Slow dancing to this was something, still get goose bumps thinking of it. Drive-in movies, teen shows, Dick Clark, malt shops, girl car hops, it was such a great time. It will be with me till I die.
This I swear is true...
My love for you will last...
Till time itself is through...
Oh my darling, Oh my darling...
This I swear is true...
My heart is yours my dear...
There will be no one new...
Oh my darling, oh my darling...
This I swear is true...
I promise you that I...
Will never make you cry...
This love will be eternally...
Cross my heart and hope to die...
My lips will kiss, I vow...
Nobody else but you...
Oh my darling, oh my darling...
This I swear is true...
This I swear is true...
This I swear is true...
This I swear is true...
I was crazy about a girl who lived in Clark, New Jersey and remember taking her to the prom at my high school in Westfield, the next town over. This song was played at the prom but it never cemented itself in my psyche until my girlfriend threw a party in her parent's driveway during the summer of 1959. There were a lot of kids at the party but I only had eyes for my girlfriend laughing and jostling with the other kids and then This I Swear came over her outdoor sound system. For ever after I always pinpointed this song to that day at the party and all these years later I still have a problem listening to it. There's a certain melancholy and loneliness inherent in the music and words -- like a magnet trying to pull me back to 1959. But I can't go back except in my memory. Memories really are a wonderful thing to have. One of my two favorite songs from the 1950s along with Come Go with Me by the Del Vikings.
Greetings to all my brothers and sisters of Rhythm & Blues and of the many other Rock'n'Roll sounds that filled the airwaves during the 50s and 60s that defined our loves, losses, hopes and dreams.
Besides hearing the latest hits blaring from the radios at the local stores in NYC, I was blessed to have had a teenage aunt that would put on her latest 45 purchases: Devil or Angel by the Clovers, and many others.
Now that I'm 72, these "oldies but goodies" have become immortal, and although I have an eclectic taste, I do need some level of punctuation, identifiable melody and an uncoded story line in my songs. I'm not built for anything more esoteric than "Shoobe doo pah pahdah".
WPLnH
[World Peace, Love and Health be yours]