Do You Still Want To Remember These?

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

"Those Oldies but Goodies (Remind Me of You)" is a song written by Nick Curinga and Paul Politi and performed by Little Caesar & the Romans. It reached #9 on the U.S. pop chart and #28 on the U.S. R&B chart in 1961.United States. The Romans minus Little Caesar began recording in 1959 as The Cubans, but changed their name to The Upfronts after the Bay of Pigs Invasion. They had three hits: the first and biggest was the nostalgic tune "Those Oldies but Goodies (Remind Me of You)".  The group's live act sometimes included wearing togas on stage, and on Dick Clark's American Bandstand television show. They broke up in 1962, at least partly due to an argument between lead singer Carl Burnett and member David Johnson (who performed the spoken-word portion of "Those Oldies but Goodies") as to which of them should be called Little Caesar.

I've been including songs such as this and others from our childhood for at least the last year. In June of 2023, I did a survey asking if you wanted me to continue including songs such as this in the weekly Traveller, and received a 100% positive response. I spend a lot of time researching the background of the songs and do not mind continuing to do so if you readers wish for me to.

So, this week I will ask you again if you wish for me to continue to include songs in the Wayback Machine feature and provide some inside information about them. Just respond to the question below.

The Wayback Machine

Stuck in the Fifties Again

Country singer Ronnie Milsap once crooned about inviting a lady to join him on a journey in their hearts back to the 1950s. He reminisced about the ballads they had once danced to in hopes of reviving a love grown cool. The lyrics all but hypnotized listeners. For they, too, felt the nostalgic pull of being lost in the fifties and returning to simpler times. It was released in 1985 and reached Number One on the Country Charts and became a Gold Record.

I selected this version, rather than Ronnie Milsap's version because of the visual effects accompanying it. The feelings are still there, no matter who sings it.

Jim Ballard LHS ‘67 wrote this week, "Uh...Tommy...Forgive my impertinence...But who are these Peter, Paul, and Mary imitators ? They're good...but they're not Peter, Paul & Mary; and as you say, the song is very old...older than us!

To Jim and the rest of you who noticed, I owe an apology and an explanation. I was searching through Youtube for a good copy of the song with the lyrics included and after bouncing back and forth between several versions, I copied the link to the video I provided (which I went back and corrected when I got Jim's question.) The link was actually to the group Peter, Paul, and Mary Alive, a tribute group for the original folk group. Anyway, for the earlier readers this is why you saw what you did. For the later ones, you did not see the mistake so you are unaware I goofed up.

Thanks, Jim for keeping me honest.

Last Week's Questions, Answers, 

And Comments

Jim Ballard made a comment, which I have used in my comments above.