Author: Kim Simpson

“(Say I Love You) Doo Bee Dum” (1964) – The Four-Evers * Written by Steve Tudanger and Joe Di Benedetto * 45: “(Say I Love You) Doo Bee Dum” / “Everlasting” * Produced by Al Kasha * Label: Smash

This Brooklyn group’s name and sound play off of their models the 4 Seasons. Their eventual hookup with that group’s Bob Gaudio and producer Bob Crewe secured them a record contract. “(Say I Love You) Doo Bee Dum” would be their last single, though, and that knowledge gives it a special dose of sweet pain. The short instrumental break at 1:28 sparkles and yearns like the sun setting on Coney Island on the last day of summer. Peaked at #119 in Billboard.

“Action Time Vision” (1978) – Alternative TV * Written by Alex Fergusson and Mark Perry * 45: “Action Time Vision” / “Another Coke” * LP: The Image Has Cracked * Produced by Alternative TV and Chris Gray * Label: Deptford Fun City Records

Punk manifesto music in which the London band’s initials are given an “alternate” reading. Singer Mark Perry, the former editor of the punk zine Sniffin’ Glue, sings the title words with such authority – as though someone were taking dictation – that the listener assumes more meaning is intended than is actually perceived. He does the same upward curls at the end of his phrases that Johnny Rotten always did. They’re oratorical, didactic flourishes, and they make his announcement elsewhere on their The Image Has Cracked album (“Good Times”) that original member Alex Fergusson got kicked out for being a “dictator” seem ironic. The band’s previous single, in fact, was a reggae-tinged expression of sexual lethargy called “Love Lies Limp,” and there’s no question that the Fergusson-less lineup sounded more committed to virility.

“Cozumel” (1969) – Los Sonor’s * Written by Flores and Mari * 45: “Cozumel” / “El Tudel” * Label: Peerless

This Michoacan organ + sax attack, a tribute to the Caribbean island near Cancun, came out in 1969, sold big, and became a party staple south of the border by 1970. You’ll feel even more like dancing if you watch Los Sonor’s (The Sounds) perform it. The songwriting is credited to “Flores and Mari,” who are mysteries for now. If you go hunting for more from this group’s catalog, you’ll come across rock ‘n’ roll en español records by Los Sonor, a group from Spain. This is a different entity from our cumbia combo in question (who always used an apostrophe s). Los Sonor were, in fact, an early incarnation of Los Bravos (“Black is Black”).  

“Cracker Jack” (1970) – Mickey and His Mice * Written by Mickey Fields, Eddie Drennon, and Martin Cantine * 45: “Cracker Jack”/”Abraham, Martin and John” * Produced by Martin Cantine * Label: Marti * Charts: Billboard (Regional breakout hit [non-numbered list]: Washington DC)

Q: “Hey baby, what is this cracker jack thing?” A: “Ain’t nothin’ but the popcorn with some sweet jive on it.” The “popcorn” was a James Brown concoction—a dance he’d started doing onstage in 1968, according to some accounts, to the song “Bringing Up the Guitar.” He then recorded a stack of popcorn-oriented records, including “Mother Popcorn” (1969), a highlight in the James Brown hall of finest funk. But “popcorn” might have had more to do with the Godfather of Soul’s personal lexicon of booty synonyms than with any specific dance moves. “Popcorn music” has also become a term adopted by soul music aficionados in Europe to describe a sweeter strain of the obscure vintage sixties dance cuts you see categorized as “Northern soul” (so named for their popularity in certain Manchester clubs). It’s safe to assume, though, that Mickey Fields, the tenor sax man and bandleader answering the lady’s question at the beginning of “Cracker Jack,” is referring to the James Brown popcorn sound. The single showed up on Billboard as a regional breakout hit in Washington D.C., having likely racked up some airplay on WPGC or WEAM. It might have gotten more traction if Fields wouldn’t have refused to ever leave the Baltimore area.

“Act Nice and  Gentle” (1967) – The Kinks * Written by Ray Davies * 45: “Waterloo Sunset” / “Act Nice and Gentle” * Produced by Shel Talmy * Label: Pye

Jug-rock flipside for the UK version of the Kinks’ “Waterloo Sunset” single. This is a song that would have suited the Lovin’ Spoonful nicely, but perhaps they’re the ones that inspired Ray Davies. Covered by the Black Keys in 2004, who demonstrate it to be suitable sludge material.

“Thunder” (1976) – The Runaways * Written by Kari Krome and Mark Anthony * LP: The Runaways * Produced by Kim Fowley * Label: Mercury

In this song from side A of the Runaways’ debut LP (never released as a single), the double-tracked voice of Cherie Currie shares similarities with the double-tracked voice of Denise Nickerson, who sang lead on some of the “Short Circus” sequences on The Electric Company, the kids show on PBS that ran from 1971 to 1977. It invites mental images, as it plays, of pre-teen kids in rust-colored polyester outfits shimmying while the word THUNDER flashes across the screen.

“Rainy Night in Georgia” (1970) – Brook Benton * Written by Tony Joe White * 45: “Rainy Night in Georgia” / “Where Do I Go from Here” * LP: Brook Benton Today * Produced by Arif Mardin * Label: Atlantic

With no top ten hits since 1962’s “Hotel Happiness,” Benton took a shot with a song by Tony Joe White, who’d reached #8 with the deep southern “Polk Salad Annie” in 1969. The resulting #4 smash not only became a career-defining moment for Benton, but also for the prolific producer-arranger Arif Mardin. Dripping in aching strings and a lonely piano, the song transferred a detectable sense of resignation to the airwaves, as if to signal the end of a more youthful and carefree era. Benton’s next two 45s were versions of the new Sinatra signature song “My Way” and Joe South’s “Don’t It Make You Want to Go Home,” each of which seemed to verify and emphasize Benton’s elegiac mindframe in “Rainy Night in Georgia.” 

“Give It to Me Now” (1973) – Bay City Rollers * Written and produced by Bill Martin and Phil Coulter * UK LP: Rollin’ (Bell)

The Bay City Rollers’ first few albums stocked up on songs that paid tribute to the romantic concerns of early sixties teen idols. Now and then, though, their historical and geographical coordinates (i.e., glam-era Great Britain) would manifest loudly on BCR wax. “Give It to Me Now,” for example, is a sultry re-do of a glitter torpedo that Kenny had ridden up the the UK charts the same year.

“Give It to Me Now” (1973) – Kenny * Written and produced by Bill Martin and Phil Coulter * UK 45: “Give It to Me Now” / “Rollin'” (RAK)

The songwriting and production team of Phil Coulter and Bill Martin pumped out a whole bevy of songs for the Bay City Rollers. Many of these sounded like early ’60s fodder for American teen idols, e.g., “Summerlove Sensation,” “Remember (Sha La La La La),” “Shang a Lang,” and the biggie, “Saturday Night.” Coulter and Martin’s “Give It to Me Now,” with its “shim-sham-sham-a-ram” chorus, showed up in a steamy, slowed-down version on the Rollers’ 1974 debut LP Rollin’. Irishman Tom Kenny (“Kenny”), who had a face like David Essex and a voice like Suzi Quatro, recorded it first, though, as a 1973 A-side. The B-side, coincidentally, contained a song called “Rollin’,” which the Bay City Rollers never recorded. After “Give It to Me Now,” Kenny moved on with his life, but a new group formerly known as Chuff, with Rick Driscoll on lead vocals, stepped in as the new “Kenny” and recorded a handful of additional charting hits. One of these was a UK #3 called “The Bump,” which the Rollers also recorded as a B-side for their 1974 hit “All of Me Loves All of You.”