Today’s classic song of the day is “Let’s Lock the Door (And Throw Away the Key)” by Jay and the Americans. It’s all about a guy who met a girl at a party and can’t wait to get alone with her. As the lyrics state:
We started to talk and you smiled
Sorta like you knew the way that I felt
You moved a little closer in a while
And I knew my heart was startin’ to melt
Let’s lock the door and throw away the key now
I can’t wait to kiss you
Oh, no!
One little minute more
Nothing earth shattering here, and all kind of innocent in that mid-60s way.
“Let’s Lock the Door” was written by Roy Alfred and Wes Farrell. Roy was a Tin Pan Alley songwriter who’d been writing since the late 1940s. Wes was a little younger with more modern songs under his belt, including “Boys” (for the Shirelles and, later, the Beatles), “Hang on Sloopy” (for the McCoys), and another one for Jay and the Americans, “Come a Little Bit Closer.”
United Artists released “Let’s Lock the Door” as a single in November of 1964. It shot up the charts early in 1965, hitting #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #10 on the Cash Box Top 100.
At this point in time, the Jay in Jay and the Americans was Jay Black, who replaced John “Jay” Traynor as lead singer. Other members of the group included Kenny Vance, Howard Kane, Sandy Deanne, and Marty Sanders. Jay and the Americans had ten top forty hits, including “She Cried” (1962), “Only in America” (1963), “Come a Little Bit Closer” (1964), “Cara Mia” (1965), “Some Enchanted Evening” (1965), “Sunday and Me” (1965), “Crying” (1966), “This Magic Moment” (1968), and my personal favorite, “Walkin’ in the Rain” (1969).
Jay Black, who had been suffering from dementia for a number of years, passed away in 2021 of pneumonia. He was 82 years old.
Now to your daily bonus video of the day. It’s Jay Black and the Americans lip synching “Let’s Lock the Door (And Throw Away the Key)” on the March 3, 1965, episode of Shindig. They certainly were a clean-cut looking bunch of fellows.
