EVERY GENRE PROJECT - March 15 - Doo-Wop

Genre of the Day - Doo-Wop

Album of the Day - Flamingo Serenade by the Flamingos (1959)

Today, I write this column from the seclusion of my small but surprisingly cozy hostel bed. I am committed to this silly column, I will say. In the midst of enjoying all of the sights, I often find myself not listening to or even seeking out listening to music. It certainly can be a nice break: there’s been so many moments after a couple of days of little to no listening on a trip that the first song you get to really indulge in feels like a little miracle. However, when you simply must listen to a whole album for your Substack column, it is a considerable challenge to squeeze in the time to digest a whole album. But here we are.

Luckily, I was served with an iconic enough to handle the topic of research with ease. Doo-wop is the gorgeous defining sound of the 1950s for most Americans, a sound encased in amber of that time of emphasized morality and encased social roles before rock’n’roll and other social movements would flip that on its head in the ‘60s. While doo-wop took a few years to cross over, though, it was in development all the way back to the mid-40s. The emergence of doo-wop and particularly its youth-driven aspect makes a lot of sense: the concept of being a teenager was just in development following WWII. Thus, as the concept of being a teenager came culturally into vogue as well as a commercially viable subgroup to market to, music went hand in hand with this social development and doo-wop emerged as the vital sound of the teenagers. 

Musically, it stemmed from young Black teenage vocal groups taking harmonic influence from what they’d grown up singing in church and marrying those arresting harmonies with the light fare music that dominated the pop charts of the time, so as to prevent the music from overpowering the driving force of the harmonies, which often used unconventional and strange gibberish syllables—giving it its name. Beyond the simplicity of the voices being the focal point of the music, lyrics covered typical teenage interests, especially heartfelt, forlorn odes. Another interesting characteristic of doo-wop is that it represented a unique Black-Jewish cultural alliance: many Jewish small independent record companies were the ones championing doo-wop music and helping popularize the genre. While doo-wop would succumb to the singular dominance of rock and roll by the mid ‘60s, it’s a genre perpetually associated with a notion of the ‘50s simplicity and supposed harmony. 

The Flamingos help characterize the simplicity and beauty of doo-wop with today’s album. Over light piano and guitar shuffles, their razor-sharp sense of harmony triumphs over the barely-there music to rapturous, enchanting effect. There’s something so crystallized, so nostalgic about doo-wop that makes it an irresistible sound. The Flamingos not only keep it slow and steady to enhance the harmonies’ presence and romantic mood, but there’s delightful flourishes such as the trilling birdsong intro of “Love Walked In” and the exotica touches of “Begin the Benguine.” These singers may not be feathery and astonishingly pink like real flamingos, but the colors they paint with their rich harmonies certainly give the zesty bird a run for its money.