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http://www.app.com/story/enter...rite-songs/99837114/

 

Little Steven Van Zandt talks about 5 favorite songs

, @jeanmikle9:56 a.m. ET March 31, 2017
 

ASBURY PARK -- Life changed for Little Steven Van Zandt on the night of Feb. 9, 1964.

That's the date that four young lads from Liverpool -- The Beatles -- first appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show.

"It had a profound impact on me," Van Zandt said March 29, during an interview at the site of the former Upstage Club in Asbury Park. Filmmaker Tom Jones interviewed Middletown native Van Zandt for a documentary about the club which will debut later this month at the Asbury Music and Film Festival.

Van Zandt said he saw something appealing in the structure of the rock band.

"It was about friendship, family, brotherhood, and, ultimately, community," said Van Zandt, who has found that sense of community as the long-time guitarist with Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.

Little Steven Van Zandt [l), Southside Johnny Lyon,

Little Steven Van Zandt (l), Southside Johnny Lyon, and Garry Tallent at the Upstage Club in Asbury Park, 1970. (Photo: Billy Smith Collection, from the Tom Potter Archives)

 

Before The Beatles permanently changed his life, Van Zandt was intrigued by several singles that he heard on AM radio.

"It was just a few singles that caught your attention," he said.

Here are five he mentioned:

1. Palisades Park, Freddy Cannon. This ode to a now-vanished New Jersey amusement park was written by the late Chuck Barris, who's better known for creating The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game, and hosting The Gong Show.

Barris had written a song about an amusement park, and supposedly came up with the title while staring across from his Manhattan home to the amusement park, which was perched on the New Jersey Palisades, across the Hudson River. The upbeat pop song features a famous organ riff and amusement park sound effects. It peaked at Number 3 on the Billboard singles chart in 1962.

 

2. Duke of Earl, Gene Chandler. Written by Chandler, Bernice Williams and Earl Edwards, it hit Number 1 early in 1962,  Duke of Earl has been selected by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 500 songs that shaped rock n'roll. It's been covered, or sampled, by everyone from Sha Na Na and New Edition to Cypress Hill and Little Feat.

 

3. Bristol Stomp, The Dovells. A 1961 hit song written by Kal Mann and Dave Appell, two executives at the Cameo-Parkway record label. The song is about kids in Bristol, Pa., a blue-collar suburb of Philadelphia, who were doing a dance called "The Stomp." The song, recorded by Philadelphia-based group, The Dovells, went to Number 2 in 1961 and sold more than 1 million copies.

Little Steven later toured with The Dovells in the early 1970s, playing guitar with the group.

 

4. Pretty Little Angel Eyes, Curtis Lee. This 1961 doo wop hit written by Lee and Tommy Boyce was produced by the legendary (and now incarcerated) Phil Spector. It made it to Number 7 on the Billboard chart.

 

5. Sherry, The Four Seasons. Recorded in 1962, this song became the first of many Number 1 hits for New Jersey's Four Seasons. It was written by Bob Gaudio, the Four Seasons' keyboard player.

The song helped make the band -- and lead singer Frankie Valli -- famous. The Four Seasons were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

APMFF

“Just Before the Dawn,” Q&A and Upstage all-star jam

7:30 p.m. , Friday, April 21

Asbury Park Music and Film Festival 

$25 to $145

APMFF.com

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