He's Gone

This week the boys talk about the girls - it's doo wop time and we start with the fabulous Chantels and their 1957 debut, "He's Gone" (1:32). Picture perfect in every way, from Arlene Smith's powerful voice and glittering, subtle songwriting to the beautiful backing from Lois, Sonia, Jackie, and Renee. A real Teenage Symphony to God! In 1964, podcast favourite The Royalettes adopted the song and here's where the strings come in (Teddy Randazzo's, that is ...)  (1:00:45). Sheila Ross skips and jumps with the song's heartbroken lyrics - they knew the song well because it's what they sung when they competed (and won!) in talent contests. By 1980, the song's sorrow transformed into joyful nostalgia with Syreeta's stylin' version (1:32:24)- it reminds us of Deniece Williams, so we like it a lot. Finally, in 2010, Brooklyn's Vivian Girls brought the song back to the Boroughs where it was born (1:57:54). Because it 's the final quaver in this quartet, we go off on some crucial digressions, but this one is spectrally pretty and includes some nice atmospheric guitar ... Jammin on the one!!