Dec 14

The Wanderer

Greatly Appreciated

THE WANDERER

 
"The Wanderer"  is a song written by Ernie Maresca and originally recorded by Dion.  The song, with a 12-bar blues-base verse and an eight-bar bridge, tells the story of a travelling man and his many loves.  The song is ranked #239 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
Dion DiMucci was one of the leading rock and rollers of the late 1950's and early 1960's, and his work still sounds great to me to this day.  He was the front man for Dion and the Belmonts and had several hits beginning with "I Wonder Why" in 1958.   
 
Dion became a solo artist by 1960 and had another string of wonderful hit songs,"The Wanderer", "Runaround Sue", "Donna the Prima Donna", and "Ruby Baby" among them.  In the wake of the horrific political assassinations of the 1960's, Dion later had another hit song in the summer of 1968 with the simple but highly effective song, "Abraham, Martin and John". 
  
(September 2012)
 
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The third issue of Who Put the Bomp was subtitled Whenever a Teenager Cries; whereas I grew up with the other two songs and loved them both, I wasn't familiar with this song.  Their 1964 song "Whenever a Teenager Cries" was by one of Greg Shaw's favorite girl groups, Reparata & the Delrons.  (I did find the song on YouTube, and it is another great one without a doubt). 

 

The songwriter is Ernie Maresca; while I didn't really know that name either, I certainly know his work:  He wrote or co-wrote several of the biggest hits by Dion, including "Runaround Sue", "The Wanderer" and "Donna the Prima Donna".  Maresca was also the songwriter behind one of my own favorite lesser known early 1960's songs, "Party Girl" by Bernadette Carroll.  I stumbled upon the song again on a compilation album not that long ago. 

 

(May 2013)

   
Last edited: March 22, 2021