It has been estimated that the late Ann Landers received
more than 1,000 requests for guidance every week. Considering there are
millions of willing sources of advice already available, it’s surprising Ann
stayed so busy.
For starters, you can count on the mothers of the world to
offer their counsel on every subject under the sun. And what mothers don’t
cover, fathers will. Then you have sisters, brothers, friends and nosy
neighbors. All are more than happy to give their two cents’ worth at any time.
It’s only natural that these voices of prophecy should be
echoed in the oldies. And just like in
real life, some words to the wise are heeded, others aren’t.
In “Good-bye Yellow Brick Road,” Elton John ignores his
father’s advice, then lives to regret it. Bill Withers appreciates his
brother’s concern, but doesn’t mind a bit that he’s being used. Neil Diamond begs his girl not to listen to
her family. The Four Tops aren’t sure whether to believe the neighborhood gossip.
And in “Maybe I Know,” Lesley Gore (may she Rest in Peace) is certain her boyfriend’s a cheat, but
hasn’t a clue what to do about it.
Well, Mama did say
there would be dilemmas like this.
My mama told me she said “Son please beware,
there’s this thing called love and it’s, ah
everywhere.”
And she told me it can break your heart
and leave you in misery.
Since I met this little woman
I feel it’s happened to me.
“Too
Late To Turn Back Now”
Cornelius
Brothers and Sister Rose
When I became of age my mama called me to her
side
She said “Son, you’re growing up now,
pretty soon you’ll take a bride.”
And then she said just because you’ve become a young man, now
there’s still some things you don’t understand,
now.
Before you ask some girl for her hand now,
keep your freedom for as long as you can.
“Shop
Around”
Smokey
Robinson and The Miracles
• People at school told me I couldn’t make
it, that I’d wind up making potholders.
- Stevie Wonder
You know my Papa disapproved it
My Mama boo and hooed it.
But I told them time and time again:
“Don’t you know I was made to love her.”
“I
Was Made To Love Her”
Stevie
Wonder
• At a
time when he was having marital problems himself, Ernie K-Doe rescued a song
from writer Allen Toussaint’s trash that became an anthem for everyone who’d
ever had the mother-in-law blues.
She thinks her advice is a contribution
But if she would leave that would be the
solution.
And don’t come back no more.
“Mother-In-Law”
Ernie
K-Doe
All through this long and sleepless night
I hear my neighbors talking
“She don’t love you.”
Saying out of my life into another’s arms
she’ll soon be walking.
“Shake
Me, Wake Me (When It’s Over)”
The
Four Tops
• Before he died, Gale
Garnett’s father -- a carnival pitchman and music hall entertainer -- advised
his daughter to find her own place in the sun. Although the glow of success
lasted for only one song, she did shine at the 1965 Grammy Awards when she won
“Best Folk Recording of the Year.”
My Daddy he once told me
“Hey don’t you love you any man.
Just take what they may give you,
And give but what you can.”
“We’ll
Sing In The Sunshine”
Gayle
Garnett
Oh, how you tried to cut me down to size
telling dirty lies to my friends.
Well my own father said
“Give her up, don’t bother.
The world isn’t coming to an end.”
“Walk
Like A Man”
My brother, he sit me right down
and he talked to me.
He told me that I ought to not
let you just walk on me.
And I’m sure he meant well,
but when our talk was through
I said “Brother, if you only knew
you’d wish that you were in my shoes.”
“Use
Me”
Bill
Withers
• In 1971, I’d gotten
out of military school, had a bad draft board experience, a father in the FBI,
and of course, there was Nixon. I had so many people trying to tell me what to
do, I guess I revolted against a panorama of authority figures in the song. - Jonathon
Edwards
He can’t even run his own life,
I’ll be damned if he’ll run mine.
“Sunshine”
Jonathon
Edwards
Love you so much, can’t count all the ways
I’d die for you girl and all they can say is
“He’s not your kind.”
They never get tired of putting me down
and I never know when I come around
just what I’m gonna find.
Don’t let them make up your mind.
“Girl,
You’ll Be A Woman Soon”
Neil Diamond
• Fourteen and
fifteen-year-olds are really intense. They write in journals and they think
really deep thoughts and spend a lot of time being real philosophers in a
way. - Janis Ian
Come to my school, baby
Everybody’s acting deaf and blind
Until they turn and say
“Why don’t you stick to your own kind?”
“Society’s Child”
Janis Ian
They said stay at home, boy, you gotta tend the
farm
Livin’ in the city, boy,
Is gonna break your heart.
But how can you stay, when your heart says no,
How can you stop,
When your feet say go?
“Honky
Cat”
• While waiting for a
stoplight to change, a ragged girl rushed up to Bob Gaudio’s car and started
washing his windshield. The girl’s face
so haunted the Four Seasons member that he eventually wrote a song about her.
For her trouble, she got a $5 tip. He drove off with a clean windshield and the
inspiration for a gold record.
I’d change her sad rags
into glad
rags if I could.
My folks won’t let me ‘cause
they say that she’s no good.
“Rag
Doll”
The
Four Seasons
How many times did she fall for his lies?
Should I tell her
or should I be cool?
“Silence
Is Golden”
The
Tremeloes
• Woven into the lyrics
of this Holland-Dozier-Holland hit are the names of two friends Diana claims
are ill-suited to give her advice: fellow Supremes Mary and Flo.
All day long I hear my telephone ring
friends calling, giving their advice.
From the boy I love I should break away,
‘cause heartache he’ll bring one day.
I listened once to my friends’ advice,
but it’s not going to happen twice.
‘Cause all advice ever got me
was many long and sleepless nights.
“Back
In My Arms Again”
The
Supremes
My folks moved to New York from California.
I shoulda listened when my buddy said
“I warn ya. There’ll be no surfin’ there,
and no one even cares.”
“New
York’s A Lonely Town”
The
Tradewinds
• The only time a group
ever made it to number one while on active duty was with a song inspired by the
beat of teletype machines in a Marine communications center.
My buddies tell me “fly to him, sigh to him,”
tell him I would die for him.
Tell him he’s the one.
“Easier
Said Than Done”
The
Essex
They told me “Be sensible with your new love,
don’t be fooled thinking this is the last you’ll
find.”
But they never stood in the dark with you, love,
when you take me in your arms and drive me
slowly out of my mind.
“Hold
Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me”
Mel
Carter
• On the occasion of my
first broken heart, a kind teacher told me “boys are like buses, another one
will be along in ten minutes.” Obviously, Lesley Gore didn’t have such good
counsel. She sticks by her jerky boyfriends in every song .
I hear them whispering when I walk by,
“he’s going to break her heart
and make her cry.”
I know it’s me they’re talking about,
I guess they all think I’ll never find out.
“Maybe
I Know”
Lesley
Gore
Honey don’t go; don’t leave this scene;
be out of the picture, and off the screen.
Don’t let them say “we told you so;”
they tell me you’ll love me
and then let me go.
“Being
With You”
Smokey
Robinson
•My father told me not
to go into music which I couldn’t understand because he’d once been a musician himself.
-Elton John
I should have stayed on the farm.
I should have listened to my old man.
“Good-bye
Yellow Brick Road”
Elton
John
People say you’ve been making out o.k.
She’s in love, don’t stand in her way.
“Hurts So Bad”
Little
Anthony and The Imperials
My folks were always putting him down.
They said he came from the wrong side of town.
They told me he was bad,
but I knew he was sad.
“Leader
of the Pack”
The
Shangri-Las
Some jealous so and so wants us to part
That’s why he’s telling you
That I’ve got a cheatin’ heart.
Don’t believe all those lies,
Darling just believe your eyes.
“My
Heart Is An Open Book”
Carl
Dobkins, Jr.
I hate to say it but I told you so.
Don’t mind my preachin’ to you.
I said don’t trust him, baby,
now you know.
You don’t learn everything there is
to know in school.
“Laugh,
Laugh”
Beau
Brummels
One time or other, everybody listen to me,
You lose somebody you love.
But that’s no reason for you
to break down and cry.
“Everybody”
Tommy
Roe
Ev’rybody tells me I’m wrong
to want you so badly.
But there’s a force driving me on
I follow it gladly.
“Bend
Me, Shape Me”
American
Breed
Mama told me not to come. She said “That ain’t no way to have fun, son.”
“Mama
Told Me”
Three
Dog Night
I remember what my Mama told me
she said “Girl, stay in your class.
You got a lot of growing and learning to do,
so girl, don’t you go so fast.”
“Mama
Didn’t Lie”
Jan
Bradley
I need love, love to ease my mind
I need to find, find someone to call mine.
But Mama said you can’t hurry love,
no, you’ve just got to wait.
She said love don’t come easy
It’s a game of give and take.
“You
Can’t Hurry Love”
My eyes were wide open,
but all that I could see
were chapel bells tolling
for everyone but me.
But I don’t worry
’cause Mama said there’d be days like this.
“Mama
Said”
The
Shirelles
So cheers to all those advice givers in oldie goldie land. Now tell me YOUR favorite piece of advice from a classic tune!
Like many people, I’d always
believed the title came from the 1938 movie Boys
Town starring and Spencer Tracy as Father Flannigan. (Actually, the phrase
was spoken in Men of Boys Town.)
A young Reg Dwight (later known as Elton John) played
piano and was paid 12 pounds for his work. 
A young Reg Dwight (later known as Elton John) played
piano and was paid 12 pounds for his work. 
_1024.jpg)
