CoronaVinyl Day 19 (Collection): 41 Original Hits from the Soundtrack of American Graffiti

For an explanation of CoronaVinyl, click here.

George Lucas's American Graffiti, released in 1973, is a coming-of-age comedy set in suburban California in 1962 with a pretty damn good cast, including Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Harrison Ford, Cindy Williams, Mackenzie Phillips, Wolfman Jack, and Suzanne Somers, among others.  It was Dazed and Confused for the pre-Beatles, pre-JFK assassination '60s -- a story about one epic summer night where crazy things happen before the characters have to go their separate ways, be it to college, the military, or nowhere.

With today's CoronaVinyl category being "collection," I wavered between whether greatest hits albums should be considered collections, ultimately deciding against it in favor of what I think of as a collection -- an album that includes songs by various artists.  One of my albums that fits this category is the American Graffiti soundtrack or, more precisely, 41 Original Hits from the Soundtrack of American Graffiti.

It's a pretty fantastic double-album collection of late '50s and early '60s rock, pop, and doo wop.  The only playlist on Spotify I could find had 35 of the 41 songs, so I embedded that one below.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Why Do Fools Fall In Love?" by Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers
What you may not know about me is that, in addition to metal, hard rock, and hair band music, I love doo wop (and many other genres I don't write about very often), and "Why  is one of the best doo wop songs ever, in my opinion.  Then 13-year-old Lymon's soprano lead vocals are excellent, capturing the naivety of young love.  And the rest of the Teenagers -- who, as their name implies, were also teenagers -- provide great doo wop backing vocals.  Sadly, Lymon's solo career didn't pan out, and he died of a heroin overdose in 1968 at the age of 25.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "The Book of Love" by The Monotones
"The Book of Love" by The Monotones is another staple late '50s doo wop classic.  One of the interesting tidbits about the song that I just discovered is that the thump between the "I wonder wonder who badoodoo who" and "who wrote the book of love" is not a bass drum, but rather the sound of a kid kicking a ball against the garage while the group was rehearsing. They liked the sound, so they added it to the song.

Favorite song from Side 3:  "Johnny B. Goode" by Chuck Berry
Side 3 is chock full of early rock and pop classics like "Ain't That a Shame" by Fats Domino, "I Only Have Eyes for You" by The Flamingos, "Get a Job" by The Silhouettes, the underappreciated "Do You Want To Dance" by Bobby Freeman (which the Beach Boys covered spectacularly in the '60s), "Come Go with Me" by The Del-Vikings, and "Love Potion No. 9" by The Clovers.  But I have to go with Chuck Berry's iconic "Johnny B. Goode."  It's quite simply one of the best early rock and roll songs.

Favorite song from Side 4:  "Green Onions" by Booker T. & The MGs
I wasn't going to pass up a song by a fellow IU grad.  While he was a student in Bloomington, Booker T. Jones would drive down to Memphis on the weekends, where he and the MGs (Steve Cropper on guitar, Al Jackson on drums, and Lewis Steinberg and later Donald "Duck" Dunn on bass) served as the house band for the inimitable Stax records.  In addition to recording with many of soul music's biggest names -- like Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett, Bill Withers, Carla Thomas, and Rufus Thomas -- the band recorded its own songs, mostly instrumental, including the classic "Green Onions," which the band recorded in 1962, when Jones was still in high school.