Making an Angel of Neil Sedaka's Seducing little Devil

first story around a song



Neil Sedaka seems to have been an ever smiling, elegant clown. He contributed to the early rock'n'roll arena with sweet compositions as well as own singin'. To me his music feels more like a slick, grown-up magician's work than a kind, boyish dreamer's prayers. The songs may be happy as a puppy or sad as losing that puppy, but Sedaka is shining of some spiritual craftmanship, overshadowing the need for expressing straight emotions, though still expressing them without a doubt.

"(Hey) Little Devil" (1961) is the song I've chosen. It's as yeah-yeah-yeah-ish as "She Loves You" soon became, but rather pretty and jumpy, like the do-woop they did before the guitar bands had filled the world. Anyway, the girl is called a little DEVIL, and the young man is prepared to make an ANGEL out of her, like taming the wild creature who's always running around. Well, in another song it is himself who's the luckiest devil in town, living next door to an angel...

During same years Elvis sang of the Devil in Disguise and Paul Anka about the two in Eden. Maybe the biblical themes were extra useful in order to build a concept of the real teenager, evolving strongly by those years on the border to the 60's. There were much forbidden love becoming possible. Some songs portray "Destiny" as strong as "free lustfulness".

Paul Anka's adolescent voice and symphonical pop is the closest to Neil Sedaka I know. Many pearls feels like the masters have tried to make chewing gum out of opera (and succeeded). It sounds uncompromisingly sweet but also feels a bit dangerous, almost in an italian sense, more thrilling than ordinary old teenage music. Neither Presley nor Orbison possess the same sting, even though their way of singing could have reached closer to an opera stage.

In this "Little Devil", as in many real schlagers, the underlying strings are playing not only beautiful but dramatic (compared to disco and later pop where the classic drama has disappeared into a nice but neutral wall-paper). Drums and bells are marking clear breaks.

Also the wide awake choir makes interesting comments, like the choirs did in the late 50's. The sax comes with rapid riffs, sounds funny. For my taste it could as well had been a basoon or tuba, in these times when woodwinds or brass still wasn't something you only found on occasional tracks.

It surprised me the first time I saw it printed on the disc - that this Sedaka was one of the composers to ABBA's first hit, "Ring, Ring". However now I realise the truth in that, though still haven't heard his later works. Sedaka could surely have made golden Motown music too, if he would have wanted.

Only one Sedaka song I get more aroused by listening to now. And that is "I Go Ape", where he's swinging himself tougher than in any other song, glaring back to Little Richard or forward on Lennon. With some irony he has garnished this piece of rock'n'roll with a romantic moonlight prelude.










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