Monday June 20, 2022 “Lollipop” Ben Kweller
Let’s call this week “Stubbs the Zombie” week…wait, what!? Stubbs is the main character in a video game where he is billed as a ‘rebel without a pulse’. Could James Dean have claimed the same title? Not a video game player myself, but what intrigued me about “Stubbs” is the really interesting music that accompanies it.
The soundtrack contains some older rock & roll tunes but as they are interpreted by some of today’s more contemporary artists. So let’s get started with Ben Kweller’s version of “Lollipop” which was originally a top five song recorded in 1958 by the Chordettes.
Before Ben Kweller was old enough to enter kindergarten, he was emulating Nils Lofgren (E Street Band), a friend of his father's, by playing his toy version of the guitar. Ben also played at home with his father, learned to play drums and piano as a youth, and by the age of eight, he had begun writing his own songs.
Kweller fronted the band Radish who toured in Europe and the US and had several late-night TV appearances, including The Conan O'Brien Show and Late Night with David Letterman. Despite scoring a Top 40 hit in the U.K. with "Little Pink Stars," the band could not gain any broad traction and eventually broke up.
Kweller relocated to Brooklyn from Texas and began his solo career releasing a series of limited edition EPs until 2001 when he issued his official first solo album Sha Sha which would then lead him into a short collaboration with singer/songwriters Ben Folds and Ben Lee to form The Bens.
Ben Kweller has recorded six solo albums and has released a dozen singles.
The co-writer of today’s song “Lollipop” Beverly Ross would go on to write several other hit songs including the fun, top ten, Quincy Jones produced Leslie Gore revenge song “Judy’s Turn to Cry”.
Stay safe and well…and this tune is going to stick with you all day so you should run through the lyrics below so you can sing it properly but all you really need to know is ‘lollipop’ which is repeated more than fifty times.