I first heard the song "Secretly" by Jimmie Rodgers on the Oldies stations I listened to while growing up in St. Louis. Jimmie Rodgers is well-known for the Number One hit "Honeycomb" and for the top-ten hit "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine." This is is his third big hit, from 1958.
The problem is, if you listen to the words, you never figure out why the lovers are keeping their affair a secret! There was a whole slew of songs from about this time about doomed relationships....In "Down In The Boondocks" by Billy Joe Royal it's a class thing (I love her, she loves me, but I don't fit into her society); in "Dawn (Go Away)" by The Four Seasons it's a class thing (think what a big man he'll be...think what the future will be with a poor boy like me); in "Leader of the Pack" by the Shangri-Las it was class (one day my dad said find someone new).
Here, however, the closest you get to a reason is the lyric, "why should we have to wait....?" I guess that means they are too young, but listening to all the other similar songs in this genre, it *sounds* like a gay love song.
Disagree?
Listen to it and tell me I'm wrong.
I certainly CAN be construed that way. "Until we have the right to meet openly...."
SECRETLY
written by Al Hoffman, Dick Manning,
and "Mark Markwell"
No comments:
Post a Comment