Search This Blog

Monday, May 31, 2010

It's Bedtime!

*
So get to sleep, you little cockblockers! It's a school night!



I always enjoy watching a nice black-and-white British Invasion clip like this, but in the current case the boyish ease of Billy J. Kramer on stage softens the song's actual tense atmosphere. I remember listening to this in 1964 on my turquoise GE tabletop radio and, even as a pre-teenager, directly sensing the seething frustration in Kramer's performance as he tried unsuccessfully, with tight-lipped plastic smile, to charm, cajole, and bribe his girlfriend's little siblings to shut up and go away. The kids have the upper hand throughout, though, and it seems that Kramer's second greatest desire as the song closes is to plant the tots in a shallow grave.

Little Children, Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas (1964), via YouTube.

2 comments:

  1. maybe a lawnmower would have worked better

    ReplyDelete
  2. He doesn't look that wholesome in that video. Wouldn't surprise me if he was a snake.

    When we last left the "basement" RC mentioned something about a mind altering life changing movie called "Easy Rider."

    I thought a nice "bedtime" story in memory of Dennis Hopper would have been in order.

    ReplyDelete