Song of the Day-The End of The World

I turned six years old the year the Beatles hit in America. Like millions of kids my age, the Beatles went off like a supernova, changing the music we listened to, the way we dressed, our views and politics, religion, truly an endless list. They dragged along in their wake many, many British groups and singers, of varying degrees of quality. Some were truly original and inspired, like The Rolling Stones. Some verged on the ludicrous like Freddie and the Dreamers. Most were talented young men and women who produced some fine singles, utilizing outside songwriters in many cases, while padding out LP releases with filler.

"The End of The World' was the B-side of "I'm Henry the VIII" which was the Number One record on the Billboard charts in the first week of August, 1965. I discovered the song on the second US Herman's Hermit's album "Herman's Hermits On Tour." It was a favorite of mine for quite some time. I was unaware of the fine, Skeeter Davis version that went Number 2 Pop, Number 2 country, Number 1 Adult Contemporary and even hit the top ten of the RnB charts! The song, written by Arthur Kent and Sylvia Dee was given it's definitive version by Skeeter who went on to hit the country charts a total of 55 times! Skeeter, who later married Joey Spampinato of the great NRBQ, passed away in 2004.

Vonda Shepard later revived it on an episode of Ally McBeal. But the definitive version is still Skeeter's. It is now a Pop and Country standard.