DEE CLARK – "RAIN DROPS"

Red Saunders was the house bandleader at the famed Regal Theater and Club De Lisa in Chicago. Among his other vocalists on the Okeh label was Joe Williams, who he also managed. A caucasion, Red could be termed a Mid-western Johnny Otis. The Hambone Kids were Ronnie Strong, Sammy McGrier and Delecta Clark, the subject of this album.

A year after "Hambone," Delecta joined a session, he comes off like Little Richard, who had just made his infamous departure from showbiz. I recall hearing Alan freed introduce "24 Boyfriends" as by "the new singer with Little Richard's band."

Dee's first hits, the self penned "Nobody But You" and Otis Blackwell's "Just Keep It Up," find him in a Clyde McPhatter vein, although more updated, with the popular-at –the –time flute backing, also favored by the budding producer Berry Gordy on his early Jackie Wilson, Miracles and Marv Johnson sides.

Clark was fortunate to have as his guitarist Phil Upchurch, who would later hit with the rocking instrumental, "You Can't Sit Down," which had been used to warm up the crowd before Dee hit the stage. Another Upchurch contribution was applying the "Bo Diddley" beat to another Blackwell tune, resulting in another smash, "Hey Little Girl" giving hormone-maddened teenaged boys the vocabulary with which to sexually harass their female counterparts on street corners across the nation- "Hey little girl in the high school sweater gee, but I'd like to--------- You better."  The blank was filled in by every possible rude, lewd remark that only could be invented by the minds of adolescent boys.

In late 1960, the Midnighters' Henry Booth brought Dee a song, while not one of his biggest hits, remains one of his finest moments on wax, "Your friends." Backed by the Dells and put to a cha-lypso beat not unlike that which Jerry Butler had used to great effect, Dee jumps into a Sam Cooke mode for a beautiful performance.

Other almost-hits from that period were "You're Looking Good" and the Lp-only "What Kind Of Fool," written by Joe Seneca. Seneca also wrote Little Willie John's "Talk To Me", and Brenda Lee's "Break It To Me Gently" and later became an actor, most notably, as the Robert Johnson-like character in the motion picture "Crossroads."

Dee's biggest hit was one he wrote on the road, with Upchurch driving in the rain. To the rhythm of the windshield wipers, he had composed "Raindrops" by the time he got back to Chicago.

A perfect record from start to finish, "Raindrops" features a magnificent Riley Hampton arrangement, highlighted by an inspired Phil Upchurch guitar line, and, on top of it all, Dee hitting unbelievable notes, a la Gene Pitney, especially at the end of the fade, when he reaches Yma Sumac's range.

He left Vee-Jay at the end of 1962 with Abner and Bunky Shepard when they formed their Constellation label, where he last scraped the bottom of the charts with "Crossfire Time."

By the time Dee passed away recently, he was living in a southern motel, barely able to make ends meet, not even on the oldies circuit. Blessed with a fine voice, he was not lucky enough to have developed a sound easily identifiable to the masses. Luckily for us, he left us with these wonderful recordings,

Billy Vera, 1992
 
 

Lyrics to "Rain Drops"