedy's New Frontier, maned space flight, etc) but a lot more cultural changes were coming down the road.

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  7. Yes, the gloves were indeed very "lady like", Cassandra. A woman wasn't properly dressed on many occasions without them.
    I agree there is something charming about those older gasoline pumps--they are like works of art compared to the bulky steel dispeners we have now. It's great when someone has gone to the trouble of fixing them up so travellers can get a sense of the past.

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  8. Yes, there is something about the human voice in harmony with others, right on key.

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  9. As long as you remember I saw her first, Fred. :-)

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  10. You're welcome Jacquie. The pics were put together on You Tube by a person calling himself "joltinjoe". He really captured a lot of pop culture icons.

    Seeing that NASA manned-rocket on the launch pad reminded me how great it was to have a space program that captivated the world in the 1960's and got younger people like myself believing that the future could be more positive!

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  11. As a kid I thought NASA was the place to be. As an adult having recently visited the Johnson Space Center as an adult. I found I was right. It is cool. Thank you for the memories. cue Bob Hope

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  12. On of the highlights of my time in Florida was visiting The Kennedy Space Center up near Cape Canaveral and Daytona Beach.

    All the big booster rockets--including the massive Saturn 5--were there. And the enormous hangar they were building the first space shuttle was there.

    Quite a display, to say the least.

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  13. yes but I am younger and dashingly handsome with arms the size of tree trunks

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  14. I have been told the truth hurts. But she might like the older more distinguished type. Now all we need to do is find one

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  15. Ha! Somebody needs to step up to the plate!


    Al Gore?

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  16. Really? Is that the best you could come up with. No wonder she never was interested in you. You think she would want Al Gore. She must be devastated right now at the thought.

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  17. I hadn't thought of that--Brigette must be appalled by my lack of taste!

    O woe! O despair!

    O what is she doing on Multiply, anyway?

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  18. trolling for dashingly handsome younger men with arms the size of tree trunks

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  19. Don't know this particular tune Doug, but of course I know the genre, although at the time nobody (except maybe French speakers?) would call it that...I do remember Dion's solo career though, my brother - 7 years my senior, used to have records by him like Runaround Sue and The Wanderer.

    Good tune here though thanks for posting it, your taste as a neonate was simply impeccable I must say Doug

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  20. I'll be standing by for your updates Fred.

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  21. His solo career rather put the Belmonts sans Dion in the shade I'm afraid. Those songs your brother played were both huge hits of course and deservedly so.

    Yes, AA, you can only imagine how it pains me to realize now, as an adult, that I had a better sense of the best in popular culture before my introduction to solid food.

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