Our Rosa "Veilchenblau" is a stunner! [click to embiggen]
Day #3 of my training...
...but at least it's the last one!
Meanwhile, when I read that Mr Lou Christie had departed, my immediate thought was - who? So I went off to investigate him while on lunch break.
Being a huge fan of the weird and wonderful, I am hugely pleased that I did..!
Utterly bizarre - why is he singing in a scrapyard? In the middle of winter? And what does he have stuffed in those jeans? Answers on a postcard, please.
Right, onward and upward...
Gorgeous photo, Jon! I love how Rosa "Veilchenblau" seems to be in the spotlight.
ReplyDeleteAs for Mr Christie, he appears to be mildly sedated or tranquilised. Perhaps that's how the producer/director got him to perform in a scrap yard?
She's always in the spotlight, that one!
DeleteMr Christie looks stoned off his head - but then again, I suppose it was the 1960s... Jx
I remember him and the song!!! Is that hair or a chest tattoo?!?
ReplyDeleteIt certainly sounded familiar when I uncovered it in my search - not surprising as it was a big hit here in the UK, getting to #2 in the charts in 1969 (only kept off the top slot by Sugar Sugar by The Archies!).
DeleteInteresting factoid: the backing singers on this track were Linda Scott, Lesley Gore, and Valerie Simpson. What a coup for such an obscure artist!
I was rather impressed by that "chest mat", too - I wonder if it was glued on? Jx
I’ve been thinking about this and more is coming back to me. “Lightning Strikes”! Remember that? And Why Must I Be a Teenager in Love? Ok, now I’m off to read about him. He must have had a lot more hits I didn’t know he had.
DeleteHis big hits in the US like Lightning Strikes were in 1966, when I was three, and they weren't huge here, so no, I don't know it.
DeleteA Teenager in Love is more familiar (of course). It's one of those songs that is often played on some of the more "old-fashioned" radio stations and shows we listen to - but although there were three versions that hit the charts in the 1950s over here in the UK (including the original by Dion and the Belmonts, and a version by Carl Douglas), only our own Marty Wilde (Kim's dad) had a big hit with it... Jx
On further investigation, however, I find that none other than one of our "Patron Saints" the late, great, dearly demented - sorry - departed Klaus Nomi did indeed do a cover of that song. Faboo!
DeleteThe Klaus Nomi version is wonderful!
DeleteEverything Herr Nomi did was fabulous! Jx
DeleteAnother off to Fabulon.
ReplyDeleteChristie was at his falsetto best in several songs like The Gypsy Cried.
He did a great revival tour in the USA with Leslie Gore in the 1990’s, our 1960’s legends are leaving us and we’re not far behind them.
-Rj
He was 82! I have a couple of decades to go yet... Jx
DeleteHe has the look of a young Danny Dyer, with hair. I remember the tune - maybe used in a film?
ReplyDeleteI hope you celebrate the end of your training!
Sx
I don't know who should be more insulted by the comparison. As for the tune, I can't find anything on Google about it being used in a film, but it's become an earworm! Jx
DeleteTeenager in Love = Dion and the Belmonts, not Lou
ReplyDeleteAgreed - as per my comment above. Jx
DeleteJolly song but a very depressing video and that strange woolly vest he has on looks very itchy
ReplyDeleteThe song has been stuck in my head since Thursday! Looking at the video, he probably needed that "hair shirt" in such chilly weather. Jx
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