A Great Beat, You Could Always Dance To It -- Give It A Hundred

[filkertom]

Great sadness, as an icon of our childhoods is gone. Dick Clark has passed away at the age of 82. A TV personality extraordinaire, Mr. Clark created and hosted American Bandstand, giving many classic music acts their first national exposure; hosted The $Amount Pyramid, one of the very best game shows ever to hit the airwaves; and hosted the New Year's Eve party from Times Square in New York City for I don't even know how long.

And he never seemed to age.

Genial, gentle, funny, smart, good-looking, excellent sensibilities for the entertainment industry in general and television in particular... and he was around more than long enough to influence everything, in a way very few others -- Carson, Cronkite -- have.

Thing is, I can't find it in my heart to be sombre. He had a damn good run. That being the case, here's the original "Bandstand Boogie" by Les Elgart, and a great live version of the song by Barry Manilow (who wrote the new lyrics with Bruce Sussman).

So, for now, Dick Clark... so long.

Comments

[kshandra]

You're missing a closing bracket on the Manilow link. And I loved NPH's take on the classic Clark sign-off.

[filkertom]

Thanks -- fixed.