1962-1964: Teenager chooses sides – part 2

DYLAN & US: BEYOND AMERICA

by Wouter van Oorschot

Translated by Brent Annable

Previously in this series…

• Amuse bouche
• Who the book is (not) for – part 1
• Who this book is (not) for – part 2
• Anything but idolatry – part 1
• Anything but idolatry – part 2
• Love, Dancing, Sex, Sadness, TR-63 – part 1
• Love, Dancing, Sex, Sadness, TR-63 – part 2
• Love, Dancing, Sex, Sadness, TR-63 – part 3
• Love, Dancing, Sex, Sadness, TR-63 – part 4
• The unchanging (heterosexual) love song – part 1
• The unchanging (heterosexual) love song – part 2
• What was the public to do? – part 1
• What was the public to do – part 2
• 1962-1964: Teenager chooses sides – part 1

6. 1962-1964: Teenager chooses sides – part 2

You might imagine that, thanks to my early introduction to serious art music and my own modest musical talents, that I had already developed a passable ear by the time pop music penetrated my adolescent brain. And as a strapping young lad, I quickly cultivated a strong aversion to the soppy, whiny love songs that proved to exist even outside the pages of The Great American Songbook, and to an extent beyond the ability of any reasonably sane person to tolerate. For your benefit, I have sampled the sentimental, gender-normative slurry that infected the western hit parades between Dylan’s debut single in 1962 and his American premiere of ‘All I really want to do’ on 26 July 1964 at the Newport Folk Festival. To limit my own revulsion, from the mountains of available material I shall present only one example per year. The titles of these songs often reveal enough: ‘Don’t break the heart that loves you’ (1962) is indicative of the kind of drivel one can expect from semi-talent Conny Francis:

Connie Francis – Don’t Break The Heart That Loves You:

Don't break the heart that loves you
Handle it with care
Don't break the heart that needs you
Darling, please be fair

Why do you flirt, and constantly hurt me?
Why do you treat our love so carelessly?

You know I'm jealous of you
And yet you seem to try
To go out of your way to be unkind

Sweetheart, I'm begging of you
Don't break this heart that loves you
Don't break this heart of mine

Darling, please don't hurt me
Please, don't make me cry
I don't know what I'd do if you'd ever say goodbye
Remember, I love you so much
And love is life's greatest joy
Please don't break my heart like a child breaks a little toy

The year 1963 saw various songs that led to a curious preoccupation with teenage marriage in Christian conservative moralism. B-grade artists Darlene Love, Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans extol the practice rather cheerfully (with choreography, at least) in ‘Not too young to get married’. But what are we to make of the monstrous ballad ‘Give us your blessing’, in which dilettante Ray Peterson ascribes the demise of teen couple ‘Jimmy and Sue’ to a bout of weeping in the car, after having been denied the blessing of their family?

Ray Peterson – Give Us Your Blessings:

Ray Patterson LYRICS:

Jimmy and Sue
Were both very young
But they were as much in love
As two people could be
And all they wanted was to be together
And share that love
Eternally

They went to their folks and told them
That someday soon they'd be wed
Their folks just laughed
And called them kids

So Jimmy said
"Give us your blessing
Please don't make us run away
Give us your blessing
Say you'll be there on our wedding day"

They wouldn't have laughed at Jimmy
If they could've seen through the door
They'd have seen Sue in the car
While he begged them just once more

"Give us your blessing
Please don't make us run away
Give us your blessing
Say you'll be there on our wedding day"

Well as they drove off
They were crying
And nobody knows for sure
Is that is why they didn't see
The sign that read detour

The next day when they found them
Jimmy and Sue were dead
And as their folks knelt beside them they couldn't help but hear
The last words Jimmy had said

As an exercise, try to deduce from this sad outcome precisely what kind of marital values might have been at play, out there in the remarkable United States.

Lastly, in ‘Beg me’ (1964), semi-talent Chuck Jackson makes it clear to his ex-partner that she should be on her knees from early in the morning until late at night, pleading for him to ‘take’ her back. We can discern, however, that it is not the relationship itself but the begging that concerns him, and is what gives him his kicks:

Baby you walked out on me-ee-ee
Leaving me in misery
Now you want me back aga - -in
But Ive got news for you my friend

I wanna know do you want me (yeah)
Do you love me (yeah?)
Do you need me (yeah)
Real bad (yeah) real bad (yeah)
the -e en Beg me (beg) (Please)
Beg me (beg) (Please)
Beg me (beg) (Please)
In the morning (beg) (Please)
beg me (beg) (Please)
In the evening (beg) (Please)
Beg me (beg) (Please)
Now get down on your knees (beg) (Please)
And let me hear you say please (beg) (Please)
I want you to beg me (beg) (Please)

But here’s an idea: if the ladies of the #MeToo movement wish to know how it all came about, they might take a good look at all the love songs produced by their own Western culture, paying special attention to the voluntary contributions made by their fellow women to the love-and-marriage morality and culture to which they so vehemently object. It would also seem justified to me to cease all objection to actions that are the product of moralities dating from before the #MeToo age, and to grant an annulment to all cases in which no physical injury was sustained since claims of mental anguish are legally indemonstrable and therefore hold, so many years after the fact, no water whatsoever. There are, incidentally, plenty of women who appear to be financially no worse off after all their sexual to-do, and respectable sex work would seem to exist, at least that is what people say – a situation which of course also applies to men, we must not forget.

In 1958, the other (rightfully famous) Chuck made it clear in ‘Sweet little sixteen’ just how vague age limits especially can be, particularly when eroticism is on the cards:

Chuck Berry – Sweet Little Sixteen: https://youtu.be/ZLV4NGpoy_E

They're really rockin' in Boston
In Pittsburgh, P.A.
Deep in the heart of Texas
And 'round the Frisco Bay
All over St. Louis
And down in New Orleans
All the cats are gonna dance with
Sweet Little Sixteen

Sweet Little Sixteen
She's just got to have
About half a million
Framed autographs
Her wallet's filled with pictures
She gets 'em one by one
Become so excited
Watch her look at her run, boy

Oh, mommy, mommy
Please, may I go?
It's such a sight to see
Somebody steal the show
Oh, daddy, daddy
I beg of you
Whisper to mommy
It's all right with you

'Cause they'll be rockin' on Bandstand
In Philadelphia, P.A.
Deep in the heart of Texas
And 'round the Frisco Bay
All over St. Louis
Way down in New Orleans
All the cats wanna dance with
Sweet Little Sixteen

'Cause they'll be rockin' on Bandstand
In Philadelphia, P.A.
Deep in the heart of Texas
And 'round the Frisco Bay
All over St. Louis
Way down in New Orleans
All the cats wanna dance with, oo!
Sweet Little Sixteen

Sweet Little Sixteen
She's got the grown-up blues
Tight dresses and lipstick
She sportin' high heeled shoes
Oh, but tomorrow morning
She'll have to change her trend
And be sweet sixteen
And back in class again

But they'll be rockin' in Boston
In Pittsburgh, P.A.
Deep in the heart of Texas
And 'round the Frisco Bay
Way out in St. Louis
Way down in New Orleans
All the cats wanna dance with
Sweet Little Sixteen

And Berry was not the only one to have trouble with such uncertainty. Nor should we ignore the fact that many young ladies themselves did, in fact, enjoy letting their hair down, and that all that freedom could be very confusing when they all had to get back in line and go to school the next day. In any case, there are countless love songs sung by males to considerably younger females, and the number that explicitly mention ‘little girl’ are legion. The converse, ‘little boy’, never occurs, unless we count the worldwide hit ‘My boy lollipop’ released by teenager Millie Small in the spring of 1964. But here,

 too, the original version from the 1950s was also written by men, and was titled ‘My girl lollipop’. Some readers will surely call me inappropriate for daring to point out here that, if we are to believe that it is nothing more than sugar candy in a ‘boy lollipop’ that makes Millie Small’s teenage heart go ‘giddy-up’, as she so coquettishly sings, then we might also imagine that the boy in question at least has reasonable hopes of some oral satisfaction of his own once their love progresses physically. Lollipops make good practice, after all.

I cited Chuck Jackson above deliberately, as his ‘Beg me’ scored well in the hit parade just as Bob Dylan gave the world premiere of ‘All I really want to do’ in July 1964 which, compared to the feculence cited above, presents an altogether different notion of how people prefer to spend their time together, as I will outline in due course. I already stated that for me, it would all begin in December of that year with precisely that song – though I had all but forgotten about the visit to my cousin until I discovered Dylan independently in April 1965, over a month after my thirteenth birthday. My discovery was also accompanied by several paradoxes: that Dylan left me in utter confusion, the resolution of which lay in the work itself; that he became my guiding star without guiding me, my new older brother without being a brother, and a new friend without ever knowing it himself. I therefore cannot skip over these beginnings, although there will be some Americana involved. But I promise: this will be only one of three instances, so please forgive my indulgence.

(continued: Teenager finds a hero – part 1 – Untold Dylan)

Wouter’s book is only available in Dutch for now:

Dylan en wij zonder Amerika, Wouter van Oorschot | 9789044655179 | Boeken | bol

We will publish more chapters from it in English on Untold Dylan in the coming weeks