Bob Luman: "Let's Think About Living"

October 3, 1960 (3 weeks)

The subject of death seemed to preoccupy a lot of pop stars as the fifties gave way to the sixties. On the US Hot 100, three number one hits on the bounce — Marty Robbins' "El Paso" (which also happens to be mentioned in "Let's Think About Living"), Johnny Preston's "Running Bear" and Mark Dinning's "Teen Angel" — all included lyrics in which someone met with a tragic end of some sort. While it's tempting to dismiss the bulk of pre-1965 pop as throwaway pablum for the masses, some of it wasn't without a dark side.

There to throw a little lightness on is "Let's Think About Living" by a young gentleman by the name of Bob Luman. I felt the need to point out his relative youth (he was twenty-three at the time) because he had mature voice, the kind that made it seem like he was at least twice his age, which wasn't an uncommon characteristic among country singers of the time. Quite whether it was his youthfulness or his maturity (or a combination of both or neither) which prompted him to issue this warning to the the morbid is anyone's guess.

Then again, Luman didn't write it. Its composer was Boudleaux Bryant who was something of a giant among country and western songwriters and who, along with wife and frequent collaborator Felice, was responsible for many of the early hits of The Everly Brothers. Recent smash "Cathy's Clown", however, had been the work of Don Everly and it's significant that it was one of the songs name dropped in the lyrics. While the likes of "El Paso" have that grizzly end that "Let's Think About Living" feels concerned enough to deal with, "Cathy's Clown" has little more than the trivial "I die each time, I hear the sound..." which isn't the least bit deathly. Could Bryant have used it as an opportunity to take a dig at the group that had until very recently been his family's cash cow? It seems like it to me.

But maybe I'm taking it all too seriously. This isn't a PSA against suicide or anything that heavy. Really what we have here is a comedy song that makes light of pop's recent obsession with death. There may be a little more to it though. What if this is also an attempt to subvert the conventions of country music itself. While there has always been humour to be found in cowboy music, there's a reason so many people associate the genre with sheer misery. The final single Hank Williams released in his lifetime was "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive"; in the seventies, "In My Hour of Darkness" would be the final cut on Gram Parsons' posthumous album Grievous Angel. Death has had a far greater grasp on country music than it ever had on pop.

Finally, it's also worth considering how many in the music business had been dying at around this time. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper were killed in a plane crash at the start of 1959 and that tragedy was followed later in the year by the passing Billie Holiday and jazz saxophonist Lester Young. During the middle of 1960, the world of rock 'n' roll would be shaken again by the death of singer Eddie Cochran in an automobile accident in England. It's worth thinking about living when some don't have that privilege.

Towards the end of 1991 (incidentally right around the time that Queen's Freddie Mercury succumbed to AIDS) the Pet Shop Boys released a single called "Was It Worth It", which was also one of two new songs from their first greatest hits compilation Discography. It isn't one of their better moments but its B-side is something of a banger. "Miserablism" is one of their classic pieces of ironic pop, sung from the perspective of an individual like Morrissey who uses gloom to make it seem like he had far more "substance and depth" than your typical pop star. "Let's Think About Living" is a charming precursor to this and an effective riposte to the stuffy seriousness of a lot of fifties music. Both good fun and funny because sometimes those are all we require.

Score: 6