“Then life is just a one night stand” – The Righteous Brothers

After I turned 21 sometime along the summer of 1992 my dad took me on my first trip to Las Vegas. He and my mom took many trips to Vegas. It was where they spent their honeymoon and where they would return to many times through the years often with their best friends, Jerry and Laura Beth Jobe. But this time was just the two of us, and we spent a couple of days eating good food and working the blackjack tables. My mom had “loaned” me several hundred dollars because I was just a broke college kid at the time. We stayed at his favorite hotel – Caesar’s and he also bought tickets to two shows while we were there. One was Frankie Valli. The other show was The Righteous Brothers.

My dad loved The Righteous Brothers. He had lost track of how many times he had seen them perform over the years. His first time, he remembered, was in the early to mid 60’s shortly after the duo of Bobby Hatfield and Bill Medley formed the group. Even back in 1992, it was a time when you could still slip the usher some money and he would move you to a better table closer to the stage. So I remember my dad giving the usher 20 bucks and he took us to a table about three or four rows from the stage like we were big shots. I think I was in a rum and Coke phase at the time and may have had a few that night while my dad enjoyed his traditional Crown and Coke during the show. The duo performed their hits and my dad and I gave them a standing ovation after the show concluded.

The Righteous Brothers formed sometime around 1963 but split up shortly thereafter in 1968 when Bill Medley and his baritone voice left for a solo career. The pair reunited in 1974 and had this comeback hit, which I distinctly remember blaring from my parents’ old phonograph stereo system at our house when I was very young. Mostly known for “Unchained Melody” and “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” this song was really their last hit peaking at #3 on the U.S. charts back in 1974.

Back in a time when you didn’t need the top half of the buttons on your dress shirt, Bobby and Bill were still vocally at the top of their games. Hatfield passed away in 2003 but Medley still performs that “blue-eyed soul” to this day at the age of 85. My dad would have been 86 today and so I like to think he’s up above holding Medley’s place while he sings all of those songs he loved so much while on this earth alongside Bobby Hatfield. I don’t know whether all of the artists they mention in today’s song are up there culminating in “a hell of a band,” but I do know that as much music and singing as there is in the Bible that our heavenly Father surely can appreciate the gifts he bestowed upon many including these two, appropriately called The Righteous Brothers.

From their comeback in 1974, here they are with “Rock and Roll Heaven.”

I believe in forever and happy birthday, dad.

sincerely,

the80s