2007 MAY 21 #141
Edd "Kookie" Byrnes and The Mary Kaye Trio with Joanie Sommers - Kookie's Love Song + Sing along with Kookie!
MP3:
Kookie's Love Song (While Dancing) (2:18)
Kookie's Love Song (While Dancing) - Do It Yourself Sing With Edd Byrnes ("Kookie") (2:17)
Edd "Kookie" Byrnes was the pre-Fonz epitome of "cool" in the late 50's and early 60's. As the star of the popular television series "77 Sunset Strip", Kookie became a celebrity overnight. The series released an excellent (really!) chart topping Kookie album (which spawned the hit "Kookie, Kookie, Lend me your Comb", sung with Connie Stevens), Kookie comic books, Kookie dolls and of course, Kookie combs. Inevitably, the frustration of seeing other people but him make money with a multimillion dollar Kookie marketing campaign eventually led Byrnes to quit the show.
I wasn't born in those days and can't say I've ever watched the series (hello DVD release?!) and yet Kookie remains one of my favorite pop culture characters! I thought I was pretty well versed in all things "Kookie" until I came across this little gem of a single! This single features Kookie talking to a young doll (Joanie Sommers) while they pound the ground, with the B-Side sing-along for the dolls at home who want some "alone time" with Kookie!
I don't know about you but I've always dreamed of one day being able to ask Kookie if I really was ginchy. "That's for squares, baby. You're the skizziest!"
Like, wowsville, Romeo!
(I must embarrassingly admit I was mildly disillusioned when Byrnes wrote in his 1994 autobiography "Kookie No More" that he didn't really understand the "Kookie" lingo, since it was written for him by the series' writers and he would get "clouds in his noggin'" when fans and even fellow actors asked him to say something "Kookie".)
- Contributed by: Mimi la Twisteuse
Images: Side A, Side B, Cover
Media: 45
Label: Warner Bros.
Catalog: 5114
Date: 1959
