That’s Why She Fell for the Leader of the Pack: the Myth of Individuality in a Teen Coffin Song Image 1: The Melody Haunts My Reverie (1965) by Roy Lichtenstein Luan Lawrenson-Woods Cultural Studies BA (Hons) Wirral Metropolitan College April 2012 That’s Why She Fell for the Leader of the Pack Sometimes I wonder why I spend The lonely night dreaming of a song The melody haunts my reverie And I am once again with you When our love was new And each kiss an inspiration But that was long ago Now my consolation Is in the stardust of a song (‘Stardust’ lyrics; see Appendix 1) None of this is silly – there’s good reason why, even on our deathbeds, we’ll know the words to ‘Leader of the Pack’. (Douglas, 1995: 83) Luan Lawrenson-Woods (2012) 2 That’s Why She Fell for the Leader of the Pack Abstract Barthes proposes that as a metalanguage myth communicates the ideologies of the dominant power and naturalises them through the mass media and popular culture. This dissertation examines ‘Leader of the Pack’ by the Shangri-Las as a text within the framework of Barthes’ theory of myth to propose that as a teenage romance death song, ‘Leader of the Pack’ is motivated by the concept of ‘romancism’. For the purposes of this dissertation, the neologism ‘romancism’ has been introduced to encapsulate the ideal of romantic love as “an episodic, usually short-lived, and often scorching vivid turbulence in our emotional histories ... one of life’s profoundest experiences” (Grayling, 2002: 63) as a philosophy which, it is proposed, has become embedded within narratives in Western culture. It is proposed that ‘Leader of the Pack’ naturalises the myth that individuality is achieved through the experience of ‘romancism', and therefore may be seen as an example of “the mystification which transforms petit-bourgeois culture into a universal nature” (Barthes, 1993: 9). Jimmy had to die for Betty to achieve individuality: that’s why she fell for the leader of the pack. Luan Lawrenson-Woods (2012) 3 That’s Why She Fell for the Leader of the Pack Acknowledgements This dissertation has been completed with the love and support of my family and friends, whose genuine interest and enthusiasm for my studies has helped me to keep going whenever I was ‘flagging’. A huge “thank-you” to my tutor Glen McIver for making culture studies ‘real’ and relevant to the everyday; giving me the space to explore and make mistakes; and being so patient, positive and encouraging. I’m looking forward to reading his PhD thesis! To Vinny I owe more thanks than could possibly be expressed here; without his encouragement it is unlikely that I would have ever started out on this journey. But none of this would have been possible without Joyce, and it is to her that I owe my biggest debt of gratitude. Luan Lawrenson-Woods (2012) 4 That’s Why She Fell for the Leader of the Pack Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... 4 Images and tables ...................................................................................................... 6 Introduction: Cupid he rules us all .............................................................................. 7 Chapter 1: Is she really going out with him? ............................................................. 13 Chapter 2: I met him at the candy store ................................................................... 19 Chapter 3: One day my dad said “Find someone new” ............................................ 29 Chapter 4: I felt so helpless, what could I do? .......................................................... 38 Conclusion: That’s why she fell for the leader of the pack ........................................ 49 Bibliography ............................................................................................................. 54 Appendices .............................................................................................................. 70 Appendix 1: ‘Stardust’ lyrics .................................................................................. 70 Appendix 2: ‘What is a Youth?’ lyrics .................................................................... 71 Appendix 3: ‘Leader of the Pack’ lyrics ................................................................. 72 Appendix 4: CD listing ........................................................................................... 74 Appendix 5: DVD content ...................................................................................... 75 Luan Lawrenson-Woods (2012) 5 That’s Why She Fell for the Leader of the Pack Images and tables Image 1: The Melody Haunts My Reverie (1965) by Roy Lichtenstein ....................... 1 Image 2: 'Remember (Walking in the Sand)' cover .................................................. 21 Image 3: 'Leader of the Pack' single cover ............................................................... 22 Image 4: Shangri-Las wearing catsuit outfits ............................................................ 25 Image 5: Pajama Party (1964) poster....................................................................... 34 Image 6: 'He's a Rebel' (1962) single cover ............................................................. 35 Image 7: Early PR shot (not used following the success of 'Leader of the Pack') .... 45 Image 8: Leader of the Pack album cover ................................................................ 46 Table 1: Diagrammatical representation of the myth of 'Leader of the Pack' ............ 16 Luan Lawrenson-Woods (2012) 6 That’s Why She Fell for the Leader of the Pack Introduction: Cupid he rules us all Caper the caper, sing me the song Death will come soon to hush us along Sweeter than honey and bitter as gall Love is a pastime that never will pall Sweeter than honey and bitter as gall Cupid he rules us all ‘What is a Youth?’ from Romeo and Juliet (Zeffirelli, 1968) To love a thing means wanting it to live. (Confucius in Grayling, 2002: 63) Luan Lawrenson-Woods (2012) 7 That’s Why She Fell for the Leader of the Pack As teenagers my best friend and I were preoccupied with romantic tragedy. Following our introduction to the tale of woe of Juliet and her Romeo at school, we watched Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 film version repeatedly, fast-forwarding to the scene where the young lovers first meet to the strains of the troubadour’s song of the tragedy of adolescent love (Zeffirelli, 1968). ‘What is a Youth?’ (see Appendix 2 for lyrics), Nino Rota’s soundtrack to Zeffirelli’s film, was the theme tune to ‘Our Tune’, a Radio One show where listeners shared their often tragic stories of lost love (Aitkenhead, 1995, BFI, n.d.; McRobbie, 2000); this was another of our sentimental fascinations which were not limited to Shakespearean tragedy: we recited Scarlett O’Hara from Gone With the Wind, obsessed over Charlene and Scott’s romance in Neighbours and lulled ourselves to sleep listening to ‘sad songs’ whenever we stayed over at each other’s houses. Unsurprisingly I grew up with the impression that if one was to be in love - really, truly, properly, ‘all-consumingly’ - then things really should not run smoothly. My parents seemed to personify the forbidden love of Romeo and Juliet as they too had married against the wishes of their families. They validated their love for each other as ‘true’ because of “everything they’d been through to be together”, and nostalgically relived their courtship by listening to the songs of their youth, many of which were narrative ballads. Growing up I learnt the stories of those who had overcome adversity ‘against all odds’ in the name of love, and those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for love: death. ‘Leader of the Pack’ by the Shangri-Las (1964) was one of the most memorable of these songs, and is an example of the “teenager coffin songs – narrative ballads performed in a pseudo-operatic style of crooning” (Denisoff, 1983: 116) that peaked in popularity in the early 60s and which ended Luan Lawrenson-Woods (2012) 8 That’s Why She Fell for the Leader of the Pack “with the death of one or both teenage lovers” (Plopper and Ness, 1993: 793). The song has been parodied since its release – ‘Leader of the Laundromat’ by The Detergents (1965), ‘A Leader Like Barack’ by Capitol Steps (2008) – and covered by artists as diverse as Twisted Sister and Alvin and the Chipmunks (Unterberger, n.d.; CapitolSteps, 2008; Discogs, n.d.; Amazon, n.d.), yet has become ingrained in Western popular culture and is now established as an anthemic paean to female autonomy, independence and rebellion. In their 1993 study, Plopper and Ness find that songs about death comprised “a disproportionately popular subset of Top 40 music” (1993: 793) between 1955 and 1991, and propose that rock and roll music is “an important influential communication source [that provides] adolescents with messages about death in our society” (1993: 793). It is interesting, however, to rephrase their proposition to consider what message a teenage coffin song communicates to young people about teenage romance in society using ‘Leader of the Pack’ as a sample text (see Appendix 3 for lyrics). By incorporating aspects of musicology and cultural theory to examine what ‘Leader of the Pack’ signified to teen audiences at the time of its release, this dissertation aims to address the limitations often levied at the singular application