I can’t stop watching that television show about the Madison
Avenue advertising agency. You know, the one based in the 60s that chronicles
Don Draper’s sorry life.
The harder they come, the harder they fall, and this bird
fell late. Season 6 marks my first year
of indentured servitude on Sunday nights.
Did you hear that song on Mad Men? What song, you ask. Any song.
Think about it, what song do you remember hearing on Mad Men? I’ve
dissected away the draw of scenes where folks smoke and drink ad lib. What remains
are a few nice suits and some darn good songs. They’ve hooked me with the
songs. It’s acoustic memory central.
I just finished Season 1, and “My Special Angel,” (written
by Bobby Helms but made known to me in the late 60s by the Pennsylvania group
the Vogues) stands out as the most tongue-in-cheek song selection of the whole
season. After learning that the neighbor threatened to kill the Draper dog if
it attacks another one of his birds, we see Mrs. Draper in a pink peignoir,
coiffed and manicured, of course, shooting the neighbor’s birds out of the sky
with a shotgun while we listen to Bobbie Vinton sing “My Special Angel.”
I can hardly wait for the Season 6 finale tomorrow night. I don’t care what Don Draper does. I’m just in it for the songs.
You are my special angel/
Right from paradise/
I know that you’re an angel/
Heaven is in your eyes
--Bobby Helms
