Remember this?

Released in late 1959, this song was considered too morbid to play during the Christmas season, so both England and the USA banned it from the radio. But it got airtime on "pirate ship" stations off the shore of England and on bandit Mexican radio stations and, after the holidays ended, this became America's first #1 song of 1960.

https://youtu.be/IE-AcC53OYY

It spawned a series of "lost lover" songs for years; "Tell Laura I Love Her", "Leader of the Pack", "Ebony Eyes", "Leah", "Running Bear", "El Paso", etc.

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1970 240Z

Well I was just Cosmic Dust back then, but know the song very well. American Graffiti was George Lucas's second movie, but third technically.

After Sep 1960 I was a senior at Stratford High School. I remember the songs well and was able to sing along with the link. They all were great songs. They had a slow beat and were great to dance to.

After graduation I joined the USArmy and seriously struggled with "Run Around Sue" during basic training at Ft Dix, NJ.

Got another for you guys..."A Rose And A Baby Ruth" by the late George Hamilton IV. Probably too far back for some...huh Frank? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfY6bxPQ2W4

Great fun, Alan

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2007 350Z Grand Touring Roadster "OURZ"

No clue on that one Alan!

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John Kish
1971 240Z - original owner

Sure, I remember this! I was a pre-teen in the mid-'50s and have strong memories of several R&R songs back then, especially by the Everly Brothers.

At that time I was more captivated by baseball than by girls, especially the Subway Series btwn my beloved Brooklyn Dodgers and those danged Yankees. All the big names were still playing back then, remember Al? Peewee Reese, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Don Larsen, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella and Whitey Ford, and they still all spoke about Lou Gerhig and Babe Ruth. I would fall asleep at night listening to the night games on the big AM "portable" (12 lb) radio beside my bed. That was back in the days just before the tubes died and were replaced by transistors, and just before Da Bums deserted me for the west coast and turned my interest to NFL football, where the Packers were the dominant team.

I really had a miserable youth, but I sure do miss some great parts of it.

And when Dion DiMucci sang Runaround Sue, I was trying to date Sue Blaedon in 1960-'61. That song always warned me about her. Well heck, we were only 12 and 13, so what could I logically expect of her? I'm sure she's a great-grandmother by now, and still flirting with other guys.

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1970 240Z

Ah, those fond memories. Although I don't recall Alan's tune, I do recall many others from artists you mentioned. I had a 45 of Cathy's Clown by the Everly Brothers and a 78 of Don't Be Cruel and Hound Dog on the flip side by Elvis which I played so much that I wore them out.

Any of you guys fly those little .049 powered balsa U-Control planes? I remember flying "combat" with a friend in which we would try to clip off each other's streamer. Most of the time though we got so dizzy that we eventual would crash before a successful "battle" was completed.

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John Kish
1971 240Z - original owner

The only 0.49 thimbledrone engines I worked with were in two Grand Prix cars during junior high school; the first was Fangio's 300slr Mercedes (silver, wth checkered fabric seat) and Nuvolari's Maserati (red with black seat). My buddy and I fired them up in the vast empty parking lot of a Catholic Church near his house and got accosted by angry nuns and driven off the property.

Then once years later I worked undercover as a cashier in a hobby shop and became really involved in the large balsa biplanes with the 360 engines in them. The engines were the size of my fist and carried the planes upward in a wide spiral until they ran out of fuel, when they slowly glided back to earth. At least that was the plan. After a month of careful construction I got two (2) flights out of my WWI Sopwith Camel before it glided down into power lines and self-destructed. I guess you shouldn't fly those big rigs unless you live in the desert.

Oh, and for a while I owned a P-40 Warhawk plastic plane with an .049 engine in it which had a hand-held string handle affair attached to the left wing. I was supposed to start it and fly it around in circles while tilting the handle to make it climb or dive. That lasted one flight; I got so dizzy I couldn't keep up with the plane (strings were too short) and crashed it spectacularly.

In ChuLai Vietnam one of our Marines took forever building a balsa wood biplane and, when it was finally finished and painted, he cranked it up on the only paved road in our camp. Amid much fanfare he let it go; it actually took off by itself and flew perfectly straight, climbing out of sight. We never saw or heard of it again.

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1970 240Z