Over the past couple of weeks, I've just been enthralled by Lou Christie. Yeah, I'd heard of him before when I was introduced to such songs as "Two Faces Have I", "Lightnin' Strikes" and "The Gypsy Cried". I liked how high his voice got on all of the songs...it reminded me of Frankie Valli a lot. On YouTube, I came across this old music video for "I'm Gonna Make You Mine", which I'll admit I had heard before, somewhere, but it wasn't that familiar to me. So I watched it, didn't think much of it and went on with my life. Next day, I found myself humming the stupid song!
So I watched it some more and more. Present day, and I'm hooked. I just love the simplicity of the "music video". The video quality is very poor. They're dancing in front of a hotel pool, not moving from their spots. He's wearing tight pants, obviously lip-synching really awfully, and there's a crazy lady over to the far left of the screen. Who she is, I don't know. Someone posted on the YouTube page an apparent funny story about her, but I could never find it. (Anyone, if you find it, send it my way!)
This second video is a promo for the song made by the record company. It's also poorly made, but Lou isn't too bad to look at. First off, the setting of the video: a scrap yard? Thinking of the lyrics, what does a scrap yard have to do with anything? Secondly, Lou's lip synching is out of synch, several times. But oh well, just go with it.
So the latest thing I'm obsessed with about him is his dirty song "Rhapsody in the Rain". I heard it on the XM 60's channel the other day and since then I've looked all over the place trying to download it. (iTunes only carries the live version where Lou talks about the controversy of the song.) Thank you library!
So, what's the controversy you say?
According to Christie, the original lyrics were changed from: "We were makin' out in the rain" to "We fell in love in the rain" and "In this car, we went too far" to "Our love came like a falling star."
The Catholic Church helped get this banned on many radio stations, which only made people want to hear it more (You'd think they'd have learned after banning Gary U.S. Bonds' "Quarter To Three"). It's mild by today's standards, but a hot topic back when you didn't sing about "Makin' love in the storm" with a teenage girl.
Christie (in Goldmine magazine): "I had priests and nuns calling to complain. Even Time magazine did an article on it, saying I was corrupting the youth."
The music was based on Tchaikovsky's "Romeo And Juliet."
Another interesting note about this song is that The Tammys, who did the background vocals on this and most Lou Christie songs, had a sexually suggestive song of their own in 1964, two years prior to this song, called Egyptian Shumba, which had lines like "Lets lie on the Nile, and dance Egyptian-style.
Released in the spring of 1966, "Rhapsody In The Rain" told of a teenager's regret over his sexual experience in the back seat of a car during a rainstorm as the windshield wipers made a rhythmic sound of "together, together". Later after the romance ends, the wipers seem to say "never, never". Many radio stations banned the song, and MGM insisted on a re-recorded version that toned down the lyrical content. Despite the edited version, many stations instead played two older songs re-released by other labels Christie had once recorded for: "Outside the Gates of Heaven" (on Co & Ce Records, a successor to C&C) peaked at #45, while "Big Time" (on Colpix Records) managed to hit #95. All three singles hit the U.S. charts within three weeks of one another, in March 1966. Whether it was the controversial lyrics or competition from the other singles released simultaneously, "Rhapsody" only managed to hit #16 in the U.S. and #37 in the UK.
