Neil Sedaka And How I Loved His Second Act

by Kevin Burton

   I love laughter, I love rain, and I love me some Neil Sedaka.

   So the news that Sedaka died Feb. 27 at age 86, stung.

   I never knew the man of course. Never got within 100 miles of him as far as I know. Yet he was a friend of sorts, the way our celebrity heroes come to be.

   You know, I don’t have a Sedaka Greatest Hits package. Turns out I don’t have a lot of Sedaka favorites. But the ones I do love are way up there high on my list of all-time favorites, like maybe top 100.

   I’ve written about Bad Blood on Page 7 before. I would hate to have to give a speech defending its musical merit, but I just love it. Hit me just right, at the right age as a pre-teen. That call and response with Elton John on it. Can’t explain why.

   You have songs like that, yes?

   I consider Laughter In The Rain, another Sedaka chart topper, to be his finest work. Here’s a bit from the Great Songs website on that song.

   “At its core, “Laughter in the Rain” is a tender ode to love, optimism, and the beauty of human connection. It’s a song that gently reminds us that even when life throws its inevitable storms our way, there can be moments of profound happiness and shared delight. “

   “The ‘rain’ in the title isn’t just literal; it symbolizes the challenges, the uncertainties, and the passing difficulties that we all encounter. Yet, the ‘laughter’ represents the resilience of the human spirit, the solace found in a loving relationship, and the ability to find light even when the skies are gray.”

   “It’s about that special someone who stands beside you, sharing in both the sunshine and the showers, making every experience, good or bad, a little brighter. For many of us, it evokes memories of youthful romances, shared glances, and the comforting presence of a loved one who made the world feel right, even when everything else seemed to be going wrong.”

   I had only viewed the song with the image of the young lovers, soaked to the skin, but warmed by their love for each other. Sedaka captured a moment many have shared and framed it in one of his best melodies. I consider it an American standard.

   But the broader symbolism in the song, as explained in the Great Songs piece is something I welcome, and something I need just now.

   Many of the Sedaka tributes have described him as a songwriting genius. He does seem to have cracked the pop music code.

   “There are various notes that go with various chords,” Sedaka told one interviewer, “and if the sentiment is right it gives you that in the groin, in the heart, you get those chills…can you understand that?”

   But there are surprisingly few Sedaka-on-songwriting type interviews on the Net, at least that I have found so far.

   I wasn’t around for the first wave of Sedaka’s career, so it’s hard for me to see him as some others do. When Toni Tennile sang “Sedaka’s back” at the end of “Love Will Keep Us Together,” I said“back from what?”

   Back from having been eclipsed by the British Invasion, I would later find out. Here’s what I missed of the early Sedaka:

   “A key member of the Brill Building songwriting factory, Sedaka teamed with lyricist and boyhood neighbor Howard Greenfield on songs that reflected the teen innocence of the post-Elvis, pre-Beatles era of the late 1950 and early 1960s, including “Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen,” “Calendar Girl” and “Oh! Carol,” a lament for his high school sweetheart, Carole King,” wrote Leanne Italie of the Associated Press.

   There is an undeniable excitement to his concert video available online. I found a clip of him in Edmonton doing “That’s When The Music Tales Me.” That version swings far beyond the album cut.

   I include this more obscure Sedaka tune because in the lyrics of that 1975 number 27 hit, we get a glimpse of Sedaka’s love for music that was so infectious:

  “When the bluebird sings her sad, sad song
And the wind brings a cold to tag along

Oh, yeah
I can feel the spirit move me
I can almost touch the sky
Reachin’ for a new tomorrow
I know it’s hard
But music makes me wanna try

   Sedaka was inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame in 1983. Elton John in his tribute to Sedaka said he deserves inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall.  I was amazed he wasn’t already in. And to that, I say the Rock Hall sucks, and doesn’t deserve Sedaka.