Then there are the naughty Bobbettes.
The Bobbettes had hated a short-sighted schoolmaster:
I hate Mr. Lee and he hates me
He's the four-eyedest teacher that you ever did see
but Atlantic thought it might be better to rewrite it as a love song: better to have some teenagers lusting after their teacher than resenting him. The real Mr. Lee was a good sport, and bought a box of the 7"s to give out to pupils. His response to the follow-up "I shot Mr. Lee" is not recorded.
One - Two - Three (Hey!)
I shot Mr. Lee . (Uh oh!)
Three - Four - Five (Hey!)
I got tired of his jive. (Uh oh!)
Woh oh oh, he should've never (Uh oh!)
Woh oh oh, he should've never
Shot him in the head boom boom (Uh oh!)
Shot him in the head boom boom.
The Bobbettes did amazingly-well for African-Americans, especially since this was a time when a black man (Julius Dixon) and a white woman (Beverly Ross) can get away with writing a song together behind closed doors, but need to pull in a black stooge to play "Ruby" if their Ronald & Ruby act is going to avoid a lynchin'.
Shame to keep the real "Ruby" tucked away. She wrote "Judy's turn to cry", "Candy man" and "Stop laughing at me". Meanwhile, Dixon wrote for James Brown and Kitty Wells and died earlier this year.
My personal favourites are probably Dale and Grace.
The duo who crooned out "I'm leaving it up to you" split in 1964, whereupon Dale did what's known in the indutry as a "Sam and Dave" (although Grace hadn't shot anyone in the face, and Dale never sang with Lou Reed), and got himself a new Grace. From their official site:
This Dale and Grace also split in early 1990.
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