Week Eighty-Seven: More Girl Groups - The Essex - "Easier Said Than Done" - The Best of the Girl Groups, Vol. 2

As we welcome in a New Year on Wednesday, I am more convinced than ever that I was born in the wrong era!!! I'm not at all excited about the scientific advances that 2014 will bring, nor am I impressed by our super-technologically obsessed society. My heart absolutely longs for what I view as a simpler and easier time! So I am going to use this week to cover more Girl Groups from roughly the 1960s or so because that genre of music is about as close as I'll ever get to where I would prefer to be!!!

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Although The Essex actually had male members, they are often placed in the Girl Group genre because of their sound. Since this was obviously long before my time, I'm not even going to pretend like I know a ton of information about them, and I will instead give you some highlights from Wikipedia:

"The Essex was an American R&B vocal group formed in 1962. They are best known for their 1963 chart-topper and million selling track, 'Easier Said Than Done'."

"Founding members Walter Vickers (guitar) and Rodney Taylor (drums) were U.S. Marines stationed in Okinawa, Japan. After being transferred to Camp LeJeune in North Carolina, they enlisted fellow Marines Billy Hill and Rudolph Johnson as group members. Next they added a female lead singer, Anita Humes, another Marine."

"In 1963, a demo earned them a recording contract with Roulette Records. They recorded 'Easier Said Than Done' in 20 minutes. The song was written by Larry Huff and William Linton, who said that the beat was inspired by the sound of multiple teletype machines, noisy mechanical beasts pounding out copy in the base's communications room. Released as their first single, the song reached the top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. The track sold over one million records and received a gold disc award from the R.I.A.A. 'Easier Said Than Done' reached #41 in the UK Singles Chart in August 1963."

The Essex have another really awesome song called "A Walkin' Miracle", but I cannot find it on YouTube; however, there is a pretty decent cover of it by the performance group, called It's My Party!, that I will include so that you can at least hear it!  (Finally found it and am including it below!!)

My friends all tell me
Go to him, run to him,
Say sweet lovely things to him,
And tell him, he's the one.

Deep in my heart I know it,
But it's so hard to show it
Cause it's easier, easier said than done.

My buddies tell me
Fly to him, sigh to him,
Tell him I would die for him,
And tell him, he's the one.

Although he gives me a feeling
That sets my heart a-reeling,
Yet it's easier, easier said than done.

Well, I know that I love him so.
But I'm afraid that he'll never know
Because I (I-I) I get so timid and shy
Each time that I look him in the eye.

They all tell me 
Sing to him, swing with him,
And just do anything for him,
And tell him, he's the one.

I got a love so true
And yet I'm sad and blue
Cause it's easier, easier said than done.

Well, I know that I love him so.
But I'm afraid that he'll never know
Because I (I-I) I get so timid and shy
Each time that I look him in the eye.

They all tell me 
Sing to him, swing with him,
And just do anything for him,
And tell him, he's the one.

I got a love so true
And yet I'm sad and blue
Cause it's easier, easier said than done.
Easier-er-er-er, said than done.