{"id":819,"date":"2013-09-26T01:32:46","date_gmt":"2013-09-26T01:32:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/?p=819"},"modified":"2013-09-26T17:53:29","modified_gmt":"2013-09-26T17:53:29","slug":"ink-spots-platters-swirl-me-back-into-a-time-of-innocence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/?p=819","title":{"rendered":"Ink Spots, Platters swirl me back into a time of innocence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Terry<\/a><\/p>\n

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I hate to say this because it dates me and is a reminder of how people when they get to a certain age are fond of saying (much to the chagrin of their kids), \u201cback in the good old days,\u201d but the good old days were great for music.<\/p>\n

By now you know that I love music, and have stated before that I probably should have been a musician. As it is, music is always playing while I write. It gives me motivation and sometimes an idea for a column, like it has today.<\/p>\n

I first became aware of music probably in the middle to late 1940s with the great swing bands of that era. The original Ink Spots drew me in the late 1940s when I biked about 10 miles to a friend\u2019s house and discovered his parents had a sound system installed in their beautiful home.<\/p>\n

This was the first and maybe only time I have experienced a home with a central sound system. Apparently his folks had money. This friend is deceased (he died in a car accident in North Carolina years ago) but back then we were classmates and in my only and last visit to his house he introduced me to the sound system.<\/p>\n

My friend began and ended by playing the Ink Spots, and I immediately fell in love with their sound and their songs. I still love them, although you seldom hear them anymore.<\/p>\n

There have been around 100 different Ink Spots over the years, but the original members were Orville \u201cHoppy\u201d Jones, who did the bass talk parts, Ivory \u201cDeek\u201d Watson, Charlie Fuqua and Jerry Daniels, who was replaced in 1936 by Bill Kenney, who if you never heard him you have missed an incredible voice.<\/p>\n

If you ever get a chance listen to them sing \u201cIf I didn\u2019t care\u201d, \u201cMy Prayer\u201d, \u201cWhispering Grass,\u201d \u201cMaybe,\u201d \u201cI\u2019ll never smile again,\u201d \u201cWe three (My echo, My Shadow, and me),\u201d and \u201cJava Jive\u201d\u00a0 you will be hooked.<\/p>\n

My friend had to almost kick me out of his house, I was so overwhelmed with strong emotions while listening to the Ink Spots. It\u2019s the same way today, although as I said I don\u2019t hear them much anymore.<\/p>\n

The Ink Spots, Glenn Miller, country singers like Hank Williams, Webb Pierce, Hank Snow, and Ernie Tubbs formed my early bond to music. Then along came the 1950s and doo-wop, which blew me away at a time when I really needed it.<\/p>\n

I was in my dark years in the middle 1950s when I started to hear Doo-Wop and a song like, \u201cIn the Still of the Night\u201d by the Five Satins. And the Platters, anything by them, including but not limited to songs like \u201cOnly You,\u201d The Great Pretender\u201d, \u201cSmoke Gets in Your Eyes\u201d, \u201cHarbor Lights,\u201d and \u201cTwilight Time.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was \u201cEarth Angel\u201d by The Penguins, \u201cSave the Last Dance for Me\u201d, by the Drifters and, of course, \u201cSinging in the Rain\u201d by Johnnie Ray.<\/p>\n

About 10 years ago I had a brief Internet conversation with an old flame. We had gotten together as young teens in the 1950s, during my dark years. She was a light that shone bright on me for several years and when I accidentally ran across her on the Internet the first thing she remembered about those times was our song, \u201cSinging in the Rain\u201d by Ray. She said ever once in a while she would have a flashback and Ray\u2019s voice would come through to her.<\/p>\n

So maybe I didn\u2019t have an impact on her latter life, but Johnnie Ray did. And Ray and all the others have had a tremendous effect on me through all these years. It was a good time, although as I said I was in my dark years. The music \u2013 the doo-wop \u2013 made it less painful.<\/p>\n

Once I graduated from high school in 1958 I headed back east to my old stomping grounds and to school at Alfred. In the almost two years I was there before four of us left for California, I had a chance to relive my younger teen years with doo-wop.<\/p>\n

There was three of us \u2013 me, Dale and Lynn \u2013 who roamed through the small towns in that neck of the woods. This was done mainly on weekends when I was back in my small hometown (Portville, N.Y.) and staying at my sister\u2019s house.<\/p>\n

We would hit out-of-way beer gardens, with the radio blasting, smiles on our faces, no fear in our gut and love on our mind. Lynn and Dale both had girlfriends who eventually turned into wives, but I was free, free as a bird and about as flighty.<\/p>\n

There were the occasional fights, the ban I received from the county\u2019s hot spot \u2013 Cuba Lake Pavilion \u2013 for knocking out a pest one night (I somehow managed to skirt the big burly bouncers and get back in once in a while), and the long and crazy night drive to Keuka Lake in the Finger Lakes to meet up with a couple college girls.<\/p>\n

During this period of time I sang for a brief while in a country-western band in a beer garden. Most of my singing was a poor imitation of Hank Williams. But when the listeners are half in the bag, you can sound pretty good.<\/p>\n

My connection to that time is gone. Lynn, Dale and the three guys I went to California with are all gone. I don\u2019t know why they have departed this Earth and I\u2019m still around, but it is what it is. I\u2019m sad about it because I can remember most of those times as vivid now as if they were just happening.<\/p>\n

The one thing that didn\u2019t die was the music. I\u2019m playing some of the doo-wop now, thanks to American Routes, which comes to me via Lafayette, Louisiana.. The \u201cLion Sleeps Tonight\u201d by\u00a0 The Tokens, and now The Regents are singing their signature song, \u201cBarbara Ann.\u201d<\/p>\n

My life has been one long and big and journey to get here. I\u2019ve done things that I would do all over again \u2013 including hitchhiking across the country \u2013 and I would want to make sure the music of that time followed me.<\/p>\n

The world today is a lot more complicated \u2013 I kind of feel sorry for kids today who face so much so fast and with a lot of uncertainly swirling about the world. When I was young, there were a lot less people and life was a lot simpler. Nobody had ADD or any of the other acronyms, and we almost always played outside without parents interference or them wondering where we were.<\/p>\n

News \u2013 mostly bad now \u2013 didn\u2019t follow us with electronic smart phones. In fact, we kids didn\u2019t know or care to know what was happening outside our little square mile or so of turf.<\/p>\n

But it is what it is now. The music has changed \u2013 it\u2019s much louder for one \u2013 and a lot less of innocence comes with the words. I don\u2019t think I heard a swear word of note until l got into high school. We kids either didn\u2019t know any or just didn\u2019t find a reason to use them. But you can\u2019t walk around town now without hearing the worst of the worse.<\/p>\n

That too is life. You adapt or you don\u2019t survive.<\/p>\n

I do have, though, access to the old music, and maybe the good old days where not as good as I remember them, but it sure is nice to go back in time through the music and forget for a moment that we have killers all around us now waiting to pounce at unsuspecting souls, as just happened in the Navy Yard in D.C. and in Kenya.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going out with this from the Platters singing \u201cOnly you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cOnly you can make this world seem right
\nOnly you can make the darkness bright
\nOnly you and you alone
\nCan thrill me like you do
\nAnd fill my heart with love for only you<\/p>\n

Only you can make this change in me
\nFor it’s true, you are my destiny
\nWhen you hold my hand
\nI understand the magic that you do
\nYou’re my dream come true
\nMy one and only you<\/p>\n

Only you can make this change in me
\nFor it’s true, you are my destiny
\nWhen you hold my hand
\nI understand the magic that you do
\nYou’re my dream come true
\nMy one and only you<\/p>\n


\nOnly you can make this change in me
\nFor it’s true, you are my destiny
\nWhen you hold my hand
\nI understand the magic that you do
\nYou’re my dream come true
\nMy one and only you\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Be well pal.<\/p>\n

Be careful out there<\/p>\n

Have a great day<\/p>\n

You are loved<\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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