Miserlou by Dick Dale and His Del-Tones holds a special place in my heart. If I were to start listing all the reasons, this post would go on for pages. I’ll just tell you one:

I met Dick Dale in 1962, and I was so impressed by both the man and his music that I have never forgotten how important it all was to my musical development. He made me want to learn to play guitar.

In that year, at the age of 13, I entered my freshman year of high school. It was a tradition at my new school that they held a “Freshman Welcome Dance” in the gym. The first live performance by a star act I ever saw was that of Dick Dale and His Del-Tones.

While Dick Dale had been recording and performing for a couple of years already, and had an album out, his recording of Miserlou had only just hit the airwaves locally. It was to become his signature tune, and we at that dance were among the first ever to hear it performed live.

A video is worth a thousand words. Here is a vid that shows Dick Dale and His Del-Tones very much as they were on stage that night at my high school

Watch Dick Dale and His Del-Tones Live

During the show, after about three songs, Dick Dale addressed the audience and asked that we please hold our applause between songs. He explained that if it weren’t for us, he would be just another wannabe musician, and that he felt he should be the one applauding us, not the other way around.

Dick Dale and His Del Tones played over two hours that night. While on a between-set break, Dick came over to the refreshment stand and asked for a lemonade. He also asked if he should get the Milk Duds or the Junior Mints. I told him he should go for the Junior Mints, since the Milk Duds gummed up the mouth. He laughed and took the Junior Mints. He actually paid me for what he got. And gave me a tip “for the advice.” Imagine a rock star doing that today!

I could go on and on about Dick Dale, but suffice it to say that he is a true star, and a gentleman. If any oldies but goodies artist deserved to have his music listened to and downloaded, it’s Dick Dale!

Dick Dale’s First Album: Surfer’s Choice

My Personal Favorite: Summer Surf

The Whole Enchilada: Guitar Legends: The Very Best Of Dick Dale

All Dick Dale Downloads: Dick Dale MP3 Catalog

Fender Dick Dale Stratocaster Electric Guitar R37392

“It’s Now or Never” by Elvis Presley is one of those songs that I loved as a kid. Based on an Italian melody, “O Sole Mio,” with new lyrics, it was inevitable that I’d love it. My mother’s side of our family is Italian, and I’d heard that melody many times before.

Today, August 16, marks the anniversary of the passing of Elvis, at age 42, in 1977. As a lover of oldies music, I couldn’t let this day slip by without mention of The King. To be completely honest, I was not a big fan of  Elvis Presley. What few songs I’d heard by him prior to 1960 weren’t really appealing to me musically. I’d never seen the now-famous Ed Sullivan television broadcast, so I really had no conception of the magnitude of his celebrity and talent.

To put it frankly, I simply didn’t like tunes like “Hound Dog” and “Jailhouse Rock.” I know, in retrospect those songs have taken on almost mystical proportions. Today, they’re treasured classics in oldies music and beyond. But as a kid of 10 or 11 at the time, I had no idea of their greatness, nor that of Elvis Presley himself.

Historically, now, I can appreciate that Elvis Presley was probably the greatest single performer and star of the post World War II era. But as a brat back then, if it weren’t for “It’s Now or Never,” I would likely have dismissed him as just another rockabilly singer. If I’d known then what I know now…

“It’s Now or Never” was the first of several Elvis Presley songs I would truly enjoy over the next few years. Not long after, he released another song, “Surrender,” also based on an old Italian melody, “Torna a Surriento” (“Come Back To Sorrento”).

Other Elvis recordings I consider personal favorites, as well as classic oldies, are “Marie’s The Name (Of His Latest Flame), written by Del Shannon, “Return To Sender,” “Blue Hawaii,” and “Wild In The Country.” The latter two are from two of his movies with the same titles, which I think were among his best.

Recommended:

All of Elvis Presley’s #1 Hits (Listen/Download)

Read more about Elvis Presley:

1. Graceland Vigil Marks 33 Years Since Elvis’ Death (Article)
2. The Ultimate Guide To Elvis
3. Elvis Presley on Wikipedia

Elvis In Print: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The King

“Only The Lonely” by Roy Orbison is one of those songs that grabbed me and never let go. It was another of those songs I first heard during those couple of weeks I was home sick from seventh grade. It has always been one of my all-time favorites.

From the first strains of that famous “dum dum dum dum dee doo wah” intro, it struck a chord that would set the criteria by which I’d judge what I considered good pop music for years to come. Add in Roy Orbison’s incredible vocal range and the emotion it both portrays and elicits, and “Only The Lonely” becomes an instant rock ‘n’ roll classic.

Now, I have to say that perhaps, beyond the greatness of the song itself, “Only The Lonely” may have affected me on another level. The particular night I first heard it, I was alone in the house. My parents and younger brother had gone out to a Cub Scout meeting of some sort. It was the first time in my young life that I’d been left alone at all, and here it was at night. They weren’t going to be gone long, of course. But when you’re twelve years old, at night, in a big, old three-bedroom house, it can be a little disconcerting.

Although the lyrics of the song are really about a guy who’s lonely in his love life, that night I was feeling lonely myself, and the song just seemed to be talking to me. It comforted me, and made me feel like I wasn’t really alone after all.

There’s a bit of a chuckle tucked away in this, too. I heard Roy Orbison before I’d ever heard Elvis Presley. The first time I did hear The King, my first thought was that he was a Roy Orbison sound alike! That probably sounds odd, since Elvis was all over the place in those days, but that’s how it worked out.

“Only The Lonely (Know The Way I Feel)” – the full title – was Roy Orbison’s first hit for the Monument Records label. Roy passed away on December 6, 1988.

Enjoy Roy Orbison:

1. 1. The Essential Orbison (Purchase/Download)
2. 2. Roy Orbison: 16 Biggest Hits (Purchase/Download)
3. 3. Roy Orbison: A Black & White Night (Purchase/Download)
4. 4. Roy Orbison: The Soul Of Rock & Roll (Purchase/Download)

Recommended Reading:

Roy Orbison: Invention Of An Alternative Rock Masculinity (Sound Matters)

The song, “Walk, Don’t Run” by The Ventures holds a special place in my heart. There are a number of reasons for that.

It was among the first few rock ‘n’ roll songs I’d ever heard, and was the first rock instrumental to hit my eardrums. I was only about twelve years old at the time, so I guess I was pretty impressionable. Two guitars, bass and drums coupled with a catchy melody just grabbed me.

I guess it’s a bit funny actually, because at the time I was home sick with measles AND mumps. I was listening to an old Motorola transistor radio with about a one-and-a-half-inch speaker. Considering the technology of today, you might wonder how impressive that could have been. But that was where high tech was in 1960 – portable radios the size of a cigarette pack. I feel like saying something clever about iPod right here, but I won’t.

“Walk, Don’t Run” had a huge effect on my musical tastes from then on, and The Ventures themselves became probably my favorite recording artists for many years to come. I bought every album they released throughout the 1960′s. Their instrumental interpretations of pop and rock hits of the time were always interesting, if not downright impressive.

One of the reasons I liked them so much is simply that they translated popular music into a universally appealing format. Songs without lyrics have no language barriers, so people all over the world can enjoy them. There’s also a certain appeal in hearing great melodies without some of
the achingly sad, or often plain silly “moon, spoon, June” lyrics that were common back then.

“Walk, Don’t Run” by The Ventures has become a staple of Oldies But Goodies re-issues and compilations over the years, and can be found on some really nice CD’s today.

Examples:

1. 1. Walk, Don’t Run – The Very Best of the Ventures (Purchase/Download)
2. 2. The Ventures Play Telstar…/Ventures In Space (Purchase/Download)
3. 3. Teen Beat: 30 Great Rockin’ Instrumentals Vol. 1 (Learn More…)

In Store Vintage VINT 67 MOSRITE VENTURES MKV SB ELECTRIC GUITAR