To call my own
And never do wrong.
To hold in mine
Your little hand.
I'll know too soon
That all's so grand.

Please.

Hold my hand.

Ok. But just this once.

La-la-la-la-la.

Ah-ooba-ooba-ooba oh-ho well-a.

Ooooga moooga, moo goo gai pan and dance the night away...

Robert appreciated my adlib.


Ok, how's this:

Love letter to the stars
Flossing between my toes
Oh you are all so very far
From Earth, where poppies grow

I grew up hearing the Diamonds's version of this song. Here's the original version (by the Gladiolas.)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcWub6qC5xc[/youtube]

The Diamonds' version is a cover?

Why didn't I know that? And how could I not have heard the original until now?!?

Jon Tyler is my hero for the day. Wow.

Aw, shucks. Thanks, Unc.
Little Darlin'" was from that era in which white artists were often called upon to re-record songs, which had recently been recorded by African-American artists. Generally, I prefer the original version to the cover; but, in this case, I actually like both equally well.

Some trivia about the Gladiolas... In 1959, they changed their name to the Zodiacs (as in Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs) and went on to record the well-known song, "Stay."

Holy crap. I never realized the Diamonds were a white group.

Man. I am ashamed of myself. Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs (as the Gladiolas) were the black group that originally recorded "Little Darlin'." And I always assumed the Diamonds were a black group that recorded it first and actually had a cross-over hit.

Man.

I have got to find a listing of the R&B charts from the '50s. That's all there is to it.

"Sh-Boom" was another one. The Crew Cuts (a white band) did the (more successful) cover. The original was by The Chords, (a Black group.) And, of course, you had people like Pat Boone making hits out of Fats Domino songs by "sanitizing" them for White audiences.

Sure, those I knew. And Boone's covers of Little Richard, and Boone and Bill Haley's covers of Smiley Lewis... I just can't believe I didn't know about the Diamonds.

Those Pat Boone covers are hilariously bad.

And, sadly, there were probably MUCH more successful than the originals.

That may be, but you never hear them anymore -- you only hear the originals. At least, all the oldies stations around where I live only play the originals.

Okay, so I hear the Crew Cuts version of "Sh-Boom" more often than the Chords.

And until today I've never heard the Gladiolas version of "Little Darlin'".

No denying that the Crew Cuts' cover of "Sh-Boom" helped usher in the rock and roll era.

The one that I can't listen to is the McGuire Sisters' cover of "Sincerely." #1 for ten weeks, but can't hold a candle to the Moonglows original (which at least managed to reach a respectable #20, charting at the same time as the McGuires).

Oh, man. Does any cover scream "We're as lily-white as we can possibly be" more than that McGuire Sisters' "Sincerely"?

My dad used to play "Little Darlin'" for me. It's a good'un.