What is it about guys and lists? It doesn't seem to me that women have the same compulsion to compile lists of things and then rank them from 1 to 10, 1 to 100, or even 1 to 500 like men do. So what are three retired male educators who get together every few months to listen to and discuss songs from Rock and Roll's first golden decade going to do? Ron Witucki, John Len, and yours truly decided to make lists of our favorite tunes, of course, and then come up with a system (this part is probably a teacher thing) to determine 25 great songs in a particular genre. Why? Because it's fun for guys to do this type of thing.
We agreed to start off with doo wop, since we are all big fans. Independently, we we each put together a list of our 50 favorite doo wop songs. When we met, each of our selections was awarded a point value according to it's place on our lists. 50 points for # 1, 49 points for # 2, and so on. In addition, any song that appeared on all three of our lists would be awarded a bonus of 50 points. A song that appeared on any two of our lists was awarded a bonus of 20 points. The system seemed to work pretty well. Only four songs were on all of our lists, and they are the top four songs among the 25 (actually 35) great doo wop records listed below.
01. "In The Still Of The Nite" - The Five Satins. This classic ballad was recorded in a church basement in New Haven, Connecticut. It was a # 24 hit in1956 when it was leased to the Ember label, and it briefly returned to the Billboard chart in both 1960 and 1961.
02. "Come Go With Me" - The Dell-Vikings. The quintet, that included one white member, formed at an Air Force Servicemen's Club in Pittsburgh. Originally releaed on the tiny Fee Bee label in 1956, it became a # 4 hit nationally in 1957 after it was leased to Dot Records.
03. "Blue Moon" - The Marcels. This Pittsburgh group's distinctive, uptempo cover of the Rogers & Hart standard on the Colpix label spent 3 weeks at #1 on the Hot 100 in 1961.
04. "One Summer Night" - The Danleers. This one hit wonder group from Brooklyn reached # 7 on the Hot 100 in 1958 with their beautiful summer ballad on Mercury Records.
05. "I Only Have Eyes For You" - The Flamingos. Easily the most romantic doo wop ballad of all time, it provided Chicago's Flamingos with a # 11 hit on George Goldner's End label in 1959.
06. "Pretty Little Angel Eyes" - Curtis Lee with the Halos. Produced by Phil Spector, it was a # 7 hit for Lee in the summer of 1961 on the Dunes label. Singer Ray Peterson founded the label, with help from Spector, after he scored a big hit with "Tell Laura I Love Her" on RCA in 1960.
07. "Sea Of Love" - Phil Phillips & The Twilights. First released on the Khoury's label, this great Louisiana-styled ballad became Phil Phillip's only charting hit after it was leased to Mercury Records and spent two weeks at # 2 in 1959. The song was used very effectively in the 1989 movie thriller Sea Of Love, starring Al Pacino.
08. (Tie) "Oh, What A Night" - The Dells and "16 Candles" - The Crests. Two great doo wop ballads. The original version of "Oh, What A Night" was a # 4 R&B hit for the Dells in 1956. In 1969, the group recorded a new version of the song and it reached # 10 on the Hot 100. The Crests, featuring the unmistakable lead vocal of Johnny Maestro, enjoyed their biggest hit when "16 Candles" spent two weeks at # 2 on the Hot 100 in early 1959 on the Coed label.
10. "My True Story" - The Jive Five. This is my favorite song by my favorite doo wop group. Sadly, it was the only big hit for this great Brooklyn group when it reached # 3 in 1961 on the Beltone label. There should nave been many more.
11. "Since I Don't Have You" - The Skyliners. Featuring the great lead vocal of Jimmy Beaumont, the group's first charting hit on the Calico label spent 19 weeks on the Hot 100 in 1959, peaking at # 12.
12. "Tonight (Could Be The Night)" - The Velvets. It became the only Top 40 hit for the group from Odessa, Texas, when it reached # 26 in the summer of 1961 on the Monument label.
13. "Happy, Happy Birthday Baby" - The Tune Weavers. The Boston group featured a female lead singer (Margo Sylvia). They scored their only charting hit in the fall of 1957 when it reached # 5 on the Checker label.
14. (Tie) "Get A Job" - The Silhouettes and "Duke Of Earl" - Gene Chandler with the Dukays. "Get A Job" was my first doo wop record purchase. My copy of the # 1 hit on Ember Records was a 78 since I didn't have a 45 player at the time. Gene Chandler's # 1 hit from early 1961 on the Vee-Jay label was recorded when he was the lead singer of the Dukays, but only his name was listed on the 45.
16. "There's A Moon Out Tonight" - The Capris. The group's hit ballad was first released in 1959 on the Planet label and then in 1960 on Lost-Nite Records. The group from Queens, New York hit paydirt in early 1961 after the recording was leased to Old Town Records for national distribution, resulting in a # 3 hit on the Hot 100.
17. "Remember Then" - The Earls. The group from the Bronx, New York, featuring the lead vocal of Larry Chance, scored their only charting hit in early 1963 when it peaked at # 24 on the Old Town label.
18. "Book Of Love" - The Monotones. The one hit wonder group from Newark, New Jersey, first released "Book Of Love" on the small Mascot label before the song was leased to Argo Records for national distribution in 1957, resulting in a # 5 hit.
19. "Runaround Sue" - Dion with the Del Satins. Dion is one of rock and roll's greatest singers. His # 1 hit from the fall of 1961 featured a rougher and more bluesy style of doo wop that he would continue to showcase in a string of classic singles during the 1960s.
20. "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" - The Teenagers (featuring Frankie Lymon). This highly influential song was # 2 on my list, but my friends rated it much lower. Frankie Lymon's vocal popularized the adolescent sound in rock and roll and was an inspration to early Motown artists and girl groups in general. It would have been a # 1 in 1956 had it not been for cover versions by Gale Storn and the Diamonds.
21. "I Wonder Why" - Dion and The Belmonts. The summer of 1958 saw the group's first charting hit when itt reached # 22 on the Laurie label. Although I generally enjoyed their ballad hits, I wish they would have done more uptemp recordings in this style while the group was still together.
22. (Tie) "Rama Lama Ding Dong" - The Edsels and "Barbara Ann" - The Regents. The Edsels wwere from Campbell, Ohio, and the original version of their song was released as "Lama Rama Ding Dong" on the Dub label in 1958. A new version was eleased on the Twin label in the summer of 1961, and it reached # 21 on the Hot 100. The Beach Boys had a # 2 hit in 1966 with their live cover of "Barbara Ann," but I much preferred the Regents' original version. The group from tthe Bronx, New York, scored a # 13 hit with it on the Gee label in 1961.
24. "What Time Is It?" - The Jive Five. This group, featuring the great lead vocals of Eugene Pitt, should have been much bigger but they were recording near the end of doo wop's popularity on the charts. It is almost criminal that a wonderful song like "What Time Is it?" only reached # 67 on the Hot 100 in the fall of 1962.
25. "Stay" - Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs. The group formed in Lancaster, South Carolina. They achieved their first success as The Gladiolas with the original recording of "Little Darlin'" in 1957 on Excello Records. Maurice Williams reformed the group as The Zodiacs in 1959, and they scored a # 1 hit with "Stay" on the Herald label in early 1960.
None of the above artists are from Michigan. Doo Wop was not as big in Michigan as in other areas of the country, but below are seven classic doo wop songs by Michigan artists that you should definitely check out.
"I Love You" - The Volumes (Volume's). Detroit's Volumes, featuring the lead vocal of Ed Union, had a # 22 hit in the spring of 1962 on the Chex label. The song was prominently featured in a strip poker scene in the 1979 film, The Wanderers.
"Village Of Love" - Nathaniel Mayer & The Fabulous Twilights. This was the only single released on Detroit's legendary Fortune Records to chart on Billboard's Hot 100 when it hit # 22 in the spring of 1962. Nathaniel Mayer was a dynamic performer, often referred to as "Detroit's James Brown."
"(Just Like) Romeo & Juliet" - The Reflections. Treading a thin line between being a rock and roll vocal group and a doo wop group, Detroit's Reflections had a # 4 hit in the spring of 1964 on the Golden World label during the early stages of 'Beatlemania'.The instrumental backing on the song featured several moonlighting members of Motown's Funk Brothers.
"You're So Fine" - The Falcons. The Detroit vocal group reached # 17 on the Hot 100 in early 1959 on the Unart label. The Falcons featured Joe Stubbs, younger brother of Levi Stubbs of the Four Tops, on lead with Eddie Floyd and Mack Rice on backing vocals. When Stubbs left to go solo in 1962, he was replaced by Wilson Pickett.
"The Wind" - The Diablos. This classic Motor City ballad features the high tenor lead of Nolan Strong who was a major influence on Smokey Robinson. This could a have been a national hit for the group, but Fortune Records lacked the distribution to get their records into stores around the country
"Got A Job" - The Miracles. This answer song to "Get A Job" by the Silhouettes was one of Smokey Robinson's earliest compositions for the Miracles after the group signed with Berry Gordy Jr. Although it never charted, it was an early indication of Robinson's songwriting ability.
"Tomorrow And Always" - The Satintones. One of Motown's earliest vocal groups, they recorded six non-charting singles from 1959 to 1961. The most notorious of these records was "Tomorrow And Always." It had to be withdrawn from the market due to a copyright infringement suit that alleged that the song's melody was identical to "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" by The Shirelles.
