In the song Give Him A Great Big Kiss by the Shangri Las, Mary, after encouragement from her friends, is describing her boyfriend, in an apparent sarcastic tone:

"Big bulky sweaters to match his eyes (tell me more)
Dirty fingernails (tell me more)
Oh boy what a prize"

Upon hearing Marv Johnson's song today, I started thinking about songs that reference lack of good looks.

Here are a few that immediately came to mind.  Can you add to the list?

You Got What It Takes - Marv Johnson
"And nature didn't give you such a beautiful face"

But You're Mine - Sonny and Cher
"You're not real pretty but you belong to me"  (Cher singing to Sonny)

If You Wanna Be Happy - Jimmy Soul
"Though her face is ugly, her eyes don't match
Take it from me she's a better catch"

Ar Seventeen - Janis Ian
"To ugly duckling girls like me"

See the article below for a description of the important role she played in Brian's life.  He refers to her as his savior.

https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/melinda-wilson-wife-manager-savior-musician-brian-wilson-106842858

 

The Outsiders' lead singer Sonny Geraci also had a big hit (reached #3) as the lead singer of Climax with Precious and Few.

A very relevant nessage for this time in our history.  Dion's still got it.

Aflem, while I have never heard the Latin words "et cetera" in any song other than Elenore, in the Sly and the Family Stone song Everyday People there is the line "And so on and so on and scooby dooby dooby". 

Bob Lind wrote some very poetic lyrics - "Across my dreams, with nets of wonder, I chased the bright elusive butterfly of love"

ALways difficult to pick one favorite line - gonna have to give this more thought.  But for sure this Hollies line (and title) has got to be up there:  "He ain'r heavy, he's my brother".

I agree with you. Lorne, that the name of this cover band seems to be trying to trick people into attending their shows.  The key word seems to be "tribute", but with three (and maybe more) EW&F cover groups already using the word "tribute" in their names, it might be getting difficult to find an appropriate moniker.

This reminded me of the situation back in the 90's when John Fogerty, working solo at that point, sued original CCR drummer Doug Clifford and original bassist Stuart Cook for performing as Credence Clearwater Revisited.  Interestingly, it wasn't that he felt they were duping fans.  He described his concerns thusly:“Using the name is sort of a sacrilege,” he told one publication.”“When the band broke up, I never had any problem not trying to abscond with the name Creedence as a solo artist,” Fogerty told another publication. “I just think that thing is from a certain time and it is untouchable, unless everybody is there. You can’t do it unless everyone says it is OK to do it.”

I agree, Lorne.  Too often we don't acknowledge their achievements until they pass on.

Lawrence had many songs that made the charts, but that window of 1959 - 1962, where he had 4 top tens (Pretty Blue Eyes, Footsteps, Portrait of my Love, Go Away Little Girl) was particularly impressive.  No doubt the writers on some of those songs (Jeff Barry, Goffin/King, Teddy Pendergrass) heiped contribute to their success.

A couple of other comments:

I always preferred The Tokens' version of Portrait of My Love.
Two of my other favorite Steve Lawrence songs are Come Back Silly Girl and Don't Be Afraid Little Darlin.
Steve and Eydie had several charted songs together.  My favorites were I Just Want To Stay Here and I Can't Stop Talking About You.

You can hear Mama Cass talking over the acoustic guitar at the very begiining of Dream A Little Dream Of Me.

Technically this isn't a mistake in the song, but I always thought Jeff Barry and Andy Kim must be embarrassed at the following lyrics in "Baby, Baby How'd We Ever Get This Way" :

Remember how it used to was
Before the roving eye of love
Why does it do the way it does

"How it used to was"???  I realize they were trying to rhyme with "does", but really?

I once heard an interview with Ellie Greenwich and she was discussing "Doo Wah Diddy".  She talked about how she was embarrassed when Manfred Mann changed the lyrics from "I knew we were falling in love" to "I knew we was falling in love".  She pointed out how she, a college graduate, wrote the song in proper English, but the version  of the song that everyone remembers goes "we was falling in love".

Here's the original demo of Doo Wah Diddy, with the correct lyrics, "I knew we were falling in love"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYXOMGFrBiU

Absolutely, Jim.

Always interested in learning more about some of our favorite 50's and 60's performers.

You can't help but be impressed by the amazing list of songs that she and Barry Mann wrote.  So many of them went on to be top twenty hits.

Here are a few of their songs that I really liked that didn't make it into the top twenty:

Proud - Johnny Crawford
Love Her - The Walker Brothers
Magic Town - The Vogues
See That Girl - Righteous Brothers
Looking Through the Eyes of Love- Gene Pitney

Unchained Melody was another.  To this day, whenever we are at a family or friend's wedding, my wife always puts in  that request wth the DJ.

Lesley Gore had a hit song with the theme that it doesn't matter if guys mistreat you because "That's the Way Boys Are'.

When I'm with my guy and he watches all the pretty girls go by
And I feel so hurt deep inside, I wish that I could die
Not a word do I say
I just look the other way
'Cause that's the way boys are
That's the way boys are

When he treats me rough and he acts as though he doesn't really care
Well, I never tell him that he is so unfair
Plus, he loves me and I know it
But he's just afraid to show it
'Cause that's the way boys are
That's the way boys are