This week’s Featured Lyrics are to “Oh Sweet Lorraine”, by Fred Stobaugh who passed away this week. We’re posting lyrics of hit songs so that our songwriters can study them to see how winning songs are constructed. Of course a lot depends on the melody, the rhythm and the artist as to whether or not the song will sell… and whether or not it is in the right place at the right time!
# # #
Fred Stobaugh, Oldest Songwriter to Make Billboard Top 100!
Fred Stobaugh (August 22, 1917 – November 23, 2016) was a retired truck driver from Peoria, Illinois who became a viral sensation as a songwriter. A documentary video about the making of the song Oh Sweet Lorraine, based on a text that Stobaugh wrote for his wife of 73 years, became a viral video in September 2013. The song based on his text subsequently entered the Billboard Hot 100 as well as other international charts.
Stobaugh first met his future wife Lorraine Dinquel in 1938. The couple married in 1940 and later had three daughters. His wife died on April 26, 2013, only two months before the couple’s 73rd wedding anniversary.
A few months later he wrote the song Oh Sweet Lorraine and entered a singer-songwriter competition hosted by Green Shoe Studio. The video of their recording sessions attracted more than seven million hits on YouTube and Vimeo.
In September 2013 the song entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 42, making him the oldest artist to appear on the Hot 100. It also entered the Swiss Hitparade and the Ö3 Austria Top 40. In August 2014 on his 97th birthday, Stobaugh released a second song, Took Her Home. The next week, Green Shoe Studio posted several follow-up documentary videos on Fred’s story and the public’s response. He died in November 2016 at the age of 99.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Stobaugh
# # #
Lyrics to “Oh Sweet Lorraine”
Oh Sweet Lorraine
I wish we could do
The good times
All over again
Oh sweet Lorraine
Life only goes around
Once
But never again
Oh sweet Lorraine
I wish we could do
All the good times all over
Again
The good times, The good times, The good times – All over again.
The good times, The good times, The good times – All over again.
But the memories always
Linger on
Oh sweet Lorraine
No I don’t wanna move on
Oh the memories
always linger on
Oh sweet Lorraine
That’s why I wrote this song
Oh Sweet Lorraine
I wish we could do
The good times
All over again
Oh sweet Lorraine
Life only goes around
Once
But never again
Oh sweet Lorraine
I wish we could do
All the good times all over
Again
The good times, The good times, The good times – All over again.
The good times, The good times, All the good times – All over again.
http://www.songlyrics.com/green-shoe-studio/oh-sweet-lorraine-lyrics/
Watch Fred listen to his song here with photos of his and Lorraine’s good times:
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=lyrics+to+Oh+Sweet+Lorraine&view=detail&mid=100B