R&R Repast: Oldies Double Double

Posted: July 28th, 2024 | Filed under: Music, Rock & Roll Rewind | No Comments »

I’m ever fascinated by how music is used in film.

How it is an integral part of the most immersive of art forms.

And there are two specific instances where movies allowed me to rediscover what are easily two of my favorite Doo Wop songs ever.

Both original artists and both are one hit wonders. Though in one case, the elegiac tune has been covered any number of times through to the now.

My favorite doo wop tune of ever is “I Love You” by the Volumes.

Oh the harmonic swoops and swirls of teen longing.

The group is from my birthtown Detroit. Though I didn’t learn of that connection until years later.

The song was released in ’62.

My remembrance is that I only heard it once, maybe twice during my high school years.

It faded into some nook and cranny of my mind.

At a point in the 70s surely, I recall a record store somewhere along the Frankfort Ave corridor. The owner prided himself on how many hundreds of oldies he had taped. Packed on reel to reel, if I remember correctly.

During a visit, somehow the Volumes tune came to mind. I hadn’t heard in who knows when, around the time of release for sure. When he found and played it, chills froze me.

I want to say literally, but not really. Figuratively, oh yeah.

Then the tune drifted back out of consciousness.

Until seeing the ’79 flick “The Wanderers,” which as expertly as the way more heralded “American Graffiti” carries forward the rock & roll fable of early 60s teendom.

There’s this iconic scene, full with oldies classics, including my favorite at the end when Ken Wahl and Karen Allen smooch.

I melted.

Here’s “I Love You” by the Volumes in full without distraction.

I got the shivers when I played it this morning while downloading the embed link.

 * * * * *

Then there’s Louisianan Toussaint McCall’s somber and soulful “Nothing Takes The Place of You.”

Frankly I’m not sure if I heard this when it was released in ’67.

Maybe?

Probably?

But when I heard during this scene of John Waters’ “Hairspray,” I fell prey to its melancholic resonance.

Here’s the tune in all its understated brilliance.

This one, such is it a keeper, has been covered by any number of folks. A diverse lot.

Johnny Adams. Al Green. Shovels & Rope. Asleep at the Wheel, with a female singer whose name I do not know.

It is part of Tab Benoit’s repertoire.

I even croaked part of it on the radio as a mash up with Elvis’s “Blue Christmas,” during the breakup of my marriage. (Trust me, it is not something you want to hear, even had I the facility to present it.)

So, there you got it.

“I Love You” by the Volumes. My favorite oldie of all-time.

Toussaint McCall’s “Nothing Takes the Place of You,” somber and evocative. Meaningfully understated.

— c d kaplan

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