Saturday Night Attitude Dancing to West Texas Rock and Roll at the 2024 Birthday of the Legendary Bobby Fuller
by Robert Wilkinson
Today we start early and dance late celebrating the tragic life and death of the blazing star from El Paso, Bobby Fuller. He picked up the lineage that Buddy Holly created, and kept the torch of great west Texas rock and roll alight at its best. If you like Buddy Holly’s music, then you’ll love Bobby Fuller!
In the mid-1960s, the Bobby Fuller 4 were one of the most exciting bands to blaze out of West Texas since Buddy Holly and the Crickets. They were on a rocket ship to fame when Bobby Fuller (October 22, 1942 – July 18, 1966) was mysteriously murdered in a gruesome way. The killer(s) were never found, making it one of the murkiest murder mysteries ever to come down in the annals of rock and roll.
It is said that several movies have cribbed some elements of Bobby's murder as part of the plot of a murdered rock and roll star. He only did two studio albums, but they contained some really great tunes. So today we celebrate his awesome talent. You'll see why he was one of the best!
In 1965, when the Beatles were at their peak (and still doing covers of American rock and roll, including "Words of Love" by Buddy Holly), Bobby Fuller is quoted as saying "What we play is Texas Rock & Roll...And it's nothing new. It's the same thing the Beatles have been trying to play but can't...They come close but they're not from West Texas."
This is probably my favorite musical style. I literally wrote about a hundred songs in the same vein when I lived in Austin. Once that “Texas Rock and Roll” gets in your blood it’s an excitement that gets your heart and feet moving! For your enjoyment, the Bobby Fuller Four!
First, his HUGE Top Ten hit written by the great Sonny Curtis of the Crickets! From Hullabaloo in March 1966, a lip-synched video performance of the Bobby Fuller 4 doing "I Fought The Law."
From the same episode of Hullabaloo, here’s a great performance of his second giant hit, one of my favorite Buddy Holly tunes that was regularly in my performance set list 41 years ago, “You Know Love's Made A Fool Of You." (People seem to love this song, and always hit the dance floor!)
In a fitting turn, I found a live performance from November 2011 by his brother Randy Fuller of “You Know Love's Made A Fool Of You.”
From Shivaree in August 1965, the Bobby Fuller Four doing a couple of great ones! These two are among my favorites that Bobby wrote and performed, so check them out. Even though they're lip synched, it's definitely worth the price of admission! And the dancers are a hoot, each turning at exactly the right time. Very mid-60s a-go-go! "Let Her Dance" and "Another Sad and Lonely Night."
A great live performance by the band of the very hypnotic “Never To Be Forgotten”
He’s a bizarre find! Bobby and the band mugging in a weird clip for a little over a minute in the last AIP beach party film, The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini. From 1966, the BFF “performing” “Swing A-Ma Thing"
As he wasn’t around long, that’s all the performance video I could find. But there are a whole lot of early recordings and recordings that never made it to vinyl, so kick back and enjoy these audio only tracks of a truly magnificent talent writing West Texas Music!
From El Paso Rock Vol 1, Bobby doing the original version of "Keep On Dancin'" which later became "Let Her Dance." (This is an entirely different tune than the 1965 hit with the same name by the garage rock one hit wonders, the Gentrys!)
From the album, El Paso Rock Vol 2, set to stills, Bobby live doing Buddy's legendary "Peggy Sue" and "Pamela." From the same album, "You're So Square" and his fourth single from 1963 that began his hits, "Saturday Night." Here's a strange slow number called "My Own True Love," and this one, very derivative but of the era, "I Can’t Live Without Your Love."
We'll close this album with a performance of the great "It's Love, Come What May"
The album version of the early recording "Only For You." (This one has the guitar riff from "Hushabye" put to a generic late 50s chord progression, but those were the times....)
Another early one! Enjoy the rockabilly beat of a song written by Roy Orbison and Conway Twitty, "Rock House." (The melody bears more than a little resemblance to "Little Sister," but in that era a lot of songs sounded like others.)
Bobby’s curiously upbeat version of the classic “Greensleeves."
Here’s his very first record, recorded in 1961 and released in early 1962. Very Buddy Holly influenced, since it sounds like the same progression as “Learning the Game!” ”You’re in Love” And here’s the “B” side, the very derivative "Guess We'll Fall in Love." (The middle 8 is more interesting than the almost nonexistent melody.)
From 1962, his second single, a crooner typical of the era, complete with tinkling piano a la Floyd Cramer and a chorus behind Bobby crooning the 1960 standard “Gently My Love.” Here’s the “B” side, taken from Norman Petty’s vaults, “My Heart Jumped."
His third single was the very strange "Nervous Breakdown," backed by the Bobby Fuller version of Buddy's "Not Fade Away."
From his early "surf guitar" era when he was playing in the "Dick Dale" style, here's “The Chase," along with their version of two standards that just about every surf band played, “Miserlou” and “California Sun.”
Here's the studio version of "Pamela." (Yes, it sounds a lot like a Buddy Holly song, but what did you expect from the man who was determined to keep Buddy's style alive?)
From the great "lost" album Celebrity Night At PJ's, here's their live performance set to still photos of Buddy's "Think It Over" which we'll follow with another from that gig, written by Sonny West and made huge by Buddy, "Oh Boy." Here's their live version of an archetypal West Texas sound, "Let Her Dance," which we'll follow with their rock and roll medley, "My Babe," "Keep A Knockin'," and "Long Tall Sally" We groove into his version of Chuck's classic "Brown Eyed Handsome Man," and close this fab set with Bobby's take on one of my favorite John Lennon songs, "Any Time At All.” (Showing that Bobby's remark about the Beatles didn't extend to their songwriting, since he does the Beatles version note for note!)
From the album Shakedown, The Texas Tapes Revisited, "Pledge Of Love."
From 1966, "Don't Ever Let Me Know."
Here's a driving proto-psychedelic rock and roll song! "The Magic Touch" (No, this is definitely NOT the Platters' hit! This was written by an elusive figure named Ted Daryll.)
The album version set to stills of "Do You Wanna Dance?"
The studio version of "She's My Girl."
The somewhat raucous "Surf music meets pre-psychedelia" sound of "Baby My Heart."
The mid-60s production sound of drenched reverb and delay (echo) in "Don't Ever Let Me Know."
The first album finally surfaced! It was a regional release in November 1965 titled KLRA King of the Wheels and was an LA “car album” with some of the songs that made it to the classic second album I Fought the Law. For your enjoyment, KLLRA King of the Wheels – The Bobby Fuller Four (“Never To Be Forgotten,” “Another Sad and Lonely Night,” “She’s My Girl,” “Take My Word,” “Fool of Love,” “Let Her Dance,” “King of the Wheels,” “The Lonely Dragster,” “Little Annie Lou,” “The Phantom Dragster,” “Saturday Night,” and “KRLA Top Eliminator.” The car tunes sound very derivative, like the car and surf music at the time.)
Here’s the second album from February 1966 in all its glorious West Texas intensity, with chiming guitars, driving back beats, and swinging hard! This group of songs was my first exposure to the group back in 1966, and it’s an amazing set list that blew the doors down for the group nationally. From the first song, it makes you want to dance!! I Fought the Law
Because that second album appears and disappears across time, last year I recreated the track list from the second album in order. While not all of these are the original studio versions from that album, like the album, the tracks appear and disappear at random.
This honestly could have been written by Buddy! The awesome “Only When I Dream” (Bobby co-wrote this and a bunch of other songs with the equally mysterious “Mary Stone Huffman.” There’s very little out there on some of his co-writers.)
“Another Sad and Lonely Night”
Since it's one of my favorites, here's a version by Walter Clevenger & The Dairy Kings of Bobby's composition "Only When I Dream."
Here's the original 1959 studio version by Sonny Curtis and the original Crickets set to a great crime video! “I Fought The Law."
This sounds like a demo by Sonny that wasn’t fully produced. “I Fought the Law”
Here’s Sonny live and acoustic in either 2010 or 2011 performing “I Fought The Law”
For our closing number, here’s where Green Day openly pays homage to Bobby! This is one electrifying live performance of “I Fought the Law”
Here’s an interesting short about the life of Bobby Fuller. Check it out!!
Bobby Fuller – Rock n’ Roll King of the Southwest
This is a gold mine! It's the second of a 3 part series in the El Paso Times about Bobby. This has interviews with EVERYONE, band mates, family, and friends, making it clear he was murdered by the mob. The El Paso Times Investigates the Death of Bobby Fuller
We have two raw interviews with members of the original BFF! The first is from Jim Reece, the lead guitar player who along with Bobby, was insured for a LOT of money and had to cancel the policy and split LA right after Bobby's murder! This gives a sense of the band dynamics and how the mob was involved. Gary James' Interview With Guitarist Jim Reece Of The Bobby Fuller Four
Here’s the in your face interview with DeWayne Quirico, Bobby’s original drummer. This provides a lot of backstory to the Bobby Fuller Four. Gary James' Interview With Drummer DeWayne Quirico Of The Bobby Fuller Four
Two years ago I closed this birthday tribute with an interesting Mysteries & Scandals television show titled "The Strange and Senseless Death of Bobby Fuller” that explores the mystery of his death. It disappeared last year, and this year it’s still nowhere to be found. However, I did find this 20 minute short called Bobby Fuller Mysterious Death.
This year two more documentaries have surfaced which disappeared in past years. First, narrated by the legendary Robert Stack of Untouchables fame, we have Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack – Bobby Fuller (Season 9 Episode 3, first story of 3)
And here’s a one hour documentary of the whole bio! The Mysterious Death of Bobby Fuller - Trace Evidence #87
Bobby, thanks for carrying on the West Texas musical tradition and giving us such great music in your short life. I also followed in Buddy's and your footsteps a long long time ago writing music you would have loved had you lived. Sorry you ran afoul of a jealous, short-sighted ruthless mobster. LA can be dangerous that way. You were one of the best and died way too young. RIP.
© Copyright 2024 Robert Wilkinson
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