Bobby Vinton: "Please Love Me Forever"

December 2, 1967 (1 week)

I recently watched a YouTube video titled "50s Stars Who Tried to Adapt to the Psychedelic 60s". Clocking in at just under twenty-five minutes, it is seemingly a comprehensive overview of those poor souls who had been on top a decade earlier only to see their fortunes go down the drain with the rise of Beatlemania. Most of the individuals involved — Del Shannon, Bobby Darin, Bobby Vee — were met with critical acclaim with their varied takes on acid rock  and/or baroque pop but sales tended to be disappointing. The bulk of them ended up fading away still further into the cabaret circuit and/or further obscurity.

Respect to Bobby Vinton, then, for not changing one iota over the years. His drippy balladeering had provided him with untold wealth and fame and he wasn't about to give it all up by dawning a flowery shirt, growing out his hair and flashing a peach sign. You don't become the Polish Prince by pretending to court the Woodstock generation.

Respect? Sure. Lots of it in fact. But does it save "Please Love Me Forever" any? No, not at all. At best, it's possible that since the gap between his stream of number ones had begun to widen, that it was becoming more difficult to get sick of him but, again, this doesn't say anything either way about this particular single. As befitting a guy who refused to change with the times, it's just more of the same.

More of the same like "Blue Velvet" perhaps? No, I'm afraid not. While an improvement on the nadir of "L-O-N-E-L-Y", it is more in the mid-range of not quite insufferable but still fairly shit Vinton numbers like "Roses Are Red (My Love)" and "Mr. Lonely". Graded on a curve, it would do fairly respectably but held up against sixties' pop it does significantly less well. While as trite as ever, it is saved (a bit) by a stronger than normal vocal performance. Vinton could sometimes sound timid, as though his vulnerabilities might pull at the heartstrings of the fair sex, but here he has a more confident delivery. Less of a sickening plea and more a plea with a veiled threat ("If I should die before I wake / I'll come back for you / That's no mistake...").

"Please Love Me Forever" was Vinton's fifth Canadian number one, no mean feat considering some of the heavyweights (The Everly Brothers, The Rolling Stones) who had yet to notch a similar total. Will he be back for a sixth or even a seventh RPM chart topper? I have no idea and, frankly, I'd rather not know. Surprise me. But I do have one request: if you must keep 'em coming, Bobby, then just keep sticking to what you know. No one wants you going acid rock or country rock or (shudder) disco.

Score: 4