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When I was a teenager, the first great generation of rock and roll and rhythm and blues was already a few decades down the pike as the rooster crows, yet somehow the magic of that music managed to find me in as unlikely a spot as rural Alabama. While my friends were rockin’ out to the Killer Dwarfs or giving the latest Rodney Crowell tune a spin on their cd players, I found no other music that spoke to me more than the intimate and fun workings of rock’n’roller’s such as Elvis Presley (of course), Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry. There was just something more immediate and heartfelt about the early stuff that I found lacking in most of the new music and besides that, it was fun to daydream about my latest crush as the Everly Brothers or The Crests harmonized sweetly, their plaintiff laments of being grounded and not being able to take their best girl to the drive-in (A.K.A. “the passion-pit”) resounding poignantly in my oversized 1980s earlobes. I got that music from the 1950s and early 1960s and, more importantly, it got me, too.
Of all of the sublime and rockin’ gems from the 1950s however, there were few that could hold a candle to a little ditty called Just Because. This was the song that you wanted blasting from a Stratton 12 Subwoofer, your best gal pulled closely to you as the two of you Sambaed across the high school gym floor, your buddies looking enviously on. It was sultry, it was electric and – most importantly – it was yours. At least that’s how the man who sang the song back in 1956 – Lloyd Price – made you feel as you put that shiny, black vinyl onto your turntable and gingerly placed the record needle onto it…The venerable Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alum passed away on May 3 at the age of 88, according to our friends at The Hollywood Reporter.
Lloyd Price was born on March 9, 1933 in Kenner, Louisiana, one of two boys to Beatrice Price that were blessed with the gift of making music. Lloyd was something of a prodigy musically speaking; he was adept at trumpet and piano, featured in a musical combo whilst in high school and was known to carry more than a few tunes in his church’s gospel choir.
Price met a key champion for him and his music in the form of Art Rupe, the owner of Specialty Records who signed the young crooner in 1952. Price landed a hit right out of the gate with Lawdy Miss Clawdy, but it wasn’t until 1958 that his career fully took off with the chart success of the pop ditty Stagger Lee, which became the song of the year along with another effort called Personality.
Price was never better with his slow-burn rendition of Just Because, which he released two times; once in ’55 for KRC and then another the following year for ABC Paramount. The slow dance number was reintroduced to a whole new audience (including Yours Truly) in 1986 with the release of the Francis Ford Coppola film Peggy Sue Got Married.
Price passed away last week in New Rochelle, New York of complications from diabetes, his wife revealed to the AP yesterday.
Steven Van Zandt of the E Street Band issued a statement on Price’s passing, saying that the singer was a “Very important part of Rock history. He was BEFORE Little Richard! Lawdy Miss Clawdy of 1952 has a legit claim as the first Rock hit…Righteous cat. Enormous talent.”
Music is a time capsule in many different ways: There’s the undeniable memories that we associate with a particular song that connect directly to us. Then there’s the gift of how it connects us with the artist who performed it in the first place. Putting on my old, worn out vinyl copy of Lloyd’s Just Because this morning after I had learned the news of his passing made me feel connected to my youth while at the same time it felt like an appropriate sendoff to a man who was an indelible part of so many of our lives. Rest easy, Mr. Price. You made such sweet music.
