“Save the Last Dance for Me” (The Drifters)

Today’s classic dance song of the day is “Save the Last Dance for Me” by the Drifters. Released in August of 1960, it spent three weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was written by the legendary songwriting team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman and produced by the equally (if not more so) legendary Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.

Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman composed more than 500 songs between 1958 and 1965 for artists as diverse as Elvis Presley and Andy Williams. Before meeting Mort Shuman, Doc Pomus had achieved moderate success as a white blues singer. He started writing songs in the early 1950s, composing “Lonely Avenue” for Ray Charles and teaming up with Leiber and Stoller for the Coasters’ “Youngblood.” Pomus gave up singing in 1957 and partnered with Mort Shuman the following year; Pomus wrote the lyrics while Shuman handled the music. They soon took up residence at 1650 Broadway (across the street from the famous Brill Building) and signed with Don Kirshner and Al Nevins’ Aldon Music, which also handled songwriters Carol King and Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, and Neil Diamond.

For the next several years, Pomus and Shuman penned one hit after another, including “A Teenager in Love” for Dion and the Belmonts; “This Magic Moment” and “Save the Last Dance for Me” for the Drifters; and “Little Sister”, “Suspicion,” and “Viva Las Vegas” for Elvis Presley.

Pomus and Shuman’s songs were, on the surface, typical boy-girl tunes, but with a poetic quality not present in most of the teen fodder of the day. Particularly poignant are Doc’s words to “Save the Last Dance for Me,” especially when you realize that, crippled by polio as a child, he could never take the dance floor himself:

You can dance ev’ry dance with the guy who gives you the eye; let him hold you tight
You can smile ev’ry smile for the man who held your hand ‘neath the pale moonlight
But don’t forget who’s taking you home and in whose arms you’re gonna be
So darlin’, save the last dance for me

Oh I know that the music’s fine, like sparkling wine; go and have your fun
Laugh and sing but while we’re apart don’t give your heart to anyone
And don’t forget who’s taking you home and in whose arms you’re gonna be
So darlin’, save the last dance for me

Baby don’t you know I love you so?
Can’t you feel it when we touch?
I will never ever let you go
I love you, oh so much

You can dance, go and carry on ’til the night is gone and it’s time to go
And if he asks if you’re all alone, can he take you home you must tell him no
‘Cause don’t forget who’s taking you home and in whose arms you’re gonna be
So darlin’, save the last dance for me

The story goes that Doc, a big bear of a man, scribbled these lyrics at his own wedding reception as he watched his beautiful blonde bride, actress Willi Burke, dancing with all the other men there. She could dance with them, but not with Doc, forever doomed to walk with crutches or in a wheelchair. Doc took solace in the fact that it was he who she’d be coming home with, not them.

After their incredibly fruitful seven-year partnership, Pomus and Shuman split in 1965. Mort Shuman went on to collaborate with other writers, moved to Paris, and wrote, produced, and starred in the stage play Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris; he died in 1991, at the age of 54. Doc Pomus left the music business for a decade (spending the time as a professional gambler!), then returned in the late 1970s to collaborate with the likes of Dr. John and B.B. King; he also died in 1991, aged 65.