’To Know Him Is to Love Him,’ was a hit song written and produced by Phil Spector for his group The Teddy Bears, which went to number one in the pop charts in 1958. The words to the song came to Spector in dream when he was sixteen years old—he saw the phrase ‘To Know Him was to Love Him’ on his father, Ben, who killed himself some years earlier’s grave stone. It’s a sad and beautiful doo-wop song, sang wonderfully by Annette Kleinbard.

Spector was a nervous and hyperactive teenager who started off playing guitar along to the transistor radio. He played while listening to Jazz, black soul music and later was introduced to classical music: such as Bach and Beethoven. He became an apprentice to the great record producers, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who helped improved his craft. The pair had a mirage of R&B; Latin tinged hits with The Coasters and most noticeably with The Drifters. With their innovative use of String orchestras and saxophone, like riffs on The Drifters, ‘There goes My Baby.’ They served as precursors for what would be dubbed Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound;” Little two and three minute symphonies for the kids. Which brought sophistication to the rock and roll sound, which were often compared to a Wagnerian opera, gradually building in intensity. Spector often had to go to a certain studio to get the sound he was looking for—often Goldstar in LA. With its small rooms and low ceiling he could create his big and colourful sound. The lyrics to the songs were often inane ‘Baby I love You,’ ‘Then He kissed Me’, ‘Why do Lovers Break each Other’s hearts.’ The songs were for teens; but the musicality was superior.

There appears to be dozens of noises, and voices and instruments being played in a typical Spector record. He loved for the records to sound raw, distorted and soulful; yet always with great sense of melody and rhythm: He worked with Ben E. King, The Crystals, The Ronettes, The Righteous Brothers, Ike and Tina Turner, The Beatles and with George Harrison’s and John Lennon’s solo albums.

One of his greatest success’s was his often over looked album, ‘A Christmas Gift from Me To You’ which included ‘I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus’, ‘Sleigh Ride’, ‘Frosty the Snow Man’ and an original tune called, ‘Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) which featured the powerful, and soulful voice of Darlene Love, who was Spector’s favourite to work in the studio.

Spector is most noted for the songs he produced such as, ‘He’s a Rebel,’ ‘Then He Kissed Me,’ ‘Walking in The Rain,’ ‘Baby I love You’ and is often most recognized for ‘Be My Baby,’ by The Ronettes and ‘You’ve Lost that Lovin Feelin,’ by The Righteous Brothers. The latter opens with the pungent line, ‘You never close your eyes any more when I kiss your lips.’ It begins as mournful dirge about lost love and reaches a Crescendo with The Righteous Brothers belting out, ‘I need your love’. Spector didn’t know if the song would catch on then, because didn’t really sound like anything else that was out that time. But is clear to hear his classical, jazz, Latin and blue-eyed soul influences in the song which went to number one on the charts in 1965 and is considered a classic now and the most played song in radio history.

Damion Hamilton lives in St. Louis Missouri. He works in a warehouse you know, so that he can pay for stuff. He had few friends in high school; so he would spend his lunch hour in the school library reading Edgar Allen Poe and encyclopaedias. He didn't really become serious about writing poetry until he was twenty. That's when he read Arthur Rimbaud's, ‘A Season In Hell’ and he's been writing poetry ever since. He walks the streets, or drives around the streets of this city at night: seeing, hearing, feeling and thinking about things. Sometimes he's fortunate enough, to get these things down in a notebook or on a typewriter. To read a selection of Damion’s writing on the showcase section of this site, click here.

© 2007 Laura Hird All rights reserved.