THE DEVOTIONS
The Devotions were an American vocal group from Astoria, Queens, New York, formed in 1960. They released a single of a novelty song called “Rip Van Winkle” in 1961 on Delta Records; the tune was re-released on Roulette Records in 1962 and again on Roulette in 1964. The tune became a hit on the third release, peaking at #36 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964. (More from Wikipedia)
One of my favorite songs for a while was on Roulette Records; it was “Rip Van Winkle” by the Devotions. It was basically a novelty song retelling the famous legend that also featured a lot of bowling sounds for some reason (I can’t recall ever hearing that on another song!). I was on a bowling team in those days, so maybe that’s what got me going.
(March 2012)
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It is not really a rare event for a song to come out of nowhere and grab the zeitgeist – that’s virtually the definition of a novelty song – but there have been a host of songs that are just as sideways compared to the recording charts at the time without truly being of the novelty variety. I have written of several in previous posts: the Trashmen’s 1963 hit “Surfin’ Bird”, the Ran-Dells’ “Martian Hop” (also from 1963), and “Rip Van Winkle” by the Devotions from 1961. They were among my very favorite songs for years after I first heard them, so it is easy to see that I am partial to this kind of song.
(March 2013)
