I Sold My Heart To The Junkman

Leon René, under the pseudonym of Jimmie Thomas (1902–1982)

Just as I used “It Isn’t Fair” 17 years after it was released, “I Sold My Heart To The Junkman” was used by Patti LaBelle and her Bluebelles 16 years after the original recording by the Basin Street Boys, who did it as a slow ballad in 1946. Leon René is perhaps the only songwriter in the world who has written American Songbook standards like “When The Swallows Come Back To Capistrano” and “When It’s Sleepy Time Down South”, as well as doo-wop classics like “Gloria”, recorded by The Cadillacs in 1954, and a rock ‘n roll hit, “Rockin’ Robin”. A genre trifecta, never to my knowledge ever done by anyone else, at least with all three of those genres. “Gloria” was first recorded in 1946, and first charted by the Mills Brothers. The The Cadillacs’ 1954 version is way better.

The origins of the Patti LaBelle version are confused. It was originally recorded by the Starlettes, but their record company president released the record under the name of the Ordettes, who then changed their name to the Blue Belles, which was further altered to Patti LaBelle and her Bluebelles. I listened to both the Bluebells version and the Starlettes version. They sounded identical. Antonia, my ex, and I heard Patti and the Bluebelles at the Apollo in the mid ‘60s when they were still wearing sort of prom gowns. She sang “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”. It was the only time that song made me cry.