Stefanie portrays a teen angel at home in the graveyard, as we pay tribute to the oldies but goodies teenage death songs.
There was a plethora of teenage death songs written to tug at your heart strings through the first decade of Rock n' Roll 1955-1965. Teenagers are supposed to be immortal, but sometimes it doesn't work out that way. Here are Rockabillymodel's top three picks of the most blissfully haunting teenage tragedy ballads.
Coming in at #3 "Last Kiss" by J.Frank Wilson (1964)-"Oh where,oh where can my baby be,the lord took her away from me,she's gone to heaven so I've got to be good, so I can see my baby when I leave this world" A true teen tragedy classic,not coincidentally because the original was based on a real car crash incident.Not exploitative in the least,this song features a truly heavenly backing vocal and some great drum work; it's as heart wrenching as any movie death scene,and yet maintains it's dignity.
#2 "Teen Angel" by Mark Dinning (1960)-"Just sweet sixteen and now your gone, they've taken you away, I'll never kiss your lips again,they buried you today" One of the most popular teen tragedy songs, this is pretty straight forward encapsulation of the whole "car crash" sub genre--hushed,spoken verse,angelic choruses.In this song,his girlfriend seals her fate by going back to get Mark's school ring,a move which is either incredibly romantic or really stupid.(Couldn't he just get another ring?) good question, but we have to remember, were talking teen passion here,and teenagers have been known to do some pretty stupid things while under it's spell.
And coming in at the #1 spot, "Laurie" ("Strange Things Happen" in this World) by Dickey Lee (1965)-You know the one about the guy who meets a girl named Laurie at a dance on her birthday. He walks her home and gives her his Letterman sweater because she's cold, after kissing her goodbye he realizes he had forgot his sweater, when he returns to Laurie's house, he is confronted by her Father who tells him that it couldn't had been his daughter he was with, she had died a year ago that very night. Bewildered by what just happened and on his way home, a strange force pulls him to the graveyard where he finds his sweater neatly folded on her grave. Wow! now that's strange.
The song "Laurie" was written by psychologist Dr. Milton Addington after being inspired by an article that he had read in a Memphis newspaper in 1964 about a 15year old girl named Cathie Harmon winning a Halloween short story contest. Dr. Addington credited her and shared the royalties from his song with her after it was release as a single by singer Dickey Lee in 1965 and reached #14 on the pop charts.
The story was about a teenage boy who dates a girl ghost with a twist of an old urban legend of Chicago's most famous ghost "Resurrection Mary". Described as a shy young woman in a white dress with very cold hands. A number of young men reportedly encountered her at dance party's in Chicago beginning in the 1930's. Escorted or given a ride home, she typically asked to be dropped off at Resurrection Cemetery on Archer Avenue, where she vanishes, asking her escort not to follow her. In 1939 a man named Jerry Palus met her at Liberty Dance Hall and she told him her actual home address; going there the following day, he found an older woman who verified that she had had such a daughter named Mary, who was killed by a hit and run driver while walking home alone from a dance after an argument with her male companion. Her picture on the mantle in the living room was identical to the girl Jerry had escorted to the graveyard. Umm...Strange things do happen in this world.
