Barely into the 60s...

It's the Dovells, singing their 1961 hit, "The Bristol Stomp":

As I keep saying, you never know what is going to turn up on YouTube next!

Incidentally, the Dovells, while a white Doowop group, copied the style of several black Doowop groups.

Indeed, some would argue that they came pretty close to copying this -- my all time favorite Doowop song -- "Every Day of the Week" by the Students (1958):

Sorry it's only audio. This was a fantastic group that didn't last long, and I've never been able to find out much about them. But thanks to the Internet, today I've found more:

A song written by William H. "Prez" Tyus, of Cincinnati, Ohio.

While still in high school, Tyus wrote the songs I'm So Young and Every Day of the Week and gave them to a local African-American vocal group called the D'Italians.

Once a recording contract with Chess Records was secured, the group changed its name to The Students, and it was under this name that Tyus's two classic doo-wop songs were recorded.

I'm So Young has been covered by the Rosie and the Originals, the The Del-Vikings, the Beach Boys, and by The Ronettes (as "So Young").

The Students left us a legacy of four songs which became oldies favorites in the early 60s and have remained popular to this day. In spite of this, surprisingly little has been known about the group.

If you're interested, there's also more here.

Original Dovells member Mark Stevens talks about his group, and the musical connection with the Students.

I actually thought that we were pretty unique. We had a very R&B sound. We were a white group with a black sound and that's what got The Dovells signed to Cameo / Parkway. That's what they were looking for. There's no doubt about that. And Len Barry, the original lead singer of The Dovells, had that black, rhythm and blues thing going on. We all did. We all went to a very black high school. We were all rhythm and blues oriented.
While groups are notorious for borrowing from each other, he makes what comes close to being an admission:
Q - "The Bristol Stomp" would be the song that put you over the top then?

A - Oh, yeah.

Q - Did you write that song?

A - No. Kal Mann and Dave Appell wrote all The Dovell's hits per se, along with Bobby Rydell, Chubby Checker, The Orlons, The Tymes, Dee Dee Sharp. All those hits from the Cameo / Parkway days were, for the most part, written by Kal Mann and Dave Appell.

Q - They were like the Motown staff writers.

A - Make no mistake about it, they were stealing melodies and ideas. "Bristol Stomp" was the same four chords you find in a lot of songs. The beat and the content of some of the songs came from other songs back then..."Pretty Little Angel Eyes", "Every Day Of The Week" by The Students... two prime examples of how "The Bristol Stomp" got started.

As to the precise line between sharing, influencing, and infringing, who knows?

Frankly, from a musical standpoint, who really cares? I wish the Students had made more money, but both these groups were great, and in those days they didn't need no stinking Digital Millennium Copyright Act!

posted by Eric on 11.17.07 at 02:47 PM





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Comments

Sometimes I think the two factors which really killed off competent pop singing were MTV and Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'. Before the two of them, you had to have a good voice and know how to use it - appearance was secondary. Afterward - well, you had to look good, be able to dance, AND sing. Unfortunately, being able to dance and look good has taken priority over singing any more...

JLawson   ·  November 17, 2007 05:14 PM

The town mentioned in the title of this song is, of course, Bristol, PA. I had thought that the "Daddy G" shout-out in the lyrics referenced Gene Barge of the Church Street Five (A Night with Daddy G).

To my surprise, I found out that the inspiration for Barge’s nickname “Daddy G” originated with Bishop Charles "Sweet Daddy" Grace. A Pentecostal minister who preached on Church Street in Norfolk, VA, Grace’s gospel of doing well by doing good had some striking similarities to Philadelphia‘s own Father Divine.

G. Weightman   ·  November 17, 2007 10:16 PM

Cameo/Parkway did land in hot water with Dee Dee Sharp's "Mashed Potato Time," which not only name-checks "Please Mr. Postman," it so slavishly follows the Motown melody that Brian Holland demanded he and his Detroit cowriters be cut in on the royalties. (And judging by BMI's current database, they were.) For some reason, no one's come after the late Bobby "Boris" Pickett, whose "Monster Mash" is pretty much the same song.

CGHill   ·  November 18, 2007 01:29 PM

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