[Parlophone Records, 1964]

Kramer cover

billy-j-kramer-and-the-dakotas-little-children-parlophone

Hey! lol Stop asking why and how these songs come to my jukebox mind until you understand how you put a dollar in the machine, it sucks it in and then you get to choose your songs.

Oh, nyet, just kidding.  That is not how my mind works! Sadly, I do not get paid for my recollections, it is just a function of time, my mind and having been a radio disc jockey across so many genres, especially overnight Top 40 or “CHR” for almost forty years, that tunes actually stuck and play randomly, from  a time when music was actually played by musicians and the (new at the time) synthesizers would just dress it up a bit.

Billy J. Kramer (love the hair do) and the Dakotas were part of the Beatles-spirited “British Invasion” of the 1960s. Born Billy Ashton, he was, as you can see from the Shindig video below, one of the most unassuming, neat, mild-mannered performers of those years.

This tune appeared to me last night, without any special reason and as often when I was in bed trying to fall asleep! It is my special type of harmless mental illness and insomnia, I guess.  Maybe I need to get laid more. “Little Children” has a kind of banjo sound, don’t you think?

I remember “Little Children” as a kind of obscure tune played on Rick Scklar’s greatest station in the nation at the time, “Music radio 77 WABC“, New York City, mostly leading up to the top of the hour station identification jingle package (that is what short tunes like this are good for from a disc jockey standpoint – timing). it is an interesting tune because he seems to sing to being annoyed by his girlfriend’s little sister busting them when they are making-out.  I am not one to judge…“around“…

Do you remember “Shindig” on (ABC TV, I think) and “Hullabaloo” followed to compete on a rival network at that time?  There were only seven channels on television back then.  What a scene and so much music to be recalled and now, via YouTube, seen again.

I love how the whole band bows with thanks at the end of the last note. It is so classy!

 

 

Remember to check out my krates-full-o-jointz-musik-only blog, https://achilliadsmyvinylrecordshoppe.wordpress.com/ for the latest reviews, public comments and retrospectives as they happen.