Most people think of Doo Wop only as oldies songs, but in truth the style stands as an important phase in the history of American popular music. Doo Wop came directly out of rhythm and blues, but it was also rooted in gospel, jazz and other American styles. How did it happen? How does anything happen on a city street corner when a few guys get it into their heads to start singing? That’s how Doo Wop was born. It began in Philadelphia, but it spread to New York, and across the country faster than a radio wave.
The essence of Doo Wop is vocals. Though often there’s a little back-up instrumentation added on in the recording studio, or up on a concert stage, these are songs that can still be reproduced by those guys on the street corner. There was plenty of that going on in the neighborhoods of the1950s, and it was in the second half that decade that the music jumped from the street onto the airwaves. It dominated the Top 40 charts from right after Elvis to the eve of the Beatles. Since then it’s kept a loyal following, and there have been several revivals.
Doo Wop didn’t worry too much about the words. Instead, at its core were melodic syllables, often nonsensical, but always smooth, and perfectly blended. It depended on vocal harmonies. When those street corner guys opened their mouths and started singing they automatically searched among themselves for a bass, a tenor, a baritone, and they were certainly hoping for a convincing falsetto. With one voice in the lead, the others would find the right harmonies for backing him up. The result was a style of music that could be sung anywhere, and always sounded cool and easy.
Some of the most popular Doo-Wop songs are: “When You Dance” by the Turbans, “In the Still of the Night” by the Five Satins, “Glory of Love” by the Five Keys, “Blue Moon” by the Marcels, “Little Girl of Mine” by the Cleftones, and “I Wonder Why” by Dion & the Belmonts. That last one has been described as Doo Wop’s national anthem.
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