I first came to this song through the Band's 1995 cover on Till The Night Is Gone: A Tribute to Doc Pomus, and the contrast is instructive. The Coasters' original is a touch less wink-wink goofy, though it still revels in cartoonish exaggeration, especially in the vocal work: they stretch their range, slip into character voices, and turn the song into a miniature piece of musical theater. Set against a slinking, burlesque horn line and echoing backing vocals, the lyric sketches a familiar teenage tragedy. A guy falls hard, only to lose the girl when her father steps in (his disapproval memorably delivered in Bobby Nunn's stern, bottom-of-the-well bass). The humor keeps things light, grounded in something recognizably true: for those who burn with puppy love, the sting is real.
"A great song mutates, makes quantum leaps, turns up again like the prodigal son. It crosses genres. Could be punk rock, ragtime, folk-rock, or zydeco, and can be played in a lot of different styles, multiple styles... A great song is the sum of all things." - Bob Dylan
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