Not So Young, Oh So Foolish, Quite Happy

So, we went to a party

A birthday party

Where The Tams played!

Now, if you’re of a certain age (read as 35 to 95) and are from a certain part of the world (read as the Southeast) and know how to shag (read as the dance not the British definition), then you know The Tams

Be young! Be foolish! but be happy!

Be young! Be foolish! but be happy!

Don’t let the rain get you down, it’s a waste of time

A waste of time

Have your fun, live your life in the bright sunshine

The bright sunshine

Well, it’s the same ole story all over the world

Girl meets boy; bot meets girl

So, be young, be foolish, but be happy!

(J. Cobb, JR Cobb, Ray Whitley, 1967)

If you fall into that demographic above, then you just started singing and may be doing a step ball step step ball step shift weight movement thinking about adding a pretzel as you read those lyrics

If you fall into that demographic, then you have danced to this song at least once or twice

The current singer is 54 and the son of the original singer, so he was not signing at The Pavilion on Pawleys are at old school OD in Myrtle or at any of the over beach music venues up and down the Carolina Coast. All of that was before his time and my time.

Interestingly, at the same party a dear pal who is from Atlanta, and, yes, he is really from Atlanta, confessed that he hates beach music and things shagging stinks

OUCH

But, this is the same City that 500,000 dead Confederate soldiers died to prevent as one of my favorite college professors half jokingly used to say

I, however, love beach music and love The Tams

My parents reared me on it

In fact, on the way home from the party, I called my parents to discuss

They were so nostalgically happy for us that we got to see The Tams

The fact they weren’t there left me…. hurt…hurt…hurt…yes I [was] hurt like I’ve never been hurt before….

Sorry, that was, too, easy

And, you just sang along with that one, too

During Be Young! Be Foolish! Be Happy! the dance floor was packed, jammed, overloaded

What Kind of Fool (Do You Think I Am) also produced the same crowd on the boards

Taking a minute to use the facilities, I experienced what may be one of my favorite auditory moments

James Lipton always asked “What sound or noise do you love?” when he did those pompous interviews on Inside the Actor’s Studio

“A baby’s laugh”

“Horse hooves on cobblestones”

“My children saying “Daddy” when I walk in the door”

“Frying bacon”

Well, nope, not me

I love the sound of a good damn band carried across a party venue and heard muffled in the sounds of a restroom. Alone.

I’ll repeat

I think one of the greatest things to hear is a muted performance from afar knowing the party is still rocking and rolling and I’m at the moment neither rocking or rolling

I’m sure some therapist could analyze that one all day

But, I had to get back as soon as possible

Because, after all, it was The Tams

And, as my sticker said, I came to get down