Belated Beatles' Thank You To A New Jersey Teacher

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"Surely, Shirley, you have to enter this contest.
  Especially if you want a passing grade in Algebra."

  But it was not a math contest. It was a talent show 
  at a high school in Passaic, New Jersey.
  The year was 1957.

"Bev, Dorrie, we got a problem. Mr. Boolean is threatening me.
  If we don't sing in that talent show, I fail Algebra and then
  my father won't let me out of the house on weekends."

"Poor Shirley. Poor  Pequellos.  Dorrie, why are you smiling?"

"I'm in love, Bev. Life is beautiful even if Shirley is a failure."

"That's not funny. We don't have any songs ready to sing
  unless we do a Billie Holiday or Ella Fitzgerald. I really
  don't want a weekend lock-up."

"Let's sing God Bless the Child. I feel truly blessed."

"Not a bad idea but if we want to have any luck in the talent show
  we got to sing something original. What do you think, Bev?"

"I think I hate Dorrie being so damn happy."

"Dorrie, tell us: when did you meet this stupid boy?"

"I met him on a Sunday."

"Then what?"

"I missed him on a Monday. Look, there's Addie!"

"Hello, girls. Sorry, Dorrie but I kissed your boyfriend on Thursday!"

"Poor Dor. Ronde Ronde. I feel better already."

"Shut up, Beverly!"

Give a listen

There are three lead voices in this song.

There is simple, exquisite hand-clapping.

And then there is Bye, Bye, Baby.

There are 1,000,001 memories of this song
in my head.

And there are one million other heads
that can make the same claim.



Thanks to  Florence Greenberg,  the Pequellos changed their name
to the  Shirelles  and gave birth to history.

This is dedicated to the one I love. Mama said: Foolish little girl.
Tonight's the night. What a sweet thing that was. Baby, it's you.
Will you still love me tomorrow,  Soldier Boy? Boys.

Every word of the previous paragraph was a hit song for the Shirelles
but none of them were written by the four former Peqellos of Passaic:
Shirley Owens, Beverly Lee, Addie Harris and Doris Coley.
Despite each and every one of the paragraphed titles
being stellar music, none had the mystical 
magnificence of  I Met Him On A Sunday.

Four New Jersey Teenagers

The Beatles covered both  Baby, It's You  and  Boys.
The Shirelles were the first group to have
two of their songs recorded by
the lads from Liverpool.

BTW
Mr. Boolean gave Shirley Owens an A+  in Algebra.
    
As a self-appointed 21st Century representative of the Beatles,
I thank Mr. Boolean for threatening Shirley!

Also, the next Beatles page is  here.
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