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Sunday Screening
Are you ready to have your world rocked? Yes? Then watch this weirdly sleazy performance by Billy Joe Royal, who you might remember as the genius behind "Down in the Boondocks:"
That's "Cherryhill Park," a 1969 single which for some reason none of my friends have ever heard, even though it is clearly an oldies-radio staple (and if you knew this song before hearing it today, PLEASE comment so I don't feel like a crazy person). It's part of that weird, self-contained little subgenre of overdramatic horn-driven pop music that grew during the late 1960s -- the best example of which, to my mind, is the execrable 1968 hit "Young Girl" by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap.
(Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, unquestionably, made the world worse for everyone who inhabited it. If "Young Girl" didn't persuade you, consider -- and I link this with hesitation, because it's probably a crime in some states -- "This Girl Is A Woman Now." There is some music which just deserves to be called "evil." ...I am digressing.)
Anyway, I want you to turn that song over in your mind a little bit; strip away Billy Joe's dirt-stache and awesome proto-disco moves, and concentrate on the tune. Specifically, sing to yourself: MAR-Y-HILL! SURE WAS FUN down in Cherryhill Paa-ark!, preferably so loudly that your roommates can hear you. Have you done it? No? Slackers. But let the tune sink into your mind for a bit anyway -- MAR-y-hill! -- and see if it doesn't turn into this:
Perhaps not. (It might only work if, like me, you sing horribly out of tune.) But I maintain that "Cherryhill Park" shares those three key notes with the opening notes of the immortal Theme from Super Mario Bros., by Koji Kondo. DOOP doop doop! Music is a wonderfully small world sometimes.
I'm going to leave it there, because I just can't resist the allure of my beckoning schoolwork -- but if you're in a Mario mood, you should enjoy both the famous Mario Frustration video (warning: very profane) and the lesser-known Hardest Mario Game Ever. (Just give them a chance. They grow on you, like weeds.) Until then, enjoy the rest of your weekend, and this is an open thread.
Filed under: 1960s • awesome proto-disco moves • Billy Joe Royal • evil • It's-a-me Mario! • music • pop music • video • video games
Rebecca Cohen, I do not know
Rebecca Cohen, I do not know who you are but you have just measurably improved my life. Also, you are not alone (emphasis mine):
While we're on the woman-child genre, I should note that there was a large mass of survey-voter hostility toward Gary Puckett, of Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, who gave us "Woman, Woman," "Young Girl," and "This Girl Is a Woman Now." Some voters argued persuasively that these are actually all the same song.
--Dave Barry, Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs, 1997. (This book is basically my Bible. You should all purchase it.)
actually, as i was going to
actually, as i was going to sleep last night, i had 'lady willpower' stuck in my head, and it kept morphing into 'young girl.' or perhaps the other way around. because it is all the SAME DAMN CHORD.
HELL YES, I listened to
HELL YES, I listened to Cherry Hill Park. Oldies radio is the way to go. However, Rebecca, I am kind of sketched out by your extensive knowledge of the Gary Puckett and the Union Gap oeuvre, if one could call it that.
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you are not crazy; i
you are not crazy; i fondly remember cherry hill park. but i disagree with your gary puckett statement- i'm an avid gary puckett and the union gap fan, and young girl is, to me, the pinnacle of his short-lived cheesy overdramatic orchestrated pop career (though he still plays concerts at high schools in upstate NY where i live!)
in addition to all of his songs being fantastic, they all sound exactly the same- Young Girl has a leadup to the chorus exactly like Lady Willpower and the basic structures sound suspiciously like Woman, Woman . Which begs the question: why are all of gary puckett's songs slightly creepy and borderline pedophilic (esp. young girl and this girl is a woman now). which also begs the question: why do I know so many gary puckett and the union gap songs? I guess the world may never know.
point: you are not crazy. and i listen to too much oldies radio.