Here's the song — with the distinctive spoken-word section that begins at 1:11:
“Deep Purple” was recorded in 14 minutes, with Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun, who told them his partners "think it’s the worst record you’ve ever made." The siblings threatened to leave Atlantic and sign with Phil Spector, so it was released.
It hit #1 on the Billboard chart on November 16, 1963 and was #1 for only one week. The last day of that week John Kennedy was shot.
It's a song about memory — "In the mist of my memory, you wander on back to me" — and Nino Tempo couldn't remember the words. April Stevens had to remind him, her whispering vocal made the song memorable, and it is woven in our memory of the unforgettable tragedy.
In the still of the night once again I hold you tight
Though you've gone, your love lives on when moonlight beams
And as long as my heart will beat, sweet lover, we'll always meet
Here in my deep purple dreams
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14 comments:
Thanks for sharing this music! Always loved that song.
I remember that song fondly although I never made the connection of its timing being so close to the JFK assassination. Watching the video of their performance, it struck me that a brother sister singing duo has a interesting challenge because they can't look at each other romantically when the lyrics might make such gazes appropriate. During Deep Purple, they looked straight into the camera the whole time.
It had that difficult-to-define thing that made it a great record.
I had the 45 and back the didn't know it was an old song. My mother's friend made fun of it like Ertegun, like we teenagers had the worst music ever.
But wait. We hadn't even gotten to the Beatles yet;
I never heard the Artie Shaw version until last year. Helluva clarinet solo on that thing.
I never knew the two were siblings. I was 11 years old and in the 6th grade when the song was popular (good tune!) and I remember it well, along with being called in from the playground at Friday’s lunch recess to watch Walter Cronkite on the two classroom TVs announce JFK’s death. I remember so much about that awful weekend… Sunday morning eating pancake breakfast watching the TV with my dad and seeing Oswald shot.
So many memories, good and bad. Now it’s hard for me to recall what I had for lunch yesterday.
The Donny & Marie version is always a guilty pleasure for me.
Ertegun's comment reminds me of George Jones' after he finished recording "He Stopped Loving Her Today". Reportedly he didn't like the song and didn't want to record it bt his producer and the record company prevailed. After the session was over George said somethng along the lines of "There!, you've got your maudlin piece of shit, good luck getting anyone to buy it" It went to number 1.
Great song!
I am going to (gently) call BS on that one.
I've watched dancers memorize ten minutes of complex steps in two walk throughs and go on stage.
A previous GF was a semi-pro singer and she would often learn a dozen or more songs in the car on the way to a wedding. By learn I do not mean "brush up on Celine Dion" I mean learn "The Raspberry Polka."
The album version of that 3:28 song wasn't recorded on any of the videos we watched (well, I skimmed the first one) it was certainly done in a studio. With sheet music. And if Mr. Tempo couldn't read music (weirdly common with singers, even today I'm told) he was certainly able to sing a song against a tune.
Finally, Milli Vannilli aside, most "live TV" music was lipsysnc'd until the 80's.
-XC
PS - I was born very shortly after this song hit the charts.
The part about Tempo not knowing the lyrics confused me. Too many music terms.
A happy tune with somewhat melancholic lyrics. This version came out the year of my own birth. My dad enjoyed this song, and the Donny and Marie version.
April Stevens was born the day after my dad. She looked a lot younger than her age; she was almost 37 in that TV show. Maybe she didn't smoke; dad was a 40-a-day man and looked 10 years older than his age. He died at 62 of lung cancer.
That's the melancholic part of memory this song brings forth for me. I was just too young to tie it into the horror of Kennedy's murder.
My dad will be 93 this August.
Althouse Obscura never fails to amuse.
Isn't this the way preachers, or music leaders, did hymns in churches lacking hymnals or readers?
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