Long lost Oldies!

It has been said to me more than one time. “Oldies are dead as a musical genre.” “There is nothing new in Oldies.” “Don’t you get bored playing Oldies?”

My answer to all three of these statements is a resounding “No!” I’ll stipulate that there is no such thing as a “new” oldie. True the old songs keep coming back as covers by today artists and you hear them a lot sampled in commercials for everything from cars, to food, to paint! Like, who dances barefoot on a freshly painted deck anyway.

I must admit that for the most part, the newer cover’s of the old songs we used to dance to don’t have the same vibe as the originals. Mostly because of the tend to use synthesizers instead of hiring musicians to fill out the horn sections that we used to listen to: The Wrecking Crew in California, the Funk Brothers in Detroit, the Memphis Stax Horns or that hot mix coming out of Muscle Shoals Sound Studio at 3614 Jackson Highway in Sheffield, Alabama. Now those were real backing groups!

But the point I want to make is that no one person can know everything about oldies. No one person has heard every oldies song. Just to make sure we are comparing oranges to oranges, I define Oldies as any popular song that was released between 1955 and 1975. That can include anything from Lawrence Welk’s “Calcutta” to Janis Joplin’s “Cry Baby” to Cat Steven’s “Peace Train!” I’m not forgetting the great songs that lie outside these years; Examples of this are "Rocket 88" that was first recorded in Memphis, Tennessee, in March of 1951 by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats, who were actually Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm. Many folks argue that this was the first true Rock and Roll song. On the other end of the timeline are songs like "Walk Away from Love" a 1976 song recorded by David Ruffin, former lead singer of The Temptations. "Walk Away from Love" was written by Charles Kipps and produced by Van McCoy.

One of the joys of playing oldies is the deep dive into the archives that I get to make each week in search of great songs that I’ve either forgotten or never knew about in the first place. Each Sunday afternoon I return from the vault of memories with freshly uncovered solid gold. This week three of the gems include: Marmalade – “I See The Rain” (1967), and a pair from Small Faces – “All Or Nothing” and “Tin Soldier.” This week’s additions point out one of the great sources of unknown Oldies; Marmalade is from Glasgow and Small Faces hails from East London.

Left: Pye Records 45 RPM Jacket for The Bystanders "98.6" Songs from overseas are a great source of long lost Oldies. Because of the dominance of American artists in the 50’s and early 60’s several countries, most notably Canada and The United Kingdom placed restrictions on playing American artists on their radio stations. This aided local artists such as Paul Anka and Bobby Curtola to thrive. Paul eventually made it big in the US, but Bobby had limited success here. In the UK, there were some big artists such as Helen Shapiro. Her UK chart toppers, "You Don't Know" and "Walkin' Back to Happiness" were not released in the US. The Bystanders “98.6” was the version of Keith’s 1967 hit song that’s was familiar to the British. Similarly Paul & Paula’s “Hey Paula” was replaced by a version by Elaine & Derek.

Other great sources are “B” Sides and album tracks. Examples of “B” Sides include "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor (originally the B-side of "Substitute"), "I'll Be Around" by the Spinners (originally the B-side of "How Could I Let You Get Away") and "Maggie May" by Rod Stewart (originally the B-side of "Reason to Believe"). There were some “Double A” Side releases such as the ones the Beatles recorded in the heyday of their popularity. Then there were the Part 1/Part 2 records. Examples of this include Ray Charles's "What'd I Say", the Isley Brothers' "Shout", and a number of records by James Brown, including "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" and "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud". Don’t forget Little Stevie Wonder’s first hit song “Fingertips Part 1 and Part 2”

Finally there are covers and follow up songs that make for great Oldies airplay. Jay & The Americans had a ton of these in the late 60s that featured the strong voice of frontman Jay Black: The Drifter’s “This Magic Moment” and Neil Diamond’s “Solitary Man” just to name a couple. Even Rick James recognized the power of Oldies when he released a medley of “This Magic Moment/Dance With Me” in 1989. That non-oldies song is a slice of pure oldies and doo-wop heaven.

But better than all this, my audience is a huge resource for long lost oldies. I get dozens of requests every week from someone wanting to hear their favorite oldie. Every now and then, one of those requests is for a song that I’ve forgotten about or better yet one that I have never heard of. You better believe that I’m all over those, big time. If I don’t have it on my computer, I go looking for it and it gets added to the mix.

So each week, starting with my Monday Morning Show on WUSC-FM, I feature those new additions. They carry over to my other shows and become new / old additions to the hallways of our memories. Oh MY!