Gene Pitney's songs set the tone for some much

Gene Pitney
Originally uploaded by Brite light photos.

JAMESTOWN, N.Y. - Gene Pitney just passed away, quietly, at 65, right after giving what the critics say was one of his best performances ever.

His voice wasn't was it was when we listened to his 45 rpm records in the early 60s, but his enthusiasm for performing never stopped.

Here's a link to a story about his passing:

Gene Pitney

Is it me, or do we seem to be losing about one icon a week?

My favorite Gene Pitney song is "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," though "24 Hours From Tulsa" is close. He wrote tons of other songs for other performers including "Red Rubber Ball," a hopeful tune about a broken-hearted young guy who sees a sunrise and realizes that life will go one.

I sat and watched a sunrise one morning overlooking Chautauqua Lake with that tune blaring out of the radio in my mother's yellow 1966 Pontiac Tempest Lemans after a difficult evening with a young lady who had dropped me like a hot rock.

"Now I know you're not the only starfish in the sea,
If I never hear your name again it's all the same to me,
I think it's gonna be alright, yes the worst is over now,
the morning sun is shining like a red rubber ball."

It might not be Dylan Thomas, but it's poetry anyway.

I'm going to honor Gene Pitney in my tiny way by learning to play a few of his tunes on my guitar. I've practiced some chords and sung of his verses, but my God that man had a set of vocal chords.

Gene had lots of other songs, his "Town Without Pity," perhaps burned into my memory the most. It was played as a "slow dance" a lot and because it was so slow and so melodic, even I could grab the hand of Linda Hansen or Sue Kettle or Sally Smith and get away with a twirl on the gym floor without tripping.

Here's the lyrics to Red Rubber Ball and Town Without Pity.

Oh! And one not-too-quick thank you to all the folks who sent me personal emails and posted messages at the end of yesterday's entry about the nasty gram letter I received.

I will, "Blog on" until the reunion and beyond, too. Can you imagine the legends we are going to create in July?

Cheers.

Town With Pity

When you're young and so and love as we
And bewildered by the world we see
Why do people hurt us so
Only those in love would know
What a Town Without Pity can do..

If we stop to gaze upon a star
People talk about how bad we are...
Ours is not an easy age
We're like tigers in a cage
What a Town Without Pity can do..

The young have problems Many problems
We need an understanding heart..
Why don't they help us, try to help us
Before this clay and granite planet falls apart...

Take these eager lips and hold me fast..
I'm afraid this kind of joy can't last
How can we keep love alive
How can anything survive
When these little minds tear you in two..
What a town Without Pity can do..

How can we keep love alive
How can anything survive
When these little minds tear you in two..
What a town Without Pity can do

Red Rubber Ball

I should have known you'd bid me farewell
There's a lesson to be learned from this and I learned it very well
Now I know you're not the only starfish in the sea
If I never hear your name again, it's all the same to me

And I think it's gonna be all right
Yeah, the worst is over now
The mornin' sun is shinin' like a red rubber ball

You never cared for secrets I'd confide
For you I'm just an ornament, somethin' for your pride
Always runnin', never carin', that's the life you live
Stolen minutes of your time were all you had to give

And I think it's gonna be all right
Yeah, the worst is over now
The mornin' sun is shinin' like a red rubber ball

The story's in the past with nothin' to recall
I've got my life to live and I don't need you at all
The roller coaster ride we took is nearly at an end
I bought my ticket with my tears, that's all I'm gonna spend

And I think it's gonna be all right
Yeah, the worst is over now
The mornin' sun is shinin' like a red rubber ball

Oh, oh, oh
I think it's gonna be all right
Yeah, the worst is over now
The mornin' sun is shinin' like a red rubber ball