Swings ... Sways ... Whatever: A 50s Memory

Who knows what propels back into consciousness a long-ago memory? Today, reading a book about morality, I found myself thinking about the 1950s song "What Is Love?" performed by The Playmates--no, not those Playmates, the ones created by the late Hugh Hefner.

The Playmates, a popular singing group in the late 1950s and early 1960s, were a trio:Donny Conn, Chic Hetti, Morey Carr--all stage names. Among their (few) hits was "What Is Love?" in July 1959. When that song came out, I had just completed ninth grade--a fairly rough year for me at Hiram High School. I'd decided (well, my parents had decided) that I would take the "college-prep" courses my freshman year. They were not all that remarkable: Latin I (B for the year), Algebra I (B+). As I look at my transcript now, I see that all my course averages my freshman year were varieties of B--even phys ed (why?). Part of the problem was that I was finding it harder and harder to ... concentrate ... on school work. Other concerns had entered my mind.

The next fall, our sock hops and dances often featured "What Is Love?" on the playlist. The lyrics--see below--were bouncy and simple and bright and a bit sexist. (Here's an audio link to the song.)

Sways with a wiggle, with a wiggle when she walks
Sways with a wiggle when she walks
Sways with a wiggle, with a wiggle when she walks
Sways with a wiggle when she walks

What is love? Five feet of heaven in a ponytail
The cutest ponytail that sways with a wiggle when she walks
What is love? Five feet of heaven and the bluest eyes
And what a pretty smile that shows you a dimple when she talks

What is love but a little angel who's makin' me lose my sleep?
And she's always makin' promises that she says she'll keep

What is love? Five feet of heaven in a ponytail
The cutest ponytail that sways with a wiggle when she walks

Shows you a dimple, yes a dimple when she talks
Shows you a dimple when she talks
Shows you a dimple, yes a dimple when she talks
Shows you a dimple when she talks

What is love but a little angel who's making me lose my sleep?
And she's always breakin' promises that she says she'll keep.

What is love? Five feet of heaven in a ponytail
The cutest ponytail that sways with a wiggle when she walks
The cutest ponytail that sways with a wiggle when she walks

Sways with a wiggle, with a wiggle when she walks
Sways with a wiggle when she walks

Fade
Sways with a wiggle, with a wiggle when she walks
Sways with a wiggle when she walks

By the way, I would have bet the house that it was swings with a wiggle, not sways with a wiggle. Oh well. Dotage, you know?

I liked ponytails. Lots of girls had worn them--or close versions of them--throughout my boyhood. So as my perception of the Opposite Sex altered from They're annoying! to Yikes! I began to ... notice things about the girls in my school, things that I'd not really paid much attention to before ... The Change. Things like what was swaying with a wiggle when they walked.

Anyway, I was thinking this morning that The Playmates' answer to "What Is Love?" is kind of primitive, kind of ninth-gradey, really. Yes, ponytails and dimples are nice--but far nicer are empathy, forgiveness, understanding, commitment--words that don't really offer lots of easy rhymes for pop-song lyricists.