Written for Only Murders In My Mind Weekly
Writing Prompt #82 and for Sue & Gerry’s
Weekly Prompts The One Day Prompt #18.
Here’s where the photo prompt took me.
Tag: Cousins
Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes
Written for the April 27 edition
of Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday.
Here’s what I have to say.
Technicolor Yawn
Our gracious host, Rochelle, at Friday Fictioneers
asks us to use the photo below as inspiration
to write creatively in 100 words or less while
making every word count. This is my flash.
A Whole Lot Of Nothing
Our gracious host, Rochelle, at Friday Fictioneers
asks us to use the photo below as inspiration
to write creatively in 100 words or less while
making every word count. This is my flash.
Girl Power
This is Week 38 of Glyn’s Mixed Music Bag and we are
being asked to choose a song by a group or solo artist whose
name begins with the letters Q or R. This is my choice.
Perhaps the best remembered of the “girl groups” of the early ’60s were Veronica (Ronnie) Bennett, her sister Estelle and their cousin Nedra Talley, also known as the Ronettes. In towering black beehive hairdos and dark eye makeup, the Ronettes were a classic mid-sixties girl group with a sultry twist – vulnerable but tough, sexy but sweet.
A trio of sassy, glamorous young women from the Washington Heights section of New York City, the Ronettes exemplified the girl group ideal, exuding both youthful innocence and worldly sensuality. They were the perfect vehicle for the eccentric, visionary producer Phil Spector, who combined his innovative “Wall of Sound” production techniques with the Ronettes’ rich voices to create such teen classics as “Be My Baby,” “Baby I Love You,” and “Walking in the Rain”. To attain the “Wall of Sound”, Spector’s arrangements called for large ensembles (including some instruments not generally used for ensemble playing, such as electric and acoustic guitars), with multiple instruments doubling or tripling many of the parts to create a fuller, richer tone.
Lead singer Ronnie’s romantic relationship with Phil Spector began in 1963 as an affair while Phil was married. He divorced his wife in 1965 and married Ronnie in 1968, becoming controlling, paranoid and abusive during their relationship. Notorious behavior included making Ronnie drive with a life-size dummy of himself alongside her; he kept her imprisoned in their house and threatened her with murder. She eventually escaped in 1972 and he eventually did commit murder, shooting actress Lana Clarkson in 2003 (click the link for the sordid details). On May 29, 2009, Phil Spector was sentenced to 19 years to life and died in a prison hospital in January 2021.
Ronnie Spector and her bandmates spent 15 years battling Phil for royalties they were owed, eventually successfully; in 2000 a New York court ruled that Phil owed them $2.6m. This decision was reversed in 2002 after judges found that the record deal the group initially signed meant that Phil Spector had rights to the recordings, but in 2006 the New York state supreme court awarded the group a lump sum and ordered Phil to continue paying them yearly royalties. There were further legal complaints later that decade, with Phil accused of withholding royalty payments.
Although the Ronettes are now known almost exclusively for their work with Spector, they actually got their start a few years earlier. As young teenagers, the girls began harmonizing together and won one of the famed Apollo Theater’s talent contests. Ronnie said she, Estelle and Nedra liked to play up their hot image; in 1961, their looks and moves got them hired as dancers at New York’s fashionable Peppermint Lounge, ground zero of the then-current Twist craze. They got a record deal with Colpix and recorded their first single, “I Want A Boy”, credited to Ronnie and the Relatives. The next single “I’m On the Wagon”, listed the girls as the Ronettes. Between their other activities, the girls found themselves in the recording studio backing artist such as Bobby Rydell, Del Shannon and Joey Dee.
There are conflicting stories as to how Phil Spector and the Ronettes actually met but after hearing the girls, Phil was hot to produce a record with them. Spector was taken with Ronnie’s hard but sweet sound and saw the “bad girls” in beehives as an act he could build an image around. Up until that time, girl groups rarely had an identity and never had their photos on the sleeves of their 45s. That changed with the Ronettes.
The first single on Spector’s Philles label in July 1963 was a classic – the Barry/Greenwich/Spector “Be My Baby”. Ronnie’s seductive vocal delivery, along with her now legendary “woh-oh-oh-oh” and Spector’s “Wall of Sound” drove the single to chart success. By October, 1963 it was at #2 and became an international hit as it reached #4 on the English Charts.
The Ronettes’ career took off after they recorded “Be My Baby“. The following January, the group began its first tour of England, where they spent time with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. The Stones opened for the Ronettes on that tour, and the Ronettes would open for the Beatles on their 1965 tour of U.S. stadiums.
The Ronettes split up in 1967, the victims of changing musical tastes and Phil Spector’s shifting interests and controlling behavior. After leaving Phil in ’72, Ronnie formed a new Ronettes lineup before beginning a solo career.
In 2006, the Library of Congress inducted “Be My Baby” into the United States National Recording Registry. It’s safe to say there was no other girl group like the Ronettes.
Ronnie Spector, 1943-2022. Rest In Peace, Ronnie. ❤︎
From 1963, here are the Ronettes with their classic “Be My Baby”.
Lyrics
The night we met I knew I needed you so
And if I had the chance I’d never let you go
So won’t you say you love me?
I’ll make you so proud of me
We’ll make ’em turn their heads every place we go
So won’t you, please (be my, be my baby)
Be my little baby? (My one and only baby)
Say you’ll be my darlin’ (be my, be my baby)
Be my baby now (my one and only baby)
Whoa-oh-oh-oh
I’ll make you happy, baby, just wait and see
For every kiss you give me, I’ll give you three
Oh, since the day I saw you
I have been waiting for you
You know I will adore you ’til eternity
So won’t you, please (be my, be my baby)
Be my little baby? (My one and only baby)
Say you’ll be my darlin’ (be my, be my baby)
Be my baby now (my one and only baby)
Whoa-oh-oh-oh
So come on and, please (be my, be my baby)
Be my little baby? (My one and only baby)
Say you’ll be my darlin’ (be my, be my baby)
Be my baby now (my one and only baby)
Whoa-oh-oh-oh
Be my little baby? (My one and only baby)
Oh-oh-oh (be my, be my baby)
Oh (my one and only baby)
Whoa-oh-oh-oh (be my, be my baby)
Oh-oh-oh (My one and only baby)
Oh (be my, be my baby)
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Ellie Greenwich / Jeff Barry / Philip Spector
Be My Baby lyrics © Abkco Music Inc., Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group
Big thanks to Glyn for hosting Mixed Music Bag every week. Please be sure to follow the link and check out Glyn’s site.
Thanks for joining me today and spinning some tunes.
See you on the flip side. 😎
NAR©2024
All text, graphics and videos are copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.
I Gemelli
Resemblance can be a freaky thing. Supposedly everyone has a doppelgänger; someone out there is a duplicate of you with your mother’s eyes, your father’s nose and that annoying mole you’ve always wanted to have removed. We might even have several pairs of clones walking around, each totally unaware of the other’s existence.
It’s been said the longer people have a pet, the more they begin to resemble that pet. Dogs have been matched by strangers to their owners time and time again. The same is true for people; have you ever seen a long-married couple who now look like a set of bookends?
I have many relatives in Italy and Sicily; my family has always said one particular cousin and I have looked like each other since birth. We were born days apart and are called “I Gemelli” … “The Twins”. The first time my cousin Franco and I met, we just stared at each other in fascination. I think Franco and I do bear a strong resemblance however his eyes are blue while mine are green and he’s got a lot more facial hair than I do! LOL! And we have the same Sicilian nose!
The other day I wrote about my best friend Debby and how alike we are, not just our personalities but our physical appearance as well. One of my WP friends was quite interested in my story and left several comments and questions. I promised I’d write a little bit more about me and Debby … two unrelated women who could pass for sisters, perhaps twins at times.
I can’t explain how these things happen but events at my son’s wedding a few years ago proved the old saying true: fact is stranger than fiction.
There were a lot people at the wedding … family, friends, coworkers. My sister, Rosemarie, was there as was my friend Debby. The time arrived during the wedding reception for a family photo session. The music was playing, people were dancing and milling about. Janet, the wedding photographer, was scrambling around trying to wrangle immediate family members for photos. Craning her neck for a better look into the crowded room, Janet turned to me in surprise and said, “You’ve been holding out on me!”
I had no idea what Janet was talking about and asked her what she meant. She replied, “I know your husband has a twin brother but I had no idea you have a twin sister!”
This conversation went back and forth for a little while … me trying to convince Janet that I didn’t have a twin sister and Janet insisting I did! Of course, Janet was talking about Debby! I laughed and said to her “I really hate to burst your twin bubble but she’s not my sister; she’s my best friend.” When I spotted Rosemarie on the dance floor, I said to Janet, “See the woman in the cream-colored dress? She’s my sister.” I guess I really couldn’t blame Janet; even my new daughter-in-law’s relatives thought the same thing. To make matters more confusing, Debby and I were wearing the same dress (totally unplanned)! Mine was deep purple while hers was dark blue.
It took a lot of convincing for Janet to finally accept the fact that Debby wasn’t my sister and that Rosemarie was. I guess the idea of two sets of twins in the same room was just too exciting for Janet … a missed photo op! I wonder if the same people who matched the pet owners with their dogs would match me and Debby as sisters?
You be the judge.
Twins? Maybe, maybe not, but the resemblance is strong….
….except for my actual sister! Go figure!
NAR©2024
Remember this? Here’s the theme song from The Patty Duke Show called “Identical Cousins”
All text, graphics and videos are copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.
Feeling The Burn
Written for Friday Fictioneers where we are
encouraged to get creative by writing a story
of no more than 100 words using this photo
as our inspiration. Here is my 100 word story.
It was the summer of ’59 and I was going to spend July and August with my cousins at the shore. I’d been packing since my last day of school, finishing two days before taking off.
The following morning I awoke with fever, sore throat, bumpy tongue and a facial rash. Scarlet fever, the doctor said. The disease was highly contagious. I was prescribed antibiotics and my parents were warned to keep me home.
My summer plans were abruptly cancelled; I was dejected. All I could do was watch my friends playing, my nose pressed up against the window screen.
NAR©2024
100 Words
This is “Fever” by Little Willie John
All text, graphics and videos are copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.
The Elephant's Trunk 