ON THIS DATE (59 YEARS AGO) January 10, 1956 - The Teenagers Featuring Frankie Lymon: Why Do Fools Fall In Love b/w Please Be Mine (Gee GG-1002) 45 single is released in the US. Why Do Fools Fall in Love is a song that was originally a hit for Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers in 1956. It reached #1 on the R&B chart, #6 on Billboards Pop Singles chart, and #1 on the UK Singles Chart. The song was ranked #307 on the Rolling Stone magazines list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song helped to make Frankie Lymon a household name and would make him a rock and roll pioneer. In late 1955, The Teenagers (at that time calling themselves The Premiers) auditioned a song called Why do Birds Sing So Gay? for George Goldner, recording producer and owner of Gee Records. Jimmy Merchant, tenor of the group, had written the song based on a line from some love letters given to the guys by a tenant in bassist, Sherman Garnes, apartment building. One of them featured the words Why do birds sing so gay?, which fit in with lyrics of other songs that Jimmy had been writing. So Jimmy worked with it, creating a song for Herman Santiago to lead, and adjusting the harmony to take advantage of Frankie Lymons high tenor/soprano. Along the way, Herman changed some of the lyrics. During the audition Frankies voice stood out and, at Goldners suggestion, the lead in subsequent recording sessions was given to Frankie. Frankie did some improvising and re-created the melody to match his own style. According to Jimmy Merchant, what happened at the recording session was a combination of Frankies singing ability coupled with George Goldners special ability to bring out the best in Frankie. Although early vinyl single releases of Why Do Fools Fall in Love credit Frankie Lymon, Herman Santiago, and George Goldner as co-writers of the song, later releases and cover versions were attributed only to Lymon and record producer George Goldner. Goldners name was later replaced by Morris Levy when Levy bought Goldners interest in Gee Records, the Teenagers record company. After a lengthy court battle, song-writing credits were awarded to original Teenagers members Herman Santiago and Jimmy Merchant in December 1992. However, four years later in 1996, this ruling was overturned by the Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit under the statute of limitations and authorship, because Santiago and Merchant did not bring the case to court soon enough. This gave the song rights back to Lymon and Levy. The current publisher of the song is EMI Music Publishing, which still lists these as the songwriters. Frankie Lymon
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 04:50:00 +0000
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