Judith Durham is just one among many singers and groups whom I’ve rediscovered though YouTube. There’s almost a perfect confluence of voice and melody in the Seeker’s Morningtown Ride. I didn’t even realize The Seekers were Australian; I guess you couldn’t call them part of the “British Invasion.” Petula Clark and her song Kiss Me Goodbye could melt the most solid heart. Dusty Springfield was famous for her unusual distinctive voice, dark eye mascara, carefully coiffured hair, and her long empire dresses that were characteristic of the 1960s (Losing You video). Women were more feminine. Girls actually wore dresses in those days, not the Mao trousers of today.
I’m discovering all kinds of overlooked or forgotten singers and performers: Kathy Young, A Thousand Stars; Bo Diddley and Duchess; The Gazzarri Dancers; The Ray Conniff Singers, Somewhere My Love; The Eternals, Rock and Roll Cha Cha Cha and Babalu’s Wedding Day; Dion and the Belmonts; The Crests, The Angels Listened In; Bert Kaempfert, Swinging Safari and That Happy Feeling. If there was a live audience, it would be packed with gum chewing, screaming, spontaneous, but real teenagers. Hollywood can’t duplicate them.
I don’t recall seeing any of the groups in performance when I was young. In fact, I don’t recall ever seeing Hollywood a Go Go or Shindig. Most kids didn’t have their own television sets in those days. We saw plenty of The Lawrence Welk Show though. (My favorite song was Calcutta.) Except for American Bandstand, Rock and Roll was not a visual thing for millions of Baby Boomers because we had home work during prime time and on Sundays we went to church. Basketball practice after school ate up much of my time. The only thing most of us had was our radios and if we were really lucky, a Hi Fi.
WHB radio in Kansas City had its Top 40 list you could pick up at the local record shop, book store, or Katz Drug Store in Westport. WDAF played songs more subdued like You Are My Special Angel or When I Fall in Love. The Four Lads and the Lettermen were constants with the station. WHB and WDAF were radio stations that led us away from Country to Rock and Roll.
If post-WWII America produced social upheaval, it also led to a cultural renaissance in the arts. YouTube has become a valuable Internet phenomenon that has allowed millions of Americans to rediscover a lost American now submerged in the awful, grunts, chirps, shrieks, and spasms of the worst elements. The presence in YouTube of simple, melodic, sentimental, and harmonious songs and their creators remind us of the enduring cultural legacy of the best elements.
