RE: I wonder

[music <music...>]

Then again, since this is a music list, there's always:

"I Wonder as I Wander" (John Jacob Niles) (copyright 
1934)

"I Wonder" (Cecil Gant) (1945) -- according to Charlie
Gillett in THE SOUND OF THE CITY, "one of the first
rhythm and blues/race records to have massive sales,
not only reaching across the national Negro market
but also selling well in some white districts."

"Book of Love" (Monotones, 1957), with the immortal
intro

"Oh I wonder wonder ohm ba doo doo who -- BOOM"
(what became the drumbeat apparently originating as
an accidental sound during a rehearsal, caused by a
baseball crashing through the window, a microphone
falling on the floor, or something or other; but when
they played back the rehearsal tape, they liked it
with the BOOM!)

"I Wonder Why" (Dion & the Belmonts, named for
Belmont Avenue in the Bronx) (1958) I think it was
Dion himself (not certain) who said of this song:]
"It's like some explorer went into a strange sub-
culture in the middle of the city and came back
with the latest from the natives.  The song is fun
and full of itself, with an edge of nervousness and
sheer adolescent energy."

(Memorable Footnote: Dion was touring with Buddy 
Holly, Ritchie  Valens, and the Big Bopper [J. P. 
Richardson] when their plane crashed (in 1959, I 
believe -- "the day the music cried"); Dion was the
man who wasn't there -- because he was freaked out
by how much the plane cost (I think it was something
in the two figures) and took the bus.)

Wandering, wondering,

Robert Cohen





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