Smokey Robinson & the Miracles – The Tears of a Clown
I remember the first time I heard the opening seconds of “The Tears of a Clown.” I was fifteen, slouched…
Oldies Songs
Brenda Lee – Tutti Frutti 1956 ( Brenda is 11 years )
It’s 1956. Rock and roll is less a genre and more a seismic event, shaking the polite foundations of American…
The Bee Gees – Time Is Passing By
The air in the television studio was likely stale, tinged with the metallic tang of arc lights and the scent…
Dean Martin & Caterina Valente – One Note Samba
The television screen shimmers with the high-gloss sheen of mid-sixties Technicolor. It’s 1966, and the set is pure Las Vegas…
Wilson Pickett – In the Midnight Hour
The song begins with an undeniable pulse—a groove that doesn’t just invite you to dance, but demands it. It’s the…
The Lennon Sisters – Jamaica Farewell
The air in the living room was always static and hushed on Saturday nights. The scent of furniture polish and…
Glenn Miller – Chattanooga Choo Choo – Sun Valley Serenade
It is the sonic equivalent of a newsreel in Technicolor. Close your eyes and you’re not in the room; you’re…
The Tremeloes – Call Me Number 1
The year is 1969. The great sonic conversation of the sixties was winding down, mutating into something heavier, more introspective,…
The Move – Blackberry Way
It’s an overcast Tuesday in late autumn, and a chill has settled into the bones of the afternoon. The world…
The Coasters “Searchin'”
The glow of the late-night dial was amber and dusty. It was 1957, and the airwaves were a chaotic landscape…