James Darren – "Goodbye Cruel World" (1961)

I’m off to join the circus

Mr. Barnum, save a place for me

The late Gloria Shayne Baker was born Gloria Shain in 1923, in Brookline, Massachusetts.  She grew up next door to Joseph and Rose Kennedy and their children.  (She was a few years younger than John Kennedy and a little older than Robert Kennedy.)

Gloria got a degree in music from Boston University and then moved to New York City, where she changed the spelling of her last name to Shayne.  In 1951, she met Noël Regney, a French-born musician whose birth name was Léon Schlienger.  They were married the following year.

Sheet music for “Do You
 Hear What I Hear?”

The couple wrote songs that were recorded by Bobby Vinton, Perry Como, Jo Stafford, and other artists.  Shayne usually wrote the lyrics, while Regney composed the music.  But they switched roles on the Christmas song, “Do You Hear What I Hear?” – a plea for peace that was inspired by the Cuban missile crisis.  

Shayne wrote a number of songs without Regney’s help, including today’s featured song, which was a #3 hit for James Darren in 1961.

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James Darren was born James William Ercolani in Philadelphia in 1936.  

Shortly after his 20th birthday, he signed a long-term movie deal with Columbia Pictures, which gave him the role of “Moondoggie” in the 1959 teen surf film, Gidget.

“Gidget” starred James Darren,
Sandra Dee, and Cliff Robertson

The producers planned to have Darren lip sync the movie’s theme song for the soundtrack, but he told them that he could do it.  The kids loved the theme song as much as they loved the movie, and Darren ended up recording a number of pop singles.

“Goodbye Cruel World,” which made it all the way to #3 on the Billboard “Hot 100” in 1961, was hit biggest hit.

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Click here to listen to James Darren’s recording of “Goodbye Cruel World.”

Click on the link below to buy the song from Amazon: