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From: SeaOvJapan
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  • I have loved this song from the day it came out, I can just sit here and I am driving a 409 Chevy punching second gear and the radio is wide open with all the hard top windows down its a beautiful night and I am driving in down town Pottstown Pa going from Gino's to the tropical treat drive in and I am young and I am just glad to be alive.This is such an awesome song, wore a 45 of it out just playing it over and over. Cheers to the Band!

  • Looks like the 20s - but sounds like (and is) the 60s. It's all good to me, I was there in both periods and I love them both. (probably 20s a bit more...teeheeeheeeee)

    Great transcribe, and presto illuminate on this one.

    In other words, thanks for the good vibrations.

  • yeah,killer song, izzer any vintage live versions, still works , where the action is ,and all,but hollies, early moody blues , do just astounding representations of there hits, literaly phenomenal, cant be done now, ,sure like check this groovy little number out live!

  • Does anyone know where this was filmed at? My guess is Huntington Beach, Orange County.

    thanks.

  • To NJanow--Don did not die! The Critters are still playing dates into next year.

  • Me and Ang, my first love and my favorite summer 1966

  • Absolutely my favorite song from the 60's....and there were quite a few to choose from. Excellent harmonies.

  • VERY GOOD CHUMS, what can anyone say but we appreciate good rocknroll

    1000 per cent ...... justavideo1000

  • My favorite song of all time. I don't know why.

  • FANTASTIC!

  • Don Ciccone died this week. So sad

  • Such really fantastic lyrics.....i go back to about 65 here? I was 15....this song is one that really hits you and the melancholy of it makes you so vulnerable...is sad and romantic....so cool the words are....genius Lynne AUSTIN,TEXAS

  • The harmonys are great on this song

  • the play of the lyrics in and out of the song are fantastic

  • One of my most favorite songs ever! The kind you can't wait

    to share with your best friend!

  • So cool-it screams 1966 for some reason. Hard to believe all those girls are now probably grandmothers now! What a nice slice of a long vanished era.

  • I always loved this song!!! It's great actually seeing a live performance of this song available. "Younger Girl" is another one of my favorites!! Thanxxx!!!

  • Ah songs before school starts...i just love the 60s!

  • God, I loved "Where The Action Is". It was like the West Coast answer to all the greasers on Bandstand

  • LOVEIT, LOVEIT, LOVEIT <3<3<3

  • Holy Sugar, Batman...Critters forever...wish I had bought a Critters button...

    back in Jersey in the 60's...loved them at various dances and concerts...don't pretend for a minute to know them, but was so blessed to have spoken with Chris, Jim, Don, Kenny ...all of them...before their hits...also enjoyed seeing Jack Decker in a band at my Rutgers Frat house back when Lincoln was President!!!!...or was it Grant?...Tunesmith

  • Love this song! Remember it from the 60s! Totally forgot about it until I saw it tonight looking for something else on iTunes! This was music!

  • I am only 39 but, Love this song! Used to hear it on an oldies station my dad listened to plus on Sirius XM 6 (60s music). Songs from the 60's to 80's are so much better than the crap out there today..

    Dawn

  • Great song. The key change makes this song sound like two songs in one. One of the great love songs of the 60's.

  • COMON!...somebody knows.....who sang the falsetto backup parts?...he needs credit for maybe the best falsetto ever recorded!!!

  • This was, is and will always be one of my favorite all time songs and especially from the 60's. Not just for the memories but it is such a beautiful song: a dynmaite melody!@

  • Did these guys perform the song live at this time w/out Don? If so, who sang it, and did they do a credible job? I particularly love the bridge...

  • Wow, you guys oughta write a book about the band..I'd buy it!

  • I so loved this song. I still do.

  • I was in high school when this record came out, and I got a 45 rpm copy of it, and my mother said she thought it was nice. I did not get that kind of comment about most of the stuff I listened to.

  • Is one of these guys Don Ciccone? If so, which one? One of the most spiritual songs this side of Brian wilson!

  • @ShockDoc No, Don Ciccone is not in this video. He had gone into the Air Force just prior to this appearance. That's Critter bassist Ken Gorka lip-synching Don's vocal. (Don had to join the AF or be drafted, according to the Critters.)

  • @ShockDoc BTW, the Critters in this video, from left to right, are: Jack Decker (drums), Chris Darway, (percussion and keyboards), Ken Gorka (bass), and Jim Ryan (guitar). Missing, of course, is Don Ciccone (guitar). 

  • always thought all fallseto backup was sung by one person...one of the greatest sounding backup vocals of all time....who sang the fallseto parts???

  • This has been one of my all-time favorite "dreamy" songs since my teen years in the Sixties. It still gives me chills. The Critters had a wonderful sound, but there was such a huge amount of competition back then. We were so lucky as listeners, but the bands had a tough time I'll bet. I'm sharing this video with someone seeking great songs with a "haunting" melody. I hope she'll like it.

  • Summer of '66...the most wonderful summer

  • More shirts, fewer instruments, yeah.

  • you would never know that they were lip syncing this song.

  • @Silvergreyhound18 Except it sounds perfect! I love it.

  • magic

  • what a beutiful melody

  • i love this song,one of my fave- rod

  • WONDERFUL SONGS, WONDERFUL VOICES LOVE THEM FOREVER

  • This is a wonderful rarity! (That's Westfield NJ's own Jim Ryan with the guitar, btw.)

  • Nice. have the 45rpm NEED the stereo mix

  • AWESOME, BELISSIMO!

  • After 44 years this is still my all time favourite. Everything's good about it. Harmonies are perfect. Production is A++. Chord progression is unsurpassed, how it drifts gently out of the original key and comfortably returns to it. Words are lovely. Should remind me of Californian surf but the song was going round and round my head on the last ever train from Morpeth to Woodburn over the Northumberland moors on a sunny autumn afternoon back in Oct 1966

  • ah yes, a simpler time. vietnam was taking young mens lives and we put gays in psychological hospitals. the good ol days.

  • @eventualentrophy Well homosexuality has become a form of mental fascism...Vietnam was a war entered by liberals that they didn't want win nor exit...

  • @Robo1415 Send me your address, and I'll pay for your pack, boots, uniform and rifle, and travel costs, as well, if you'll fly off to Vietnam and win the war. You talk like it's still going on, so maybe it is.

    PS. I'll pay for the parade too, if you make it back.

  • @57highland I think you should go there...they practice Communism.As a liberal, you would love it.

  • @Robo1415 "There you go again", as Reagan once said, throwing the "L" word around because you don't have a valid point of view, just an empty gripe. And regarding communism, Private Robo, our retail stores are full of stuff produced by little communist hands which I'm sure you occasionally purchase.

  • @57highland Not when I can help it.....Communism has no place in a 21st Century world and neither does liberalism come to think of it.....

  • @Robo1415 Communism has a BIG place in the 21st century, pal. It's called Red China. The commies MAKE the stuff; Target, K-Mart, and Wal-Mart BUY the stuff and then SELL the stuff to you and me.

    "Not when I can help it." Hell, how often is that? I'll bet your life is full of stuff made in China.

  • @barnyardstory ALSO LEARN to S-P-E-L-L IDIOT!.

  • It's an Emotional Masterpiece. The bridge is brilliant. God Bless You Don.

  • really was magic....i was 15 here

  • one of my favorites, i use to sing this with my band

  • I need a time machine......I wanna go back to the sixties. This world now sucks. Can you imagine being able to turn on the radio and hearing this? And there was still some innocence to the world?

  • This isn't just a great song, it's a priceless gem. Don Ciccone, I believe you wrote this and if so you wrote magic. Hy Lit on WIBG in Philadelphia played this every night that summer.

    Just a breeze will muss your hair

    But you smile away each little care,

    And if the rain should make you blue

    You say tomorrow is a new ......

    It really is magic.

  • @bellsys1 It's my favorite song of all time.  I was on a street corner with friends. There was an older girl a few yards away. She was at least twice my age. A dark haired beauty in blue jeans. I was watching her laugh and move backward, tossing her hair back with her hand, the way they do. I was struck dumb and motionless. It was overcast, the leaves were turning and there was a cold breeze in the air. This song was playing on someone's radio. I'll never forget it.

  • @Nestor123057 Very nice memory. Isn't it amazing how hearing a song like Mr. Dieingly Sad can evoke such powerful memories? I wonder if another song had been playing at the time if your recollection would be the same. Somehow I doubt it. Kind of helps one understand the quote, "Music has Charms to sooth a savage Breast, To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak".

  • Boy, does this video bring back memories! I remember feeling so proud that my song had become such a big hit. I am once again proud to have reformed the band into "The Critters with Don Ciccone" and to be back in the studio recording a brand new Critters' CD. It's been a long time since the days of performing these songs in peg-leg pants and Beatle boots but we're still creating, recording and performing good music - some things never change. (Don Ciccone)

  • @TheCrittersBand Don, is that really you? It's great that you come forward & talk about the Critters. Jim Ryan also jumped in (~ 2 yrs ago) and treated us to some Critter history. For example, I asked him, Who were they girls & guys singing the ooohs & ahhhs in the background? and he said, That's me & Don! And a few years ago in NYC, I went to the Bitter End & met Ken Gorka. He talked a few minutes about the Critter days; said he & Hendrix raced each other across the GW bridge in their 'vettes!

  • @TheCrittersBand when I met my husband, he said he was the drummer for your band and sang when this song was recorded.....right! I think he was just trying to make himself look good.

  • Heard thiis on Sirius 60's a few days ago. Great post. Amazing you were able to find this gem after so many years. Thanks!!!

  • An oddly underplayed song on oldies stations. Amen to all the previous positive comments.

  • a classic example of the haunting "end of summer" song. Good memories or bad, hearing this tune will senhd you right back to 1966.

  • Were they considered a "Surf Group"?

  • The Critters were a NJ quintet lead by lead voc. Don Ciccone. Their two biggest hits were this one and "Don't Let The Rain Fall Down On Me" 1967. Later on Don joined the Four Seasons.

  • @radioman66 I respectfully respond that you are wrong...their two biggest hits were, and remain, "Mr. Dieingly Sad" (by Ciccone) and "Younger Girl" (written by John Sebastian of the Lovin' Spoonful)...Spoonful recorded "Younger Girl" but their version wasn't even close to the version by the Critters...love "Don't Let The Rain Fall Down On Me"...and let's not forget "Children And Flowers" written by Jackie DeShannon...Tunesmith.

  • @tunesmith09 Mr. Dieingly Sad and Younger Girl may be the most remembered hits of the group but chart wise "Dieingly" went to #17 and "Younger Girl" #42. "Don't Let The Rain" charted at #39.

  • @radioman66 Please accept my humble apology...no arrogance intended...I simply recall MDS and YG having been much more popular and having received more radio air-play in Jersey than DLTRFDOM during that era, but you're talking to a guy who loved most everything they did, and who loved them more than the Beatles...they are my all-time favorite band...dances/concerts 5 times. Obviously...you did the homework and checked the chart rankings...thank you in advance for your forgiveness...

    Tunesmith

  • @tunesmith09 No need to apologize, at least not humbly anyway lol. I grew up in NJ myself I was closer to Philly a town called Cinnaminson. I worked at an oldies radio station 20 yrs ago in Wilmington, DE 1380 WAMS and they only had MDS & YG. So yes that's what they will truly be remembered for. I remember bringing in my original 45 of DLTRFDOM and playing it a couple of times as a lost oldie. Got some good feedback on it. Bet you have some great stories on the original shows.

  • Such a pretty song ... nice to hear. Thanks for posting

  • three of them ENLISTED? explain that to me...

  • One of the best ever.........just has it all. How dare the older generation work so hard to ridicule and destroy all the beautiful things our generation created and to ensure and then bequeth us the wreckage of today.

  • Amazing arrangement. I vaguely remember "Where The Action Is". That was even before Hullaballou, right?

  • great song!!

  • I was always amazed at the quality of the acoustics on the beach on the "Where The Action Is" TV show! :)

  • I'll always think of my 7th grade sweetheart in 1966. Perfect.

  • thanks for posting a song i loved but had forgotten tell i heard it again

    the other day. in fact i am searching for a song whoes chorus ends with "if

    we follow the sun" it's not the beatles tune either. i thin it came out end of

    60's early 70's

  • @oldermusiclover Are you thinking of the Del Shannon song Keep Searching?

  • I've heard it said that the lead singer is Madonna's uncle.

  • beautiful vocals! <3

  • the best ty

  • ʇuǝllǝɔxǝ

  • Great song!

  • Excellent song!!!

  • dick clark was so cheap he couldnt even have them with there instruments

  • I was 13...lying on the Atlantic City, New Jersey beach...watching the GIRLS in their bikinis...wow

  • Isn't this from the show "Where the Action Is"? It was a daytime show in the summer for a year or two.

  • beautiful song, just beautiful

  • @pookey1951

    I think this group harmonizes better than the Beach Boys did in the 60s

    Steve

  • very tasty...check out the cryan shames version

  • whoooaaa... nice one

  • Real nice Association like harmonies with a Bossa Nova beat. I remember this song when I was in the third grade. It probably didn't break into the Top Ten on AM radio but it was memorable nonetheless!

  • wow THIS SONG IS WONDERFUL

  • Don Ciccone is not in this video, the guy lip syncing thje lead is Ken Gorka, Ciccone was at Chanute AFB when this viodeo was taken

  • @alscoffee--Don Ciccone is the dark haired guy singing lead.

  • dick clark was so cheap that they didnt even have all the instruments out even though it was all lipsychn

  • Boy, does this bring back memories! I was 16 & thought I had the world in the palm of my hand. Thankyou for this.

  • they rock!

  • One of the top songs of the 60's. Definitely a Jersey Shore song. Awesome!!!

  • Beautiful song! Most rock groups and contemporaries of the Beatles have that timeless appeal.And yes,they dont make music as good as this anymore.

  • Amazing how this song holds up all these years later.

    What a shame that they can't make music as good as this anymore.

  • Couldn't agree more. This type of thing now comes under the banner of 'guilty pleasures'....what a crass concept that it. I try to just enjoy it, [but do have to watch whom one tells].

  • Great song...but dig that blonde dancer's crazy bathing cap ! lol

  • Don Ciccone is not in this video, he was at Chanute AFB at the time, the guy lip syncing the lead is Ken Gorka

  • will someone please tell me which one is don ciccone in this video. Is it the guy with dark blk hair or the computer looking guy with the fat wallet? or neither.

  • 60's 'Teenage angst' personified!! What a sad,but uplifting song. One of my all time favorites

  • Best tune ever

  • great song ~ bring back those lovely days of yore ~~

  • Where is the old Younger Girl kind of relaxed instrumental I remember?

  • I always loved the flip side "It Just Won't Be That Way". What a great period piece clip from WTAI.

  • This was a great song. So glad to find this video.

  • It's no wonder this song became a hit in 1966. Groups just weren't writing tunes with beautiful chord structures like this back then. I always thought the vibes were a great touch on this record, too. Nice post!!!

  • the Association werre writing songs with chords like this in '66 although the Critters couldn't go wrong, also the Lov'in Spoonful, all great bands from that time.......we grew up listening to all these bands on the AM side of our radio.....

  • At first I thought this was one of the best songs of the 60s, then I realized it was one of the best songs of all time! And it still makes me want to cry! I will never forget The Critters!

  • absolutely romantic,lush and beautiful

  • nice song,,,diferent,sad,

  • Mr. Dieingly Sad was The Critters' only top 20 hit in '66.

  • Actually, they cover the Loving Spoonfuls song YOUNGER GIRL and it also charted.

  • Great song. Always one of my favorites from that era.

  • a sound from a diffrent time magic

  • Group member Don Ciccone is my all-time favorite hit record performer with the last name of Ciccone and the letters "D-O-N" in this order in his/her first name. (Putting that female pronoun in there is a clue as to whom this is meant to compare this Critters member with. And now you may be wondering, "Who's that girl?")

  • I asked one of Madge's brothers (well they had the same address anyway) whether he was related to DON Ciccone back in 1983, before anyone knew who Madge was. He denied it, but he knew who Don was. Several sources on the internet say they're second cousins.

  • The first time I heard this song was about five years ago sitting in the car waiting to go play at a HS band concert. I told my dad to turn it up and have been hooked ever since.

  • I think this is from the show "Where the Action Is" hosted by Dick Clark circa 1964ish to

    5ish

  • One of the first GOOD soft rock songs, along with Cherish.

  • beautiful song, haunting...

  • Late Summer, Fall, 1966, this song is just gorgeous, & ought to have been a monster hit. Timeless vocalsl/harmonies. Only The Beach Boys/ The Association & Cryan Shames were as good. Wolfsky9

  • i tell my grown kids that the best music of all time was the year 1966. one great hit after another. unbelievable.

  • beautiful song CLASSIC ROCK FOREVER!!!

  • I will never forget this song. It is probably my favorite of all time. I cannot hear it without thinking about being out under the starry skies in the '60's in a different world than anyone knows these days. It is a song that speaks to my soul! The Critters were one of the best--if most short-lived--groups ever!

  • You are not kidding. Romantic, wonderful song. It does speak to the soul!

  • great song! ;)

  • You can check any dictionary, online or otherwise; the correct spelling is "dyingly" ... I believe they went with "dieingly" because it looks more like the correct word than the correct spelling does, and thus had more sales profitability than the correct word. Imagine if they spelled it correctly ... kids would be looking at radio station playlists or at the 45 rpm singles racks at stores like Music +, staring at that single with quizzical looks, saying, "What does 'deeeeeingly' mean, anyway?"

  • I don't think I've ever seen the word  "dieingly."

  • To tunesmith09, I've been away from my computer for a while. The Critters currently play almost every weekend at various venues in Port Salerno, FL, near Stuart. They will be opening for Tommy James and the Shondells at the Sunrise Theater in Ft Pierce FL in November. More information later. tjpresto2002

  • How many of the original Critters in the current line-up?

  • Oh man! I remember my big brother playing this around 1966 and getting ready to go on a date with his girlfriend putting on his suit and goop on his hair and me and my other brothers wanting to go with him but were too small. Shortly after this he went to the Marines and then Vietnam and our whole world changed forever. I miss those great days and all the people I loved.

  • tjpresto2002...please, please, please provide more info re Critters (where are they playing weekends? what state? what clubs??) and Ciccone in south Fl. Occasionally I visit south Fl and would love to time a visit accordingly...thank you.

  • Don Ciccone is alive and well and living in South Florida. The Critters are playing local gigs on weekends. A concert with Tommy James and the Shondells has been scheduled for South Florida in the Fall. More news later.  tjpresto

  • This is a hypnotizing record and the girls are beautiful -- but i wish someone would align the film and the soundtrack.

  • If anyone has a vidoe of this band performing on stage inside a building either in concert or at a dance in the mid 60's please post it. For those of you who never got to see them in person...these guys were better than the best! Thank you.

  • Boy, I used to rush home to catch "Where The Action Is" just like my sister used to do for Bandstand.....but at least the crowd on Action didn't look like a small town cast from West Side Story" like Bandstand's did

  • My Aunt Fides (unknowingly) introduced these band to me. Their songs are awesome! The 60's rock! I didn't know there was an MV! Niiice! Thanks for posting!

  • This song is just timeless. No one else has covered this song, and that's because you can't improve on it.

  • @rs431

    Well said. I would say Don Ciccone's composition here rivaled anything The Beatles or Beach Boys did. It's awesome. I never get tired of hearing it.

  • @rs431 maybe the Beach Boys. but i love it too

  • @oldermusiclover The Beach Boys wold have done a great cover for this. Anyway, the song is just great, and i cannot get it out of my head after all these years.

  • Growing up in NJ (a kid in the 60's),this band has a special place in my heart. Mr. Dieingly Sad is just a perfect song. Obviously The Critters should've been more than just a one-hit-wonder band(they did have a few other lower-charting covers) but Uncle Sam called one or more of the guys, if I recall, (during the Nam era)and so they receded into pop oblivion...but not b4 they left behind this timeless gem

  • Obviously a terrific song. After 43 years of listening to it, I still can't figure out all of the lyrics. Can anyone help me?

  • just use google to find the lyrics

  • See the other postings of this song, one by "ClassicManilaSounds" or "Otaku" for the full lyrics. The Google site probably gets them slightly wrong.

  • gotcha. thank you.

  • Look at the post of this song by "classicmanilasoundsz" to 4 months ago

  • Critters story: I used to go to this oldies club in Lancaster, Pa. called the Jukebox. One night a woman came up to the DJ to request Younger Girl, by the Critters. The DJ looked at me because he knew that I had a good knowledge of the oldies. I never heard of it. I heard of Mr. Dieingly Sad, by the Critters, and Younger Girl, by the Lovin' Spoonful. The woman walked away. Later, I was walking around when she came up to me and said,

  • "That's him, that's the guy." I thought, "Oh no, what am I going to be accused of doing that I didn't do." All of a sudden, this guy came up to me and said, "Hi. I'm Jim Ryan. I used to be the lead singer of the Critters." I was a little drunk, but I was amazed. I asked him if he still did anything in music, or if the Critters were still together. He didn't seem too interested in talking about the past, and eventually he walked away. Cool, huh?

  • I couldn't disagree more. ;-)

  • tunesmith i agree with you the tremeloes were and still are one of the best ! wish i could have seen them live! they were and are the best ,what a group.!! gary

  • I ran out or room...just one more thing my fellow Critters/Critters-era fans. Although slightly different harmonies I think all of you fellow romantics/slow dancers will appreciate 'taking a walk down memory lane'. Do the You Tube thing for Tremeloes Silence Is Golden...click on the black and white one. If you're not in tears of both joy and sadness you have no heart. It was still the era when we had 'singers and musicians' instead of decades of 'yellers and noisicians'... outstanding video!

  • Jr. High/ High School in Jersey... first time these guys played locally they came blasting into the parking lot in their station wagon with eqpt trailer in tow whipping around the school rotary a few times("Children and Flowers" era). In later area dances wish you could have heard "Nowhere Man", Ciccone ("Hurts So Bad" better than Little Anthony). Ever hear a vocal of Exodus by a 60's band? Perfect covers/perfect originals at school dances!...reunion please!! Any Critters buttons for sale?

  • The Critters songs have FINALLLY been released on iTunes. Buy Mr Diengly Sad, Younger Girl, and Don't Let the Rain Fall Down on Me - the goup's very best. It would be great to have a reunion of this group for an evening!!! How about back in Westfield, NJ.

  • Hello rs431/these guys were beyond awesome! Not nearly as many hits or as much exposure as the Beatles but the Critters are my all-time favorite group. Got to see/hear them 5 times. Don't pretend to have known them, but got to chat briefly with Chris Darway (keyboards), Don Ciccone (bass), Jim Ryan (guitar), etc. several times. What a slice of life this is/glad you like them/please let me know if you hear of a reunion/I briefly dated a gal from Westfield a year or so before their hits...

  • The singer on this song is Don Ciccone who later on joined Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons. He was in the Air Force at the time this was filmed, so another member is lip syncing the words.

  • No doubt this is a very good song. These guys had something

  • Fantastic song that was never played enough!

  • He's Not playing that 12 string.. He is Playing with it