Saturday Songsausion presents The Paris Sisters on CAAC
Tom from SPMM refreshed my memory featuring The Paris Sisters in one of his posts. I first heard the sisters in the reboot series Twin Peaks recording, I Love How He Loves Me (1961 single). David Lynch has a knack for using female vocalist with an angelic almost surreal sound that works an interestingly weird way for his sci-fi flicks.
Borrowing from a YTer, I snagged the below 10-song playlist with the song used in Twin Peaks mentioned above. Are you ready to be transported back to the doo-whop era? CAAC is happy to present to you, The Paris Sisters!
If you want to listen to more of the Paris Sisters in the background, I borrowed another playlist from the same YTers entitled The Best of The Paris Sisters.
As of last night, DH and I are on vacation. We’re staying local this year but whatever we do, it’ll be fun. Maybe next spring we can take a ‘real’ vacation. That’s it for this Saturday. Tomorrow, I’ll be back with Monday’s Music Moves Me on Sunday with your choice song picks and I’m saving a dance for you, so come join me on the dance floor. 
Have a songsational Saturday! x💋x💋, Cathy
4 Comments
messymimi's meanderings
Wonderful music. Have a great time on vacation!
Brian
We didn’t know those ladies but we enjoyed meeting them today!
Kinga K.
I like that version ❤
Thomas Anderson
Hi, Cathy!
I am here for some much needed Saturday Songsuasion, dear friend! Happy hiatus to you!
Thanks for mentioning me as having inspired this post. No artist brings back the innocent sound of the pre-Beatles era better than The Paris Sisters. A few of these recordings are brand new to my ears and much appreciated. It’s been decades since I heard “All Through The Night,” the B side of their big hit and signature song “I Love How You Love Me.” I remember hearing “All Through The Night” on the radio, so our local DJ must have routinely flipped the platter. Believe it or not, the siblings started releasing records in 1954 and that hit single, “I Love How You Love Me,” released in August, 1961, was their 11th record and their only single to reach the top 5 on the chart. In fact, none of their other records even made the top 30. “Be My Boy” was released in March, 1961, just before their big hit “I Love How You Love Me.” “Be My Boy” fell short of the top 50. It’s possible that in early 1961, the Paris Sisters’ surreal vocals and echo drenched Phil Spector production style made listeners uncomfortable. They simply weren’t ready for the “David Lynch sound,” but got into the sister act in a big way when they released their next single, “I Love How You Love Me,” which isn’t quite as spooky sounding as “Be My Boy.” “Yes – I Love You” was released in November of 1962 and failed to make the chart. It didn’t even Bubble Under. The song “I’ll Be Crying Tomorrow” was written by Phil Spector himself and released on the B side of The Paris Sisters March, 1961, single “Be My Boy.” “A Lonely Girl’s Prayer” was co-written by Spector and released as the B side of The Paris Sisters’ January, 1962, single “He Knows I Love Him Too Much.” Notice that “A Lonely Girl’s Prayer” is not the same song as “Lonely Girl’s Prayer,” the record by Connie And The Cones that Wolfman Jack played last week at Shady’s Place. Both are similar in theme to “Teen Age Prayer,” a top 5 hit for Gale Storm in 1955, with charted cover versions released by Gloria Mann and Kitty White. As I listen to “A Lonely Girl’s Prayer,” it occurs to me that lead singer Priscilla Paris often sounded like she was doped-up and drowsy. Do you agree? Maybe that made listeners uneasy, too. “Let Me Be The One,” a song co-written by Brill Building composer Barry Mann, was released in April, 1962. It’s a pretty song, but peaked at a disappointing #87. “What Am I To Do,” co-written by Spector, was issued as the B side of “Let Me Be The One.” I think it’s an even better song than the A side and should have been released as the “push side.” The girls might have gained a double-sided hit if that had happened. In fact, I’d say “What Am I To Do” is my favorite Paris Sisters recording. I’m sure you recall me posting their surreal performance of it in the 1962 British/U.S. movie It’s Trad, Dad! aka Ring-A-Ding Rhythm in my recent David Lynch post. “Once Upon A While Ago” was written by The Paris Sisters themselves and released as the B side of their November, 1962, single “Yes – I Love You.” The last song in that block, “He Knows I Love Him Too Much,” was composed by the Brill Building team of Gerry Goffin and Carole King. Released in January 1962, (with the above mentioned “A Lonely Girl’s Prayer” on the flip side, “He Knows I Love Him Too Much” was The Paris Sisters’ second most successful record, peaking at #34.
The second Paris Sisters song set includes some of their later recordings, album tracks and re-recorded versions of their charted singles. I don’t think the three re-recorded versions are as good as the originals, and I didn’t care for their experiments with different sounds. On one of the songs it sounds like they were trying to imitate Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made For Walkin,” and at other times they sounded like The Lennon Sisters. The one big exception is the very last song in the block “Always Waitin.” It is a gem of the Spector genre, a recording I actually have in my collection on a CD compilation covering the best Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound” recordings. “Always Waitin'” is one of the songs that inspired my long-running blog series “Echoes of the Spectorian Era.”
Thanks for paying tribute to The Paris Sisters, an old school girl group that was perhaps ahead of their time with their unique and somewhat creepy singing style and Spectoresque recording techniques. Have a safe and happy H-ween weekend and a wonderful vacation, dear friend Cathy!