I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas/Holiday. Now, we are back to our regularly scheduled programming.
I don’t feature enough ballads and this is one of the best The song is the ultimate date song. I’ve heard this in countless movies and I still listen all the way through. I would have loved hearing this coming out of an AM speaker in the 1950s and 60s. I sometimes use the word beautiful but only when I mean it and with this song I do.
This is the only top-20 hit they had in America. My dad had their greatest hits so I know more than just this one. I do get in moods where I like good doo-wop. It peaked at #11 on the Billboard 100 and #3 on the Billboard R&B Chart in 1959.
They formed in 1953 and went through a series of names like The Swallows, El Flamingos, The Five Flamingos to simply The Flamingos. They were successful in the 1950s and on the pop and R&B charts.
As music changed in the 1960s, the Flamingos struggled to maintain their commercial success, though they continued to record and perform. Members of the group went through several changes, with different lineups carrying on the Flamingos’ name over the decades.
The Flamingos were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2000, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Doo-Wop Hall of Fame in 2004
I Only Have Eyes For You
My love must be a kind of blind loveI can’t see anyone but you(Sha bop sha bop)(Sha bop sha bop)(Sha bop sha bop)(Sha bop sha bop)(Sha bop sha bop)
Are the stars out tonight (sha bop sha bop)I don’t know if it’s cloudy or bright (sha bop sha bop)I only have eyes for you dear(Sha bop sha bop)
The moon may be high(Sha bop sha bop)But I can’t see (sha bop sha bop) a thing in the skyI only have eyes for you
I don’t know if we’re in a gardenOr on a crowded avenue(Sha bop sha bop)
You are here(Sha bop sha bop)And so am I(Sha bop sha bop)
Maybe millions of people (sha bop sha bop) go byBut they all disappear from viewAnd I only have eyes for you
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Love Motown! ❤️
This is an amazing version of this song. Can’t say I would know anything else they did though.
My dad had an album by them and The Platters I remember. Thats the only reason I heard of them probably…some great suff though.
Sha bop sha bop.
A classic for sure.
What a classic Max! Weren’t they one of the first integrated pop groups of that era…maybe ever? Maybe I’m thinking of another ‘doo wop’ group from that era.
There were quite a few Carl at that time and then the bottom fell out of the doo wop genre…but I still love it.
A buddy of mine from UC (Cincinnati) is a huge doo wop fan. He’s a rich Jewish kid from Cincy but he’s like an encyclopedia of knowledge about those groups of that era.
There is something about it….those voices just meshing together. Hey it’s a great subject to have knowledge on.
I know that he was a pop star also but I’ve always been a Dion Demuci fan & his stuff with the Belmonts was classic. I heard one of Elvis’ early Christmas songs I think ‘Blue Christmas’ with the Jordanaires I know that they weren’t ‘doo wop’ but they were cool. That harmony.
Oh yea I like the Belmonts stuff as well. The harmony is what does it…and then later on the Beach Boys took it up to a different level.
Oh ya, I love the Beach Boys but don’t forget the classic Temptations & the Dells were great harmonizers also.
Excellent song and recording. Seems like Frankie Valli had a hit with it too, when we were kids. Certainly a classic
Because of my dad…this is the one that I know the best. I can still see the album and the other albums he had of groups like this.
MY is probably right, it was Garfunkel who did this in the ’70s, not Valli. Either way it was a good cover that introduced a lot of people our age to the song
Yes it was…I can imagine Art doing it. Here it is:
Oh Frankie did one called My Eyes Adored You and Can’t Keep My Eyes off You
Great one. Art Garfunkel did a version in the 70’s too.
I’ll have to look that up today…I could see him doing it…it’s right up his alley.
I did wonder who released it first
Oh that was Dick Powell in 1934 for a movie.
Terry the Toad’s song. An absolute favorite.
I just watched American Graffiti a few weeks ago when we were talking about it…so I got that reference. It is a great song.
Toad was the star of the movie.
Terry the Toad…one of the great names.
American Grafitti a damfine movie. You’re right about Toad. He’s had some hella good roles over the years, including, “Starman” and “Never Cry Wolf.”
This is the version I know as first, no matter how Dick emphasizes it’s an old old song. This is the definitive version. Imagining slow dancing to it and making myself swoon 😉
Me as well! It’s such a romantic song.
This remains one of the best Doo Wop songs!
Pure romantic song.
Really beautiful, but I’ve always thought there was something, I don’t know, sinister about it? The backing vocals are so slow and woozy.
I never heard sinister but these 50s songs can sound spookyy…
I can’t explain it… It would work very well in a horror movie
I get what you are saying….there is a song by Kathy Young and The Innocents called “A Thousand Stars” that I think the same way about.
A great remake- who knew they did that back in the day? Naw, I jest, there was Hell to pay when the Marcels redid ‘Blue Moon.’ Some of the pre-WW2 crowd damn near had conniptions on hearing that one! ‘How dare they di-di-di-di-di- do that to our beautiful bom bom ba ba bom ‘Blue Moon!’
I had no clue about that! Now I’ll have to cover that song…I didn’t know that wasn’t the original version.
Frank Sinatra, Billie Holliday… Marcels… there’s a world of difference between them. Nothing wrong with different takes on a standard! The Marcels backup singers earned their pay cheques on their version though.
They did a great job with it
I adore this song.
It’s hard not to…
great song, and a UK number one for Art Garfunkel – I rate both versions, Art’s is much slower..
Doo wop stylings took a lot of songs they learned as kids from their parents and turn them into something new. This is one, Blue Moon is the classic. I can’t hear any version of “Blue Moon” without the doo wop. Not that I’m complaining.