Today’s classic song of the day is another gem from the songwriting team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman. The song is “This Magic Moment” and the Drifters released it as a single in January of 1960. The Drifters’ single, produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, went all the way to #16 on the Billboard Hot 100, #9 on the Cash Box Top 100, and #4 on Billboard’s R&B chart.
During the late-50s/early-60s, Pomus and Shuman were second only to Leiber and Stoller in terms of number of hits produced. Doc and Mort composed more than 500 songs between 1958 and 1965, 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 songs had a poetic quality unique amongst the typical teen tunes of the day. This is evident with “That Magic Moment,” which perfectly expresses that instant when one finds oneself helplessly falling in love:
This magic moment
So different and so new
Was like any other
Until I kissed you
And then it happened
It took me by surprise
I knew that you felt it too
By the look in your eyes
Sweeter than wine
Softer than a summer night
Everything I want I have
Whenever I hold you tight
This isn’t “moon-June” stuff; the words have a lyricism and a soul that can stand alone, with or without music. You can feel the protagonist’s longing as he tries to describe what it feels like to hold his lover tight; it’s beyond feelings, it’s beyond words, it’s “everything I want I have whenever I hold you tight”—the stuff that dreams are made of.
It can be said that Pomus and Shuman injected soul into white pop music. Pomus himself (who wrote mostly lyrics) commented on the need for a writer to speak from the heart:
“I look at music one way. It’s either soulful… or not. If it’s internal it’s great, if it’s external it’s not great. I can tell where a songwriter has sat with a line for two weeks. To me, any artist who sits there analyzing the lines should be a mathematician instead.”
As to “This Magic Moment,” the song had a second life when it was covered by Jay and the Americans in 1968. Their version was actually bigger than the Drifters’ original, going all the way to #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 on the Cash Box Top 100. It’s a terrific tune, no matter who does it.
