"Tar and Cement"

I've stated elsewhere that (and I'm quoting from myself, here) "I 'became aware' of the music playing on AM radio during the years 1962 and 1963, when I was roughly six years old. I say 'roughly' because I didn't turn six until very late 1962, namely, November."

Close to twenty years ago, not long after I first started using the internet, I decided to look for a song I remembered from my childhood. I use the word "remembered" very loosely. I couldn't recall what year the song was released, but I was pretty sure that it hit the airwaves sometime during the early 1960s, maybe even before the Beatles arrived in America.

The biggest obstacles to my search were the facts that:

• I didn't know the title of the song.
• I didn't know who sang it.
• I couldn't even remember more than a few random words from it!

Not a hell of a lot to go on, right? My faded memories told me that one line was "I can see it all so clearly now."

Needless to say, as far as my search went, I was what they call "S.O.L."!

Several years later -- "several" being more than ten -- I tried again, and I have no idea what I did differently, but this time I found the damned song!

As it happens, I was off by a few years regarding the song's approximate year of release. "Tar and Cement", sung by Verdelle Smith, came out in 1966, and just barely made it onto the Top 40 in the USA, reaching #38. However, it climbed all the way to #1 in Australia.

Here's the song, for those of you who want to see if it was really worth all the fuss... and right below the embedded video are the lyrics, if you want to follow along!

The town I came from was quiet and small
We played in the meadows where the grass grew so tall
In summer the lilacs would grow everywhere
The laughter of children would float in the air

 And I can see it all so clearly now
Still going on
Yes, I can see it oh so clearly now
 Though all of it's gone

 As I grew older I had to roam
Far from my family, far from my home
Into the city, where lives can be spent
Lost in the shadows of tar and cement.
Into the city where I had my eye
On all the pleasures that money can buy

And every night I'd sit alone and learn
What loneliness meant
Up in my rented room above a world
Of tar and cement.

Each day I'd wake up and look at the sky
Think of the meadows where I used to lie
Then I'd remember all of that's gone
You're in the city, you better push on
Get what you came for, before it's too late
Get what you came for, the meadows can wait.

So every night I'd sit alone and learn
What loneliness meant
Up in my rented room above a world
Of tar and cement.

Many years later, tired at last
I headed for home to look for my past
I looked for the meadows, there wasn't a trace
Six lanes of highway had taken their place
Where were the lilacs and all that they meant
Nothing but acres of tar and cement.

Yet I can see it there so clearly now
Where has it gone?
Yes I can see it there so clearly now
Where has it gone?

Where are the meadows? (tar and cement)
Where are the lilacs? (tar and cement)
And where is the tall grass? (tar and cement)
The laughter of children? (tar and cement)
Nothing but acres (tar and cement)
Acres and acres (tar and cement)

Typically, I wasn't content to stop there. I did a little research on Ms. Smith. And I must admit that I did said research with a bit of trepidation, because as all of my regular readers know, it usually happens that whenever I wonder "Whatever happened to So-and-So?" I discover that the person in question is dead, or worse, I find out very soon afterwards that the person just died.

Well, there wasn't a lot of information regarding Verdelle Smith on the internet back then, nor now, but at least I can say that, as of this writing, she is alive, thankfully!

Verdelle Smith, born in Florida and raised in New Jersey, now lives in Brooklyn. She left the music business shortly after recording "Tar and Cement". One good thing about the internet is that there's always new material being added, so now, there is this interview with Verdelle Smith available!

I also found another version of the song, this time in French, a version which came out the same year. It was called "La maison où j'ai grandi" and sung by a young lady with whom I was unfamiliar, named Françoise Hardy.

Françoise Hardy sometime during the 1960s.

And here, just for the sake of comparison, is Ms. Hardy's version:

Being a glutton for punishment, I decided to delve a little deeper and see whether or not she, too, was still living. I'm happy to say that as of today, she's still with us!

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As it turns out, the very first version of the song was performed by an Italian singer, songwriter, actor, director, comedian, and TV host named Adriano Celentano! Celentano, a huge star in Italy, is sometimes referred to by the Italians as "Molleggiato" (the flexible one), and was influenced by both Elvis Presley (and 1950s rock'n'roll in general) and Jerry Lewis!

The original version of the song that became "Tar and Cement" in America was "Il ragazzo della via Gluck" (which translates as "The boy from Gluck Street", not the best title for a song in my opinion, but hey...). Celentano wrote the music, while Luciano Beretta and Miki Del Prete wrote the lyrics, but Celentano evidently had a hand in writing the lyrics because they include several references to Celentano's own life and career. "Il ragazzo della via Gluck" came out in 1966, as did the two versions I mentioned earlier.

In the years since, the song has been covered by many artists, in many different languages. The lyrics for the American version were written by Lee Pockriss and Paul Vance.

Here's the original Italian version:

I finally worked up the courage to see if Adriano Celentano was also still alive, and once again, I'm pleased to say that he is! He just turned eighty years old on January 6th, and by the way, he's been married to actress, singer, and television producer Claudia Mori since 1964!

Well, fellow babies, I'm almost done. I just want to share two more videos with you. The first is Françoise Hardy's version of "Il ragazzo della via Gluck" itself, in the original Italian:

And I'm going to conclude with the following song, recorded in the 1970s by Adriano Celentano, "Prisencolinensinainciusol!" Yep, that's the right title. "Prisencolinensinainciusol" consists of Adriano spouting gibberish imitating how English sounds to... well, to people who don't speak English! Give it a listen, won't you?

So, to Verdelle Smith, Françoise Hardy, and Adriano Celentano, all I can say is "Stay healthy!"

And thanks for your time!