And 1950s’ documentary (music: Be-Bop-A-Lula by Gene Vincent)
22 Responses to “Be-Bop-A-Lula: DJ Steve Allen presents the lyrics”
Place your comment
Please fill your data and comment below.
Categories
- 1950's Television Sets (3)
- Comedies (799)
- Dramas (539)
- Game Shows (381)
- General (302)
- Kid's Shows (187)
- Science Fiction (496)
- Soap Operas (428)
- Variety Shows (546)
- Westerns (599)
Archives
- December 2011 (283)
- November 2011 (305)
- October 2011 (309)
- September 2011 (299)
- August 2011 (297)
- July 2011 (329)
- June 2011 (295)
- May 2011 (258)
- April 2011 (45)
- March 2011 (104)
- February 2011 (71)
- January 2011 (121)
- December 2010 (389)
- November 2010 (356)
- October 2010 (332)
- September 2010 (311)
- August 2010 (168)
Steve Allen gave us Jerry Lee Lewis! And Dylan. He read the sheet music to “BLUE ON BLUE” by Bacharach and David (Bobby Vinton’s song) and commented that he’d never seen such an interesting chord progression. Steve was hip.
Rock and Roll has been replaced by soft core pornography and pole dancers. The kids don’t have a chance.
Rock and Roll has been replaced by soft core pornography and pole dancers. The kids don’t have a chance.
I recall Steve doing the same thing on his syndicated show in the 1970s, when he recited the lyrics to K.C. and the Sunshine Band’s “Shake Your Booty.” Hilarious.
I’m doing a similar thing for a skit show coming up in my school.
rock and roll was such a diffarent type of music and these guys just couldnt understand it. the worst was johnny carson he never allowed any rock bands on his show and till his dying days thought rock was just a passing fad
steve allen’s approach to “be bop a lula” anticipates peter sellers’s treatment of “a hard day’s night” & sebastian cabot’s reading of “it ain’t me babe.”
You can get the audio-mp3 of this vid at grabaudios doht cohm.
Nice effort Steve… not quite as good as the original – maybe a little more hair product and a leg iron or two?
@melkiemelkie What’s it all about, Melkie? Steve was a musician, and viewed rock from a musical standpoint, as simplistic compared to what it was rapidly replacing. Rock, with some notable exceptions, has gotten progressively worse, yet remains music for juveniles by juveniles.
@1948BigCy You’re a royal dick, too. Smarmy and pretentious, just like your pompous idol. I’m not some kid — I was born in 1959 and am quite familiar with “Hi ho, Steverino” and his wonderful oeuvre on The Love Boat and Password with the mummified Jayne Meadows. I appreciate all forms of great music and that includes Gene Vincent (who performed before I was born). And why do you assume young people are culturally ignorant? Your cheap rug’s on too tight, geezer. Go smash some rock records.
@kl59 Steve had more talent and brains in his toenail than you have inside your head. He could do just about anything. Sure, he was making fun of the lyrics because he was very well aware of the great lyricists of the past: Hart, Mercer, Lerner, Loesser, etc. and that their words were very readable without the music. Kids like you don’t know anything existed before they were born….
@2108alam : He actually makes it sound like beat poetry…which, in hindsight, it is.
WOW! Calm down. It’s just a little satire, actually quite gently done. Allen always had a gentlemen’s style… he did this bit with many rock and roll songs and it rang true because as much fun as old R & R was, the lyrics could be a little less than deep at times. A good satire can have fun with something without being nasty or mean. A point that is often lost today. One doesn’t have to hate something to poke a bit of fun at it.
Steve Allen never hid that he hated rock n roll. He was such a royal dick. His rug sucked too.
Steve Allen reciting the lyricsof a song from the 50s when music made sense! LOL
If you liked this check out his reading of “Hound Dog” – Falling out of your chair funny.
Is this from when he hosted the Tonight Show?
Steve Allen never understood what Rock & Roll was all about. it was an oldfashioned old man.
Stupid guy.
Steve, god love ya, it’s be-bop-a-lu-LA, not lu-pa!
This is a GREAT video – I am teaching the history of rock and rocll at the moment – this really gives my students – in the Czech Republic – a kind of grasp of life in that era – thanks mate!
aw come on Steve,
I’ll bet you would have never done that to a Jerry Lee Lewis song.
yeah ’cause he plays piano like you Steve.