THE RIVINGTONS
The Rivingtons were a 1960’s doo-wop group. The group members were: lead vocalist Carl White (died January 7, 1980), tenor Al Frazier (died November 13, 2005), baritone Sonny Harris, and bass singer Turner “Rocky” Wilson Jr. Frazier was replaced by Madero White for a period in the late 1970’s. (More from Wikipedia)
Minnesota is not often mentioned in the garage rock world either, but Minneapolis produced one of the finest examples from the genre, the Trashmen, whose legendary 1963 hit “Surfin’ Bird” transmogrified two hit songs by a doo-wop group called the Rivingtons, “Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow” and “The Bird’s the Word” and showed America just what surf rock music was capable of producing. They continued to produce several minor hit singles – I bought “Bird Dance Beat” myself when it came out – and made enough music that a box set was released of Trashmen recordings (by Rhino Records if memory serves – actually it was Sundazed Records). All this from a band that hailed from a state that is as far from an ocean as it is possible to be and still be in the United States.
(September 2010)
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One of my favorite bands that truly does not deserve the one-hit wonder label is the Minneapolis band the Trashmen. Their 1963 song “Surfin’ Bird” is one of my very favorite 1960’s songs to this day – and believe me when I tell you that that is saying something! The story is that they were at a gig when drummer Steve Wahrer stopped playing and improvised a growling, spitfire performance of a doo-wop song called “The Bird’s the Word” that he had previously heard being performed by a group called the Sorensen Brothers. He then coupled that with a similar performance of another doo-wop song “Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow” by the Rivingtons – not knowing that “The Bird’s the Word” was also originally by that band.
On one of the over-priced but essential Born Bad CD’s – also known as Songs the Cramps Taught Us – “Surfin’ Bird” is preceded by the original recordings by the Rivingtons of “Mama-Oom-Mow-Mow” and “The Bird’s the Word”; both songs were follow-up singles to their biggest hit “Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow”. It is in that setting that “Surfin’ Bird” can best be appreciated: Their song could hardly be more different from these other much slower performances, yet in their own way, this surf rock band is also honoring the doo-wop tradition that formed much of the basis for the surf sound in the first place.
(May 2012)
