Why Do Fools Fall in Love (song)
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"Why Do Fools Fall in Love" is a song that was originally a hit for early New York City-based rock and roll group Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers in 1956. It reached No. 1 on the R&B chart,[1] No. 6 on Billboard's Pop Singles chart,[citation needed] and number one on the UK Singles Chart.[2] The song was ranked #307 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The song helped to make Frankie Lymon a household name and would make him a rock and roll pioneer, paving the way for later teen prodigies like Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson, whose careers also took off at the age of 13.
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[edit] Writing credits
In late 1955 The Teenagers (at that time calling themselves The Premiers) auditioned a song called "Why do Birds Sing So Gay?" for George Goldner, recording producer and owner of Gee Records. Jimmy Merchant, tenor of the group, had written the song based on a line from some love letters given to the guys by a tenant in bassist, Sherman Garnes' apartment building. One of them featured the words "Why do birds sing so gay?," which fit in with lyrics of other songs that Jimmy had been writing based on a 1-6-2-5 chord pattern. So Jimmy worked with it, creating a song for Herman Santiago to lead, and adjusting the harmony to take advantage of Frankie Lymon's high tenor/soprano. Along the way, Herman changed some of the lyrics. During the audition Frankie's voice stood out and, at Goldner's suggestion, the lead in subsequent recording sessions was given to Frankie. Frankie did some improvising and re-created the melody to match his own style. Acccording to Jimmy Merchant, what happened at the recording session was a combination of "Frankie's singing ability coupled with George Goldner's special ability to bring out the best in Frankie."[3]
Although early vinyl single releases of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" credit Frankie Lymon, Herman Santiago, and Jimmy Merchant as co-writers of the song, later releases and cover versions were attributed to Lymon and record producer George Goldner. Goldner's name was later replaced by Morris Levy when Levy bought Goldner's interest in Gee Records, the Teenagers' record company.
After a lengthy court battle, song-writing credits were awarded to original Teenagers members Herman Santiago and Jimmy Merchant in December 1992.[4]
However, four years later in 1996, this ruling was overturned by the Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit under the statute of limitations and authorship, because Santiago and Merchant did not bring the case to court soon enough. This gave the song rights back to Lymon and Levy.[4] The current publisher of the song is EMI Music Publishing, which still lists these as the songwriters.[5]
[edit] Cover versions
The song was used as a B-side for the Beach Boys single Fun, Fun, Fun, which reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964. It had only appeared in mono since the release of the single back in 1964. The only release that was heard through the 90's and 2001 was the album mono mix. The single mix of the song was found and used on the 2007 Warmth of the Sun Compilation and on 2008 Singles Boxset. The 2008 Boxset also used a recently found mono Single Edit mix. In 2009, a new stereo mix was created with an amazing newly discovered intro thanks to the discovery of the original multitrack masters by Jon Stebbins. That version is featured on the band's new compilation Summer Love Songs. Diana Ross released a cover version on the Motown label in 1981, peaking at #7 on Billboard's Pop Singles Chart[citation needed], and number four in the UK Singles Chart[2]. The success of Ross' cover helped reintroduce a new generation of audiences to Lymon[dubious ]. A remix of Ross' cover peaked at #36 on the UK charts in July, 1994[2].
Why Do Fools Fall in Love has also been covered by Kenny Rankin, Gale Storm, Marion Ryan, Alma Cogan, Voices of Theory, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and Joni Mitchell. The Gale Storm version on Dot Records was recorded shortly after the Frankie Lymon original was released. It sold well and many white radio listeners of the time had heard only the Storm version and had no idea another version existed. Storm had a light soprano voice, and sounded classically trained; she had nearly no feel for rhythm and blues and yet her record in its way is as significant as the Lymon original. She approaches the song ironically and playfully. Virtually all of Storm's hits were covers of other artists' songs, but, she never simply copied the originals. She always brought her own qualities to them.
The Diamonds also did a more traditional Doo Wop version that came out the week after Lyman's version. This version spent 19 weeks on the charts, topping out at #12.
It's notable that both Diana Ross and Ronnie Bennett Spector said they had wanted to sound like Frankie Lymon and had been inspired by the tone and texture of his voice and particularly its clear, ringing quality. At the time of releasing her version of "Why" as her first RCA Victor single and the title track on her premier RCA album, Ross paid tribute to Lymon's inspiration.
[edit] In popular culture
The recording by Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers features in the film "American Graffiti" (1973).
[edit] References
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 368.
- ^ a b c EveryHit.com (search for songs called "Why Do Fools Fall In Love")
- ^ Marv Goldberg's R&B Notebooks, "The Teenagers", based on interviews with Jimmy Merchant.
- ^ a b Frankie Lymon, Find A Grave Memorial
- ^ Fools_Fall_In_Love EMI Song Details - Why Do Fools Fall in Love
| Preceded by "The Great Pretender" by The Platters |
Billboard R&B Best Seller in Stores number-one single March 17, 1956 - April 7, 1956 |
Succeeded by "Long Tall Sally" by Little Richard and His Band |
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