Mark Dinning - "Teen Angel"
Hit Number 1: February 8, 1960
Stay at Number 1: 2 Weeks
In a very sad development, we are now on our third consecutive song where someone dies tragically. First there was "El Paso" where an outlaw was gunned down by the police, for returning to the town where he was wanted for murder, cause he couldn't stay away from a girl there that he was in love with. Then there was "Running Bear" where two Indians who loved each other swam into the middle of a river to meet each other, before getting swept under and drowned. Now, here's "Teen Angel", which is definitely the saddest of the three, but it's also the most ridiculous.
Mark Dinning was raised on a farm near Nashville, and was the youngest of nine children. He had three sisters who formed a popular music trio in the 1940s called "The Dinning Sisters", and he decided he wanted to follow in their footsteps. A record producer by the name of Wesley Rose signed Dinning to a recording contract in 1957, but Dinning struggled right off the bat to get any real hits. Finally in 1959, his sister Jean (who was one of the aforementioned "Dinning Sisters") and her husband Red Surray wrote "Teen Angel" for Dinning, and that was the song that got Dinning on the board.
The song continued to climb the charts, despite radio stations being reluctant to play it because of how tragic the song was, and it finally hit #1 in February of 1960. The song tells the story of a guy and his girlfriend who decide to go out for a drive one night. Their car gets stalled on railroad tracks, but the two are able to get out safely before an oncoming train comes and plows through the car. However, the girl rushes back into the car, and is hit by the train and dies. As it turns out, she ran back to the car to retrieve the dude's high school ring. Yep, she was willing to get hit by a train because of a ring. It's one of the most absurd stories I've ever heard.
Despite the ridiculous story, the song does do a pretty good job on turning it into a tear-jerking sort of song. It's very depressing sounding, and Dinning sounds like he's on the verge of tears just singing the song. He does a tremendous job on selling it. But that damn story, man. I can't shake the feeling that this song was written just for the sake of killing someone, and trying to make those in late 1959 and early 1960 want to crawl into their bed and cry all night long. Dinning did all he could do on the song, and he did it well, but the story of the song keeps me from getting much out of it .
GRADE: 3/10
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