Bobby Vee (Robert Velline), who died on 24 October at the age
of 73, was unfairly roped in with the numerous teen-appeal vocalists of the late
1950s / early 1960s, who were hammered by music critics for being lightweights
with weak voices and even weaker recording material. Examples would have been Bobby
Rydell (‘Wild One’, 1960), Frankie Avalon (‘Venus’, 1959), and Fabian (‘Tiger’,
1959).
Whilst Vee was visually and vocally not dissimilar to Rydell
and the others, his choice of songs was always superior, and his hit recordings,
produced by the legendary ‘Snuff’
Garrett (1938-2015), sounded bigger and better than those of the competition.
Bobby Vee was the perfect vehicle for the classic songs that
emanated from New York’s Brill Building and similar hothouses of competitive
song-making. Hit records aside, Vee’s place in rock’n’roll folklore was assured,
when on 3 February 1959, he and his group (‘The Shadows’) deputised for the newly-deceased
Buddy Holly, in Moorhead, Minnesota, on that fateful day.
Just as intriguing is
the fact that Bob Dylan, going by the name of Elston Gunn, briefly played piano
with Vee’s group. It is said that it was Dylan who persuaded Velline to
abbreviate his stage name to ‘Vee’.
At the heart of the better songs that Bobby Vee recorded
were the lyrics of Gerry Goffin, either with Carole King, or Jack Keller,
providing the seductive melodies. The famous breakthrough hit was ‘Take Good
Care Of My Baby’ (Goffin/King, 1961), in which the singer addresses his adversary and accepts that he has
lost his love to another, but remains gracious, perhaps secure in the knowledge
that ‘she’ will eventually come back.
And if you should discover, that you don’t really love her,
Just send my baby back home to me
In ‘Run To Him’ (Goffin/Keller, 1962), again Vee remained
quietly confident that his personal charms would send his ‘baby’ running back
to him.
If you think his lips can kiss
you
Better than my lips can kiss you, run to him…
And:
If somebody else can make you
Happier than I can make you, run to him,
My tears will dry (!)
Vee’s songs, or to be precise, Goffin’s lyrics, continually
throw down the gauntlet at the feet of the errant lover. Perhaps there is a smugness underpinning Goffin's (in)security.
‘Sharing You’ (Goffin/King, 1962) continues the premise,
but this time Vee accepts his fate. The song's middle
eight contains the pinnacle of Goffin’s lyrical misery:
There are two of us to kiss you,
Two of us to miss you,
And two of us to wish there were two of you…
‘Two of you’! As if all the greater world’s romantic conflicts of
interest could be solved by cloning the target of two persons’ affections. If only.
‘A Forever Kind Of Love’ (Goffin/Keller, 1962) was another
winner, although not a chart hit in the USA. In this song, Vee makes a commitment.
It seems my reputation has met you before me,
People say I treat love like a game
Well once that was so true, but now that I’ve found you,
I know that I will never be the same...
Yes, I’ve kissed girls just for the thrill of kissing them…
In addition to these remarkable songs was the notable ‘The
Night Has A Thousand Eyes’ (Weisman/Wayne/Garrett, 1962). Was this pop music’s earliest case of unintentional surrealism and blatant paranoia?
You say that you're at home when you phone me
And how much you really care
Though you keep telling me that you're lonely
I'll know if someone is there…
Cos the night, has a thousand eyes
This necessarily brief summary of Bobby Vee’s greatest
moments cannot be concluded without a nod to ‘More Than I Can Say’
(Curtis/Allison, 1960), written by two of Buddy Holly’s closest workmates and
featuring, on record, the distinctive double-tracked lead vocal, a trademark of
Holly’s producer, Norman Petty.
Bobby Vee’s records sold by the million to the teen market
at which they were aimed.
Today, the words of the songs that he sung just might strike
a chord with the terminally young at heart. Colour me there.
And rest in peace, Bobby Vee.
