Monday May 23, 2022 “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” The Shangri-Las
Recently song of the dayer Susan suggested there had not been enough representation of women in these daily missives so as not to be accused of being a sexist I am going to try to catch up this week with girl groups, that way I will get multiple women into each day and hopefully make up for any previous perceived omissions.
So let’s start with those tight pants, boots wearing storytellers, the Shangri-Las.
The Shangri-Las were every teenage boy's fantasy back in the early sixties and we didn’t even care if they could sing, and actually they really wouldn’t be recognized as great voices of the 60s, but they looked great. And whatever they may have lacked in vocal abilities they made up for with their in your face attitude. Wait, if he walks like a sexist and talks like a sexist maybe he is a sexist.
Originally the Shangri-Las were composed of two pairs of sisters, identical twins Marge and Mary Anne Ganser and siblings Mary and Betty Weiss and as often as there are drama queens in music the Shangri-Las were more often Queens of Drama music…oh yeah they were also all born in Queens, NY.
They were the bad girls of rock & roll who dated the James Dean like rebel in “Leader of the Pack”, who dumped their bewildered boyfriends in “He Cried”, a much better version of the Jay & the Americans “She Cried”. These were the girls who would run away from home when their mothers told them to break up with their boyfriends with “I Can Never Go Home Anymore” and the girls who would walk right up to you and give you a great big kiss, we hoped, in “Give Him A Great Big Kiss”…mwaaaaah.
“Remember (Walking in the Sand)” was the Shangri-Las first hit and when it was recorded the oldest Shangri-La was only seventeen and it should be noted that this moody piece of teenage angst which is heavy with seagulls and handclaps was a top five hit in 1964 which you may recall was being dominated by those Liverpool guys and all of their friends from the UK.
An interesting aside, Billy Joel claims to have played piano, uncredited, on this tune as well as “Leader of the Pack”. He would have been sixteen at that moment.
Stay safe and well..and ok maybe I am a sexist but not all the time, just with the Shangri-Las.