2003-10-28

Teen Death Songs Say So Much.

Over on the Noise Board, where I can typically be found of a workday, wasting Valuable Company Time� engaged in such deep discussions as �death metal: how do they sing like that?� and �Fun With Anagrams,� there�s a thread about �spooky song lyrics.� You know, in keeping with the upcomin� holiday and all.

I posted that in terms of sheer entertainment value, nothing beats a good Dead Teenager Song�. You know, those songs that flourished in the late 50's/early 60's. The pop charts were strewn with the bodies of fictitious dead juvenile delinquents and sweater-clad heroines.

I used to listen to this �oldies� show on AM radio when I was little. I was fascinated with the fact that my parents came of age in the 50's (this being the 70's, at the peak of that whole 50's Revival stuff, with repeated viewings of �Happy Days� and Sha-Na-Na at the core of my tiny little psyche). In particular, I was fair mad for the teen death songs, and as soon as I figured out that I could actually call the radio station, I was on the phone every Sunday night asking to hear �Laurie� by Dickey Lee. In this song, the guy meets a nice sweet, vaguely sad young lady at a dance:

As I walked her home,
She said it was her birthday.
I pulled her close and said
"Will I see you anymore?"
Then suddenly she asked for my sweater
And said that she was very, very cold.

I would sit there by my little dog-shaped transistor radio, smug in my new-found, rudimentary knowledge of such devices as foreshadowing and irony, and crow: "She's COLD because she's DEAD!"

So the guy drops her off at her doorstep, starts on his way and -- darn it! -- he remembers his sweater, so he goes back to her house, only to be told by her father:

"You're wrong, son.
You weren't with my daughter.
How can you be so cruel
To come to me this way?
My Laurie left this world on her birthday -
She died a year ago today..."

Ooooo. Spewwkeeeee!

A strange force drew me to the graveyard.
I stood in the dark,
I saw the shadows wave,
And then I looked and saw my sweater

Lyin' there upon her grave.

Paydirt!

I think this is a genre that is in sore need of revival. Justin Timberlake would do well to cover "Teen Angel." Couldn't you just hear him crooning: "Just sweet 16, and now you're gone / They've taken you away / I can no longer kiss your lips / They buried you today"?

Happy Halloween.

lisamcc at 8:21 p.m.

4 comments so far
worldgurl
2003-10-28 22:05:04
oh! oh! oh! What about the song Eddie Vedder remade???? "Last Kiss" On the single he states that he found the 45 at a Antique store... "when I woke up the rain was pouring down, there were people standing all around... I lifted her head, she looked at me and said, " hold me darlin just a little while" I held her close, I kissed her, our last kiss...now she's gone, even though I hold her tight, I lost my love, my LIFE that night..."
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Marquis
2003-10-29 00:32:58
Ooooh, yah, those were the greatest. I've got this song done by some little freaky family group that uses the teen-car-crash narrative theme for this one song -- aw fuckit, just take it: http://dejadu.com/DANIELSONFAMILY-Pottymouth.mp3 (Let me know when you've got it so I can get that bulky thing off my server). As for the deathmetal singing, roommate Nathan (deathmetalrockstar) has this helpful thing to add, "It's hard." So, there you go. Mystery solved. xoxo, t.
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sistercookie
2003-10-30 02:04:54
I like this page. Your old wave is cool. Reminds me of the movie "Ghost World". I mean isn't everything just recycled these days. Sometimes the old is better than the new. It also makes you more appreciative because some people can't remember the days before cell phones. Cheers!
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Patricia
2003-11-03 19:02:41
I dig your page. Those lyrics were crazy. Also nice cartoon.
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