Earlier entries of this series can be found here: http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/forums/vi ... ive#p45337
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“You know my heart does nothing but burn, crying”
67. Jackie Wilson – Lonely Teardrops
The facts:
Year: 1958.
Genre: Rock & roll.
Country: United States of America.
Album: Lonely Teardrops.
Acclaimed Music ranking: #883.
Song ranking on Acclaimed Music in the artist’s discography: 2nd.
Ranks higher than My Guy by Mary Wells, but lower than White Riot by The Clash.
Place in the Acclaimed Music Song Poll 2015: Not ranked.
The people:
Written by Berry Gordy, Roquel “Billy” Davis & Gwendolyn Gordy.
Produced by Berry Gordy.
Arranged by Dick Jacobs.
Lead vocals by Jackie Wilson.
Guitar by Al Caiola.
Drums by Don Lamond.
Organ by Dick Hyman.
Note: This list is missing the names of the background singers and the tambourine player. The song was recorded with a couple of other tracks that a year later would appear on the album Lonely Teardrops. That album credits the session musicians that appeared on all the songs (although saxophone player Jerome Richardson was credited, though he did not appear on the title track), but not the artists unique for specific tracks. As far as I can tell the names of the uncredited musicians are lost in time. If you know more, please expand.
The opinion:
Initially I wasn’t looking forward to covering Lonely Teardrops for this 6000 Songs project and that’s not because I’m drowning in my own teardrops. No, this is one of those songs I hoped I could avoid for as long as possible because I can’t stand it. At least that is what I thought going in. It seems that a project like this isn’t only good for discovering new songs, but also for rediscovering some.
I admit that it had been a few years since I last hear Jackie Wilson’s Lonely Teardrops, but I thought I had good reasons for that. I remember this as an unbearably schmaltzy song whose sentiment clashed clumsily with the upbeat doo-wop backing vocals as well as the “Oh, oh, oh” sounds that Wilson makes that sound like laughing instead of crying. It just seemed a bad song to me, despite the obvious vocal acrobatics that Wilson conjures up here.
Listening to it again only the doo-wops keep this thing from true greatness for me. I’m not sure if I will ever like doo-wops in serious songs; it always seems like they try to make sad songs sound happy, as if to protect audiences for deeply-felt emotions. At least they aren’t completely silly here; there are several songs out there where I feel otherwise.
The oh’s don’t sound like laughing anymore; I don’t know what possessed me in the past. They are just another showcase for Wilson’s amazing voice. Let there be no mistake: in pop there are few singers who have matched his range. Though at times Wilson’s vocals stylings seem very much like Elvis Presley, Wilson was able to go farther than Elvis (fun fact: Wilson was sometimes called the black Elvis, a title to which Elvis responded that he himself was actually the white Jackie Wilson).
Reet Petite contains the most original use of Wilson’s singing talents and (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher finally gave his voice the ecstatic peak it long deserved, but Lonely Teardrops stands out among them because it shows the most variety in his singing. It’s a joy to hear him switch the pitch of his voice from one second to the next. The joy is only the listener’s, because Wilson himself seems really invested in the deep emotions the sad lyrics require. When at the end of each chorus his voice reaches its peak it feels earned. I don’t consider this a schmaltzy song at all anymore. Wilson earns every ounce of feeling he squeezes out of the song.
Berry Gordy and his team had cut a couple of hits with Jackie Wilson in the preceding years. He was at the peak of his career and Gordy knew that the songs should support Wilson’s strongest asset: his voice. It’s usual to put the lead vocals on the foreground in the final sound mix of a song, but rarely as strongly as this. It takes almost a close listen to even notice how creative the music arrangement is, as this is almost drowned out by Wilson and his backing singers. There is a weird rhythm going on in the background, though, and I suspect they could have made for a great song on themselves.
The song was a great success. Wilson was pretty much the only artist in Gordy’s roster at the time and with the money from Lonely Teardrops (and I guess the other hits of Wilson) Gordy founded Motown, though he claimed he never found a vocalist with the range of Wilson again. Wilson subsequently led a troubled live that read like a disaster novel. Without going into details, let’s just say it involves a shooting, countless women, the murder of one of his many children and finally a heart attack on stage that put Wilson in a coma for the last 8 years of his life. The song he was singing during the heart attack was, yes, Lonely Teardrops.
7/10
Other versions:
What rock ‘n roll song of the era doesn’t have a lot of covers? Lonely Teardrops sure does. What’s more, it actually inspired another classic of its time: The Isley Brothers’ Shout. The Isleys liked to performed the Wilson song during their live performances and eventually the line “Just say you will” started to lead its own life, becoming a call-and-response moment between the band and audience. Eventually the group took that line and build a new song around it, that became perhaps their signature tune.
Lonely Teardrops to me sounds like the kind of song that is suited for a big variety of interpretations. Wilson’s vocals have a specific quality of course, but the rest of the track is rather simple and therefore very useful for experiment in sound, emotion and genre. This hasn’t happened all that much though. Most covers are faithful and even if they are fine they mostly highlight why Wilson had a better voice than most other singers. A young Michael Jackson delivered the best take. His up-tempo version adds a lot of swing to the song and it is a very fun listen.
Sure, the rock style of John Fogerty is nice, but feels inessential. This guy can do better. Who certainly could do better where The Shirelles, who seem to drain every bit of life from the song. Michael McDonald is a lot more creative, with his swaggering live version. Also interesting is the playful cover by Jay & the Americans and I guess the very 80’s pop rendition by White Sister could earn some fans if you are into that sort of thing. The rest of the covers are simply the rest.
The playlist: