26 August 2009

Teenage opera, sadly quieter...


We lost one of the greats today.

Ellie Greenwich, one of the finest songwriters who ever lived, died today, and it makes me several different kinds of sad.

The Ronettes' "Be My Baby" and "Baby I Love You"
The Dixie Cups' "Chapel of Love"
The Shangri-Las' "Leader of the Pack"
The Crystals' "And Then He Kissed Me"
Freddie Mercury's "I Can Hear Music"
Manfred Mann's "Do Wah Diddy Diddy"
Darlene Love's "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"
and, of course, the best song ever written, "River Deep Mountain High."

She wrote and/or cowrote all of them. Any one of those would be reason enough to celebrate her life and career. But she helped create ALL of them, as well as countless others.

It trips me out merely to think about what a guiding hand and voice Ellie Greenwich was in modern popular music, and she will be missed.

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