Travelin' Man

May–June 1961

As you may have noticed, one thing men love to do (in each other's company, at least) is brag about sleeping with women. It's a perennial topic of discussion at the bar, the ball game, or the Sunday poker session. So it's only natural that songs have been written on the subject – a famous example from this era is Dion's "The Wanderer." Ricky Nelson's "Travelin' Man" takes that sentiment one step further by combining it with the classic blues archetype of being on the run, never settling down. Together, it's sort of the ultimate exaggeration of the masculine ideal (certainly, you don't hear many songs by women about this kind of lifestyle).

The Grooveshark widget creator seems to be broken at the moment, so you can listen to the songs on the site here.

In the short three years between "Poor Little Fool" and this song, Nelson remained extremely popular, producing 12 more top 40 hits, half of which were top 10. Most memorable among these are the heartbreak ballad "Lonesome Town," the campy "It's Late," and the upbeat, Elvis-esque "Just a Little Too Much." Soon after, though, he seems to get stuck in a creative rut before petering out in about 1963. His three most prominent hits of '62 – "Young World," "Teen Age Idol," and "It's Up to You" – are all based on the exact same beat as "Travelin' Man." Go ahead, sample the first couple bars of all 4 songs in succession, and you'll see what I mean. It's like he just stopped trying. 1963 only saw one major hit, the decent "For You," and then he pretty much faded away.

A funny thing happened, though. After Nelson had been out of the popular sphere for a few years, he sort of reinvented himself playing country-rock with the Stone Canyon Band. He would never again achieve his earlier level of success, but arguably his later sound was much more mature and it certainly sounds a lot less dated to modern ears. Of particular interest (for me, at least) are a couple of Bob Dylan covers recorded during this period, here and here. I must say, I quite like these versions, especially the latter.

I like the fact that he stopped being so popular (except for one fluke top 10 hit in 1972, "Garden Party," which apparently tells the story of a time he was booed off stage at Madison Square Garden), and yet he continued to mature as a musician. It's like he has a secret canon hidden beneath the surface.

He died an untimely death in a 1985 plane crash, at the age of 45.

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Poor Little Fool

August 1958

What better singer to kick off this project than dreamy, dreamy Ricky Nelson? Here, take a moment to bask in the deep, blue oceans that are his eyes:

Talk about a sign of the times. It's hard to imagine a chart-topping song in this day and age (or even ten years later) where a male singer refers to himself diminutively as "little." The words of "Poor Little Fool" tell a simple story - once upon a time, this guy used to go around breakin' young girls' hearts. Then a girl came along that broke HIS heart, and now, boy howdy, he's learned his lesson! It's totally clean-cut and wholesome, and it's very 1950s.

And for all its corniness, isn't it just a nice little song? I mean, it's not blowing my mind, but it's tuneful, it's got a pretty strong hook in the chorus, and it's well performed by our non-threatening charmer Ricky. After having the 2009 charts topped for a stunning 26 consecutive weeks by the *sigh* Black Eyed Peas, it's pretty refreshing to go back to a time when someone could hit #1 by, you know, actually having a good singing voice. Nelson would have another #1 a few years later, so we're not through with him just yet.

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