Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers

This was a Rhino album, The Best Of Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers. I picked it up at the HMV store that was next door to the office where I worked, back around 1994 – 95. It was a small store, and very mainstream, and it was unusual to find Rhino there, but there you have it…

Frankie Lymon was the Michael Jackson of his day, 13 years old when Why Do Fools Fall In Love hit, early in 1956. He had a brief run of fame and fortune, and by 1968 he was dead of a drug overdose, his career having been stalled since around 1960.

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Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers:

• Why Do Fools Fall In Love – Here is where, early on its history, rock and roll (come R & B, but same universe) waxes philosophical. Why does the rain fall from up above, asks young Frankie. He was 13 years old when he sang this, setting the precedent for Michael Jackson, who would debut 13 years later. The Beach Boys did this, and so did Gale Storm, and The Diamonds, and Diana Ross, and Joni Mitchell, and Sha Na Na. Nobody did it like Frankie Lymon. A hit in the winter of 1956.
• I Want You To Be My Girl – A bold statement. No pussy footing around. “Come on baby let’s go downtown.” What greater statement of romantic intent could there be? From the spring of 1956.
• I’m Not A Know It All – A ballad, and kind of another version of the Wonderful World idea that Sam Cooke expressed so eloquently.
• Who Can Explain? – A Why Do Fools Fall In Love rewrite, the lyrics, same philosophical bent, the tune. Who can explain. Not The Who…
• I Promise To Remember – This features some of the greatest doo wop stuff in the repertoire. Song was a hit in the summer of 1956.
• The ABC’s Of Love – From the fall of 1956. How big a step from this the ABC by the Jackson Five?
• Share – The essence of love perhaps, right here. “I’d share this moment with you” sings Frankie. Isn’t that what it’s about?
• I’m Not A Juvenile Delinquent – A strange sentiment for a love song. But really this was an “answer song” to all the critics of rock and roll
• Baby, Baby – Love by numbers, not unlike We Got Love by Bobby Rydell.
• Paper Castles – The prototype. Stevie Wonder did Castles In The Sand, and so did Seals & Crofts (a different song). And Don McLean did Castles In The Air. But The Teenagers were there before anyone.
• Teenage Love – I guess given the name the name of the group, this song title is more personalized than it would otherwise be. Still, it’s all about carrying books and the like…
• Out In The Cold Again – Here is where Frankie sings a ballad. He had, I will say, an amazing voice…
• Goody Goody – More MOR, with a kind of big band arrangement, this, and it was apparently a solo recording, though it’s not clear from Whitburn. A hit in the summer of 1957.
• Creation Of Love – Another ballad to end the proceedings. One of those magical moment songs, totally bogus lyrics, but still a slow dance worth considering…