Today’s song is ‘Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home)’. This song was written by Artie Zwirn and Harry Giosasi and produced and arranged by LeRoy Holmes. The single was performed by New York-based, group ‘The Impalas’. It reached Number 2 on the U.S. pop chart and went number 14 on the ‘U.S. R&B Chart’. Overseas, the song reached number28 on the ‘U.K. Singles Chart’ in 1959. By the end of the year, the song ranked Number 24 on ‘Billboard’s Year-End Top 100 Singles of 1959’.
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The very first time I heard this song was by Brandan Boyer, an Irish singer in ‘The Waterford Showband’ around 1964. Having been born in County Waterford, ‘The Waterford Showband’ was always a popular group of mine that my parochial loyalties led me to keep an ongoing interest in.
I recall during my own teenage years when me and my next-in-line sister, Mary, might apologise half-heartedly to my sister Eileen after we had arrived home late, following a night bopping at ‘The Ben Riley’ in Batley. ‘The Ben Riley’ was a dance hall where me and sister Mary would escape to every Wednesday evening.
I was the oldest of seven children and one year separated myself, Mary and Eileen from each other respectively, but as far as Mary and I were concerned, it might as well have been five years in regard to our younger sister Eileen. Mary and I had learned to bop at the same time, and we even practised and taught each other different moves in our home during weekday nights. If I wasn't available for practice, our Mary would tie a length of washing line to a door handle as a bopping-partner substitute.
We loved to go dancing down Batley every Wednesday night, but we had a family impediment that threatened to spoil our weekly pleasure; our 15-year-old sister Eileen. When Wednesday nights came around and the time to catch the Batley bus for weekly rock and roll venue, Mary and I would get dressed up at the very last moment and wait in our bedrooms until a few minutes before the Batley bus was due to arrive. At the very last moment, we would both dash out of the house and jump on the bus.laughing and waving to Eileen as the bus parted from her sight.
Once our sister Eileen discovered where Mary and her older brother slipped off to every Wednesday night, she naturally wanted to come along and resented not being a part of what we were doing.
Mary and I would weekly run out on sister Eileen at the last minute and travel to ‘The Ben Riley’ on the same bus, but we would always separate upon arrival at the dance hall. For the rest of the evening we would go about our own business and we would very rarely come back on the last bus together after the dance had ended. Mary would invariably catch the last bus home and I usually got home much later. After alighting the bus, Mary would ‘run the rest of the way home’, hoping that dad (who started his shift at the pit at 6.00am) was fast asleep.
I never asked our Mary what ‘she did, with whom and where’ on Wednesday nights and she never stuck her nose into my business. As far as we were concerned, what happened at the 'Ben Riley' on a Wednesday night, stayed at the 'Ben Riley'! Our Eileen, however, could not be trusted by myself and Mary not to inform our parents on anything her big brother or sister had got up to, 'had she been allowed to gooseberry'. As far as Mary and I were concerned 'two was company and three a crowd' and neither of us wanted younger sister Eileen cramping our style on our night out.
As Mary and Eileen shared the same bed, however, every Wednesday after Mary had returned from the dance, my sister Eileen wouldn’t talk to her for having 'run out on her' at the last minute. Mary would have to offer the same apology to Eileen week after week (probably putting the blame on big brother for her exclusion). I was 17 years old at the time, our Mary was 16-years-old and sister Eileen was 15-years-old.
After growing fed up of being left behind by me and Mary every Wednesday evening, within the year our 16-year-old sister Eileen started courting John, whom she later married. Eileen and John recently celebrated their 56th Wedding Anniversary and spend every Wednesday night in their front lounge bopping and smooching together. The first marriages of myself and sister Mary fared much worse than that of sister Eileen. Whereas Eileen's marriage lasted the test of time (allowing her and John to be awarded a 'Blue Peter Badge'), Mary and I experienced our partners 'running out on us'. It's not a nice feeling being left behind, is it?
Love and peace. Bill xxx
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The very first time I heard this song was by Brandan Boyer, an Irish singer in ‘The Waterford Showband’ around 1964. Having been born in County Waterford, ‘The Waterford Showband’ was always a popular group of mine that my parochial loyalties led me to keep an ongoing interest in.
I recall during my own teenage years when me and my next-in-line sister, Mary, might apologise half-heartedly to my sister Eileen after we had arrived home late, following a night bopping at ‘The Ben Riley’ in Batley. ‘The Ben Riley’ was a dance hall where me and sister Mary would escape to every Wednesday evening.
I was the oldest of seven children and one year separated myself, Mary and Eileen from each other respectively, but as far as Mary and I were concerned, it might as well have been five years in regard to our younger sister Eileen. Mary and I had learned to bop at the same time, and we even practised and taught each other different moves in our home during weekday nights. If I wasn't available for practice, our Mary would tie a length of washing line to a door handle as a bopping-partner substitute.
We loved to go dancing down Batley every Wednesday night, but we had a family impediment that threatened to spoil our weekly pleasure; our 15-year-old sister Eileen. When Wednesday nights came around and the time to catch the Batley bus for weekly rock and roll venue, Mary and I would get dressed up at the very last moment and wait in our bedrooms until a few minutes before the Batley bus was due to arrive. At the very last moment, we would both dash out of the house and jump on the bus.laughing and waving to Eileen as the bus parted from her sight.
Once our sister Eileen discovered where Mary and her older brother slipped off to every Wednesday night, she naturally wanted to come along and resented not being a part of what we were doing.
Mary and I would weekly run out on sister Eileen at the last minute and travel to ‘The Ben Riley’ on the same bus, but we would always separate upon arrival at the dance hall. For the rest of the evening we would go about our own business and we would very rarely come back on the last bus together after the dance had ended. Mary would invariably catch the last bus home and I usually got home much later. After alighting the bus, Mary would ‘run the rest of the way home’, hoping that dad (who started his shift at the pit at 6.00am) was fast asleep.
I never asked our Mary what ‘she did, with whom and where’ on Wednesday nights and she never stuck her nose into my business. As far as we were concerned, what happened at the 'Ben Riley' on a Wednesday night, stayed at the 'Ben Riley'! Our Eileen, however, could not be trusted by myself and Mary not to inform our parents on anything her big brother or sister had got up to, 'had she been allowed to gooseberry'. As far as Mary and I were concerned 'two was company and three a crowd' and neither of us wanted younger sister Eileen cramping our style on our night out.
As Mary and Eileen shared the same bed, however, every Wednesday after Mary had returned from the dance, my sister Eileen wouldn’t talk to her for having 'run out on her' at the last minute. Mary would have to offer the same apology to Eileen week after week (probably putting the blame on big brother for her exclusion). I was 17 years old at the time, our Mary was 16-years-old and sister Eileen was 15-years-old.
After growing fed up of being left behind by me and Mary every Wednesday evening, within the year our 16-year-old sister Eileen started courting John, whom she later married. Eileen and John recently celebrated their 56th Wedding Anniversary and spend every Wednesday night in their front lounge bopping and smooching together. The first marriages of myself and sister Mary fared much worse than that of sister Eileen. Whereas Eileen's marriage lasted the test of time (allowing her and John to be awarded a 'Blue Peter Badge'), Mary and I experienced our partners 'running out on us'. It's not a nice feeling being left behind, is it?
Love and peace. Bill xxx
