Skeeter Davis had a bad year.

“I Can’t Stay Mad At You” – Skeeter Davis

#7 peak
#43 year-end

Ok, so a bad year where she cried all the way to the bank, given the massive success of “The End Of The World,” and the smaller, but still respectable success of this song.  But while “The End Of The World” collapsed due to its lyrical content of a life-ruining breakup, “I Can’t Stay Mad At You” is more problematic melody-wise, and suffers from the opposite problem lyrically.

Before we start, this song was written by none other than Gerry Goffin and Carole King.  Who, in case you don’t know, are one of the greatest songwriting teams of all time, up there with Holland-Dozier-Holland, Gamble and Huff, and if I have to give a more recent example, The Neptunes.  With such esteemed songwriters in charge, you’d expect some quality control regarding how this song was constructed.  Nope.

I threw shade at “The End Of The World,” but again, at least it was well-constructed musically and was well-produced for the time.  “I Can’t Stay Mad At You” does not have this luxury.  The melody Skeeter Davis sings here bounces up and down at awkward moments, particularly in the bridge when she sings, “I bounced right back into your arms.”  And then there are the backing vocals.

Do do do
Shooby dooby do bop
Ba ba de doobie doobie
Shooby dooby do bop
Ba ba de doobie doobie

The first criticism many would throw here is that this is yet another song with a considerable amount of emphasis on “la-las,” “na-nas”, and “doot-dos.”  Let’s be real here.  Despite their bad reputation, there are good uses of gibberish words solely used to provide vocal melody.  The “na-nas” in “Hey Jude?”  One of the greatest melody lines of all time.  The “doot-do-dos” in “Semi-Charmed Life” by Third Eye Blind?  Still causes me to jump up and down with joy whenever I hear them.  Serj Tankian operatically singing “la la la la la la la la la!” in System Of A Down’s “B.Y.O.B.?”  Still hilarious.  But “Shooby dooby do bop ba ba de doobie doobie”… isn’t a good use of la-las or na-nas.  With its awkward choice of gibberish words and its overly consistent tone throughout the song, this is the disinterested shrug of na-nas.  You can practically see the background singers half-heartedly moving their arms back and forth as they sing this part.  

Then we get to the song’s lyrical content.  This song is about a woman who is constantly mistreated by her husband, but who can’t leave him because she’s so in love with him.  The list includes breaking her heart, and lying to her.  And then there’s the bridge.

I got mad at you last night
When you were holding another girl tight
But when I thought about all your charms
I bounced right back into your arms

Uh… if he’s having an affair, that’s a pretty good reason to break up with someone.  He’s not being faithful?  Screw that guy.  Find someone who will be true to you.  And what exactly, are his charms?  His height?  His muscles?  The size of his – never mind.

While Skeeter came off as whiny and immature on “The End Of The World,” here she comes off as spineless and unable to stand up for herself.  This is the 1963 equivalent of “Addicted” by Saving Abel or “One More Night” by Maroon 5 – a song where the protagonist has every reason to jump ship from his/her no-good lover, only to come back because of a stupid reason.  At least this time it’s “charms” rather than sex.

It’s a shame that these were Skeeter Davis’s only two hits on the pop charts, because I came away from them thinking Skeeter had a good song in her.  She had a good voice, and with the right material she could have had something.  The failure of both her hits as songs demonstrates the vast importance of songwriting when it comes to portraying someone as a good artist.  And this still isn’t the worst song Gerry Goffin and Carole King wrote that became a hit this year.  We’ll get to that.

UP NEXT: The most obvious pick for the list at #4.

IMAGE SOURCES

Single cover and image of Strongbad from Wikipedia

Image of Skeeter Davis from Frank Beacham’s Journal