The Lively Ones - Night and Day (1962)

As mentioned in yesterday’s post, the band known as The Surfmen began to deteriorate around the departure of the band’s lead man, Ray Hunt. As subsequent members began to leave the band and get replaced by newer guys, it quickly became the case that the group’s drummer, Tim Fitzpatrick, was the last remaining original member of the band. Having no allegiance to the band’s “Surfmen” name, Fitzpatrick and his bandmates switched their group’s name to The Lively Ones. The group featured Tim Fitzpatrick on the drums, Jim Masoner on lead guitar, Ed Chiaverini on rhythm guitar, Ron Griffith on bass, and Joel Willenbring on drums. They signed with Del-Fi Records and hired a manager, Bob Keane (the famed manager and producer of Ritchie Valens). Although the group never reached much stardom, they most recently had a resurgence of interest when their 1963 song, “Surf Rider,” was used in Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 film, Pulp Fiction.

The song below is one of the many cover songs performed by The Lively Ones. Although they had a few original songs, it was songs such as the one heard below that the band was known for. Originally written and released in 1932 by Cole Porter, this song was introduced to the masses by Fred Astaire in his last Broadway performance, the musical play titled Gay Divorce from 1932. Porter claimed that the song was inspired by his trip to Morocco, where he heard Adhan, or, the Islamic call to worship. The song, which originally had lyrics to go along with it, was so popular and closely associated with Cole Porter that when a movie was made about his life in 1946, the film was titled Night and Day. Besides The Lively Ones surf instrumental cover, the song has been covered by Eartha Kitt, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Dionne Warwick, Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, U2, and many, many more.



The Lively Ones - Night and Day (1962)

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Lyrics:

(instrumental)