"The Great Pretender," by The Platters

February 1956--(Two Weeks)

This isn't just an awesome song--it's an important one too.

Did black artists ever hit the top of the Billboard pop charts before this song?  Yes, but generally they did it with swing--songs by the Mills Brothers, the Ink Spots, and Nat King Cole all fit neatly into the old Big Band w/ strings genre.  (Cole's bluesier material never went as high.)  Then you have a doo-wop song like "Sh-boom," which went to #9 in 1954 in its original incarnation by the Chords, but had to be covered by the all-white Crew-Cuts in a tamer, lamer rendition before it could go to #1.  This song went to the top without a shred of compromise:  the instrumentation, especially the lone sax and the plink-plink-plink-plink on the piano, is unabashedly Rhythm and Blues.

According to everything I've read, the Platters were just another ordinary Doo-wop band until a Jewish dude named Buck Ram (Samuel Ram to his parents) became their manager and completely reshuffled the deck.  Suddenly, there was a girl in a previously all-male genre (Zola Taylor, whose voice is hard to distinguish from the others on "Pretender"), and just as suddenly, there was a star in the group--lead vocalist Tony Miller.  Ram also wrote, produced, and arranged all of their songs, and insisted that the Platters not be released on a "race music" label.  As a result, "Only You" made it to the top of the R & B charts and #5 on the Pop charts.  "Great Pretender," made it to #1 on both--a feat which had become near impossible for black OR white artists to do in an increasingly segregated decade.

But enough history:  the song works just as well as it did back then.   You've got to love it how Miller, in character as said Pretender, ascends the scale and reaches the highest note on an admission of make-believe, and then recedes in embarrassment (eg.. I seem...to be...what I'm not...you see...)  Great song-writing, great delivery.  And it's also a wonderful touch that Miller spends most of the song singing about how he's an impostor, but doesn't really clearly say why until the end of the lyric--"Pretending that you're still around,"--when he repeats it at the end, you can almost hear the singer's heart breaking.  This song doesn't have one central hook, but it's full of these great subtle touches that keep you listening until the very end--like when the rest of the Platters join in on the word "YES!"  You look forward to that moment every single time it comes around.

Plus, haven't we all been there?  Hasn't every one of us been in a position where we had to hide a broken heart from the rest of the world--especially in our teenage years, when self-composure seemed so important?  Unlike the last three songs I covered, which were mostly for mom and dad, this is clearly a song aimed at the younger set:  for teenagers, by teenagers.  (The Platters were young--Zola was only 18 when this song hit #1)  For the time being, adults still had the pop charts under control, but between this tune and "Rock Around the Clock" from the previous summer, it was evident that something was going on.

Next up:  Embarrassingly enough, Mom and Dad try to keep up.

PS:  Wanna see the Platters perform their hit on national TV?  Click here.  Wanna hear what white Jazz lovers REALLY thought of Rock and Roll?  Click here for a fairly disrespectful Stan Freberg spoof.