‘Tell Laura I Love Her’ is the tragic story of a teenage boy named Tommy who is desperately in love with a girl named Laura. Although they are only teenagers, he wants to marry her, so he enters a stock car race, hoping to win, and use the prize money to buy Laura a wedding ring. The second verse tells how the boy's car overturned and burst into flames; though no-one knows how it happened. Tommy is fatally injured, and his last words are "Tell Laura I love her... My love for her will never die." In the final verse, Laura prays inside the chapel, where she can still hear Tommy's voice intoning the title one more time before it fades out.
The recording history reveals that the lyrics of ‘Tell Laura I Love Her’ originally concerned a rodeo, not an automobile race, as composer Jeff Barry was an aficionado of cowboy culture.
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I dedicate my song today to my niece, Alex, who is the only daughter of my sister Mary. It is Alex’s birthday today and we wish her all the happiness and peace in the world. Alex is one of the most independent women I know and is a devoted and loving daughter to her mother.
When my sisters Mary, Eileen and I were growing up together, 'Tell Laura I love her' was one of my sister Mary’s favourite songs. The song was often used to have a laugh at my expense. I dated many girls when I was in my late teens and would change girlfriends as often as I changed my shirt. I usually went out with a girl for a few weeks before getting fed up and moving to a fresh hunting ground. If ever I dated a girl for a month, my mother and two oldest sisters, Mary and Eileen, would tease me endlessly.
At the time, one of the new record releases was 'Tell Laura I love her' and every time I went out the door on a date, my mother and sisters Mary and Eileen would stand by the front door and sing out loud and clear, 'Tell ......I love her'; inserting the name of the girl I was currently dating instead of that of 'Laura'.
Indeed, during my late teens, my sisters Mary and Eileen were so jealous of my dating successes and freedom to galavant off every Friday night and not show my face at home again until Sunday (with no parental questions asked), that the would do almost anything to take me down a peg or two. It wasn't beyond their scheming imagination to ruin a good night out for me if they could. I might have a date (which I never told them who with), but if they found out, they'd tell the young woman that I was ill and couldn't meet her that evening as planned or give her some other cock and bull story like I was out that evening with another girl and had obviously planned to stand her up. Then, as I waited for my date that didn't show. my two sisters would be nearby spying at my reaction. I would always give the new date the standard five-minute leeway to show in case they'd broken their leg running, before writing them off my list as a time waster! As I walked away, believing that I was the one who'd been stood up, my two spoiling sisters would be having a big laugh nearby at my expense. I think it was the times they resented which allowed teenage boys more leeway than young women in all manner of things.
However, I do now suspect that my sisters truly believed that they'd been born and placed on this earth with the sole purpose of ruining my happiness, particularly where my love life and romantic exploits were concerned.
So, this song is, therefore, a fitting choice for dedication to my sister Mary's only daughter. Please accept this vocal token of an uncle’s loving affection. Have a super birthday, Alex. Love Uncle Billy and Sheila xxx
Love and peace Bill xxx