For some, that first song they loved was a really cool one--like "Hey Jude" or "Hound Dog" or "My Girl." For others (see also, moi) it's a sappy (but catchy as all hell!) single from a teen idol. Even worse, when I entered the fifth grade I made the fatal mistake, when asked what my favorite song of the last summer was, of naming this week's tune. My buddies never let me forget what a girly choice this had been, and they're teasing mercifully stopped only when my family moved from California to Indiana before my freshman year of high school and I never had to see any of them again. Good times...not.
Bobby Sherman got his start in music thanks to the actor Sal Mineo, who wrote a couple of songs for Sherman and asked him to sing with an old band of Mineo's. After the performance an agent liked what he had seen, and fortuitously Sherman went on to become quite the teen idol. His career lasted from 1962 until 1976, though he did do some oldies shows from the late 90's until the early 2000s. Sherman also did some acting, and eventually had a guest starring role on a 70's show called Emergency! playing an EMT. Sherman so enjoyed it that when his musical career came to a close he became an actual EMT and spent the rest of his working days training others. He also became a sheriff's deputy for a time. Over the course of his fourteen years in the music business, Sherman released ten albums (five of which went gold), and 23 singles (seven of which hit the top forty, with his highest charting being a #3). Today, Sherman is retired and lives with his second wife, and they have a foundation which helps students in Ghana get educated.
"Julie, Do Ya Love Me" was released as a single in July of 1970, from the album With Love, Bobby. It was the second highest charting song of his career, reaching #5 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.
This one is headlining in Sap City for the week--"Julie Do Ya Love Me" was one of those songs tailor made for a teen idol to make young teen women scream (especially if they also happened to be named Julie). No rock critic ever wrote a treatise on this one, so near as I can tell it might be about a young man heading overseas (Vietnam?) who wants to make sure his baby loves him and will wait for him. Sherman sings it with all the passion of a young man hopelessly in love, there's plenty of strings, a tinkling of piano, a set of screeching horns, some drums to keep them all in line, and rousing backing vocals throughout the chorus that give the song a wondrous dash of over the top lovesickness. Maybe it's just a reminder of the wonder and freedom of being eleven-years-old, but when I hear this song even fifty years later it fills me with its joy from the soles of my feet to the crown of my head...and I can guarantee you I'll be bopping around the house singing it for the next week, even after the Beautiful Girls asks, "What the heck are you singing?"
Lyric Sheet: "Honey, you cried the day I left you/Even though we knew I couldn't stay/But baby, remember, I'll be back September/But till then I'll write you every day..."
Enjoy:
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