http://www.cod.edu/People/Faculty/pruter/Horror/deadteenagers.htmDead Teenagers and Melodrama
One peculiar trend in popular music that came along in the early sixties was dead teenager music. These songs told the story of teenage love tragically cut short by the grim reaper. Now, while this type of song would seem to belong in the genre of melodrama rather than horror, they share many of the same themes that characterized horror music of the rock 'n' roll era. One was the connection of teenage romance with destruction. Love has the potential to be tragic, and even more of the case in the songs dealing with suicide, love brings about tragedy. Notably, and it's made explicit in "Ebony Eyes," by the Everly Brothers, and "Tell Laura I Love Her," by Ray Peterson, death cuts short these romances prior to marriage. Therefore, these romances can remain in a state of eternal pre-sexual purity, once again upholding the prohibitions against sex at that time, similar to the prohibitions against sex in horror. In a way, death saves these loves from being defiled by carnality, but the alternative, death, is hardly a superior option, thus illustrating the social rules that govern behavior and thought and lead to destruction, to horror.
Cars and Motorcycles:
“Teen Angel,” Mark Dinning
“Tell Laura I Love Her,” Ray Peterson
"Car Crash," The Cadets
“Leader of the Pack,” The Shangri-Las
“Last Kiss,” J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers
Suicide:
"The Pickup," Mark Dinning
"Patches," Dickie Lee
“Endless Sleep,” Jody Reynolds
Other and unnamed:
“Ebony Eyes,” The Everly Brothers
"Laurie," Dickie Lee
"Ballad of an Angel," Bobby Swanson
"Death of an Angel," Donald Woods and the Vel-Aires
Of course, this trend was ripe for parody. The whole concept of these songs was more than a little ridiculous. The Cheers' "Black Denim Trousers and Motor Cycle Boots" (1956) preceded the trend of dead teenager music that really began with Mark Dinning's "Teen Angel" in 1960. Thus, the concept was humorous even before it was serious. Jimmy Cross' "I Want My Baby Back" takes the dead teenager song to the extreme by having the speaker exhume his dear departed girlfriend and live happily ever after with her corpse. On one hand, this negates the notion of eternal pre-sexual purity and, on the other, plunges the dead teenager song more fully into the horror genre with a suggestion of necrophilia. "Leader of the Laundromat," by the Detergents, parodied a specific song rather than the whole trend of music. Such parodies and answer songs were common in the rock 'n' roll era but now are moribund, with only "Weird Al" Yankovic continuing the tradition..
“Black Denim Trousers and Motor Cycle Boots,” The Cheers
“I Want My Baby Back,” Jimmy Cross
"Leader of the Laundromat," The Detergents
"a tragic sample"
JULIE'S SIXTEENTH BIRTHDAY
SPOKEN
What's your hurry Jim? One more drink won't hurt nothin'
Well okay I said buth then I got to be runnin'
you see my little Julie just turned sixteen today
and tonight she is going out on her very first date
Lord knows I never been much of a father
Probably spent more time right here than I have at home with
my daughter
So tonight I'm making up for a lotta lost time
a lot of hurt feelings and a lot of broken promises
CHORUS
For once in my life I'm gonna do something right
I'm gonna be home for my Julie tonight
Its her sixteenth birthday (spoken) and you know its her first
date
This is one promise that I'm not gonna break
Aw come on, have one more Jim...you got plenty of time
But that one led to many and I lost track of the time
When I looked at my watch it was a quarter till eight
So I left in a hurry since I was already late
As I got closer to home I started to think
Won't do me no harm to have one more drink
So I reached for the bottle I kept under the seat
When I looked up, my whole life passed right in front of me
Next thing I remembered I was just comin' to
In a hospital bed and right then I knew
That I'd caused something awful to happen last night
On my way home to Julie to set myself right
At the foot of the bed stood my best friend Lou
He walked to my side and asked what he could do
I said, "Lou, I know I won't make it but don't let me die
Not knowin' the truth 'bout what happened last night
He said, "Jim, you lost control, crossed the yellow line
Hit a car head on and Lord I wish I was lyin'
Cause a young man was injured and a lovely girl died
And I thought about that last drink and tears filled my eyes
Ed note: You know what's going to happen next, don't you?
I said Lou, should I pass on before she comes in
Be sure and tell Julie how sorry I am for spoilin' her birthday
He said, "Jim, you can save your breath
Cause when you meet her in heaven, you can tell her yourself
Raise your hand if you were blindsided by that revelation.
No one?
Didn't think so.
Anyhow, I still think the Julie in the picture is a runaway teenage prostitute.