Jay and the Americans: "Come a Little Bit Closer"

November 30, 1964 (1 week)

We have yet to reach any of the major examples (but one is just about on deck, I promise!) but there are acts who never had number ones in either the US or UK who managed to have at least one chart topper in Canada. A handful are even in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But New York's Jay and the Americans have them all beat. While ten Top 40 hits down in the States is more than respectable, such results pale next to what they managed to accomplish up north: no less than four number ones.

Four?!? Mother of god, how I am ever going to write a quartet of reviews of this band I've barely heard of and who, quite frankly, don't seem to have much of a story that's worth telling. They don't appear to have the personalities and dysfunction of The Beach Boys, nor the presence of a distinctive leader with a powerful voice the way Frankie Valli led The Four Seasons. Whatsmore, they lacked talented songwriters in their ranks and thus had to rely on outside sources for material. None of these are prerequisites for a successful career in pop but they sure make it easier to come up with some crap to write about.

Oh, I know! How about the fact that Jay and the Americans were a quartet or quintet from New York who sound vaguely like Latinos from southern California? "Come a Little Bit Closer" has a chorus that is not unlike "La Bamba" and there's a laid back, mariachi vibe to throughout. I don't wish to accuse them of cultural appropriation or anything, I'm just curious about why they came to sound this way. (Listening to some of their earlier stuff might have helped, you know)

Or how about the fun fact that there was more than one 'Jay' in Jay and the Americans? In fact, there have been three Jays during the group's sixty plus years of activity? First, there was Jay Traynor who was their lead vocalist on their first American hit "She Cried" before he abruptly quit. He was replaced by Jay Black who was on all their Canadian number ones and remained with them for the next forty-four years. Then came Jay Reincke who has been with them ever since. I wonder if when they're auditioning new members they place adds that read something like...Singer needed for the revival circuit. Affinity for V-neck sweaters preferable. Must answer to the name Jay. (That said, I think it's much more impressive that there was more than one 'Martha' in Martha and the Muffins at the same time)

Or I can ponder what it was about this perfectly competent but ultimately pretty unremarkable vocal group that made them catch on in Canada? My gut feeling is that it's down to The Four Seasons and the desire on the part of Canadians for more of that shit but this might be the kind of thing for reviews of future Jay and the Americans' number ones. So, I'll leave it at that. Think of this one as a preface to what ought to amount to a modest pamphlet on the Jay and the Americans story in Canada. I think I'll call it Canada Mia: How a Jay and the Americans Did Quite Well for Themselves Up North. (I might workshop the title a little more)

Score: 6