Hangin' Out In 100b

When I was about 12, I started to rummage through my uncle’s CD collection and “borrow” CDs. He has a lot of those “Remember The Sixties” type CDs. I know, they’re crap. Almost all of them have two or three good songs on them and then a whole bunch of filler, but there was one in particular that I listened to a lot. It was a 2 CD set and it was near perfect. If only it didn’t have Paul Young’s horrible cover of The Everly Brothers’ “Love Hurts” on it. They could have chosen versions by Roy Orbison, Emmylou & Gram and, oh yeah, The Everly Brothers!! But noooo, Paul was clearly the way to go. But I digress. It had – among many, many others – Louis Armstrong, Sam Cooke and The Shirelles on it.

I know that The Supremes are the reigning queens of Girl Groups and I have to admit that The Shirelles are less polished than The Supremes, but they’re so much more interesting to listen to because of it. The lead singer sounds like she just had a shot of liquor when she sings and the back up singers are not the best vocalists I’ve ever heard, but when they all come together it works beautifully. There is one song that they did that is made to be sung in front of a mirror with a hairbrush-microphone. It kept popping in my head last week because it is also THE perfect, uber-romantic Valentine’s song. Even though I am, of course, way too cynical to go along with that horrible corporate sponsored holiday … of luuuuuurve. Sigh.

   The Shirelles – Dedicated To The One I Love