Gene & Debbe - Playboy

[JSngry]

TOTALLY locked in...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sXOpGo5DP8&feature=related

Can't say that I've heard any other Gene & Debbe song, or that I really want to, but this one is just plain wondermous.

[mikelz777]

This song/sound must have locked in on some fond memory or feeling from your past. I gave it a listen and it does nothing for me though the cheese factor made it worth the listen.

[JSngry]

Cheese? That organ is straight off a Dylan record, Gene sounds like the Everly Brothers combined, and Debbe has the Southern Copountry slightly sandy pout in her voice that...well, you know.

Also, from a songwriting standpoint, the bridge is pretty interesting. The lyrics have a nice flow too, leading up to the outro very nicely. You great a whole story - very distinct beginning, middle, and end.

And check out that drummer! And that stacatto-y picked 2nd rhtyhm guitar!

The whole thing is pretty soulful, I think, in a Glen Campbell-esque type way. Just listen to the nuances of the vocals.

[JSngry]

Another thing about this record - it walks the line between country and pop as tightly as anything I can think of. That's one of the most deceptively rigid lines in american popular music, always has been, always will be.

[JSngry]

I really think that the singing on this, individually & in duet, but especially individually (esp. Gene Thomas), is something special....lots of little choices of nuances being made that didn't have to be made, if you know what I mean.

[JSngry]

You know what this is like? This is like if Paul & Paula were real people, with functioning brains, musical skills, genitals, and souls.

And how do you not like that?

[JSngry]

I have no idea what Steven Sondheim would say about these lyrics, but I'll bet you both of my tongues and one of yours that he could not make a record like this, or sing like this, if his life depended on it.

Magic happens when it happens to who it happens. No guarantees or entitlements. Gene & Debbe had the magic hit them with this one.

[JSngry]

Listening to Debbe sing those harmony parts give me a very sexual feeling. And Gene's phrasing tells me that he was having more than just a feeling...

And that drummer tells me that he didn't particularly like to do a lot of takes, so he was just gonna knock it out early and RIGHT.

[JSngry]

Original video no longer available. Boomhauer does not approve.

 

[JSngry]

http://www.onehitwondersthebook.com/?page_id=13811

“Go With Me,” their first folkie-flavored 45, charted at number 78 in 1967, and was followed by

“Playboy.”   Gene & Debbe’s future looked bright; they appeared on TV shows and made the

nightclub rounds.   Later in the year, their third single, “Lovin’ Season,” reached num­ber 81 on

the Hot 100, but only briefly.   Nothing the duo recorded would ever sell as well as these disks.

Gene returned to his staff position at Acuff-Rose, and Debbe disappeared into the wilds of

anonymity.

I hope she stayed sober and got a good man who heard what I hear in that voice and that they both proceeded accordingly.