Eddie Arana, Rick Thibodeau, & Chris Bakunas San Diego, Ca. March 2012

Eddie Arana, Rick Thibodeau, & Chris Bakunas San Diego, Ca. March 2012
Eddie Arana, Rick Thibodeau, & Chris Bakunas at Luche Libre Taco Shop in San Diego, March 2012

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Dumb Diddy Do

                                       Thunderhead at sunset, Southcentral Colorado

As we all know, life can be both good to you and maybe a little cruel, almost at the same time.

Consider this: You could have been a member of The Exciters. The Exciters were ostensibly a girl group, though there was one male member - the husband of the lead singer (Herb Rooney - remember when people named their kids Herb? Me either). 

Brenda Reid was the aforementioned lead singer - Herb and Brenda are the parents of Cory Rooney. Seriously.

Back to the point. The Exciters had a huge hit a little over a half century ago with "Tell Him" - that was life being good to them, as that song got as high as #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963 and it's still played on oldies radio ("Tell Him" was actually a rewritten version of "Tell Her," A song written by Bert Berns and recorded in 1962 by Gil Hamilton, aka Johnny Thunder - not to be confused with ex-NY Doll Johnny Thunders).

Still with me? Okay, The Exciters, almost an all girl group, also had a few more hits. One of those songs is sung every single day by soldiers in training around the world.

That song is, of course, "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" (There she was just a walkin' down the street...) -  made famous by the band that covered it after hearing the Exciters rendition, Manfred Mann

No one ever recalls a girl group singing that song - that's the life-is-cruel part.

Feeling like Paul Harvey right about now. 


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