THE SEARCHERS - “Don’t Throw Your Love Away”
(9th May 1964)
Love’s a funny thing. A catch-all ingredient for pop songs - particularly these pop songs, at this time - the word can stand for anything from a pang of mild yearning to physical passion to an all-encompassing mystical force. This song starts as gentle persuasion - nudging someone away from making a bad romantic decision - and then midway turns into an editorial scolding “lovers of today”. Apparently said lovers will give their love to anyone who says “I love you” - surely not a dig at any other bands? The tension - and the clumsiness - in the song is in the way it shifts between love as a unique commodity (“you might need it some day”) and love as a trinket.
In the end it’s hard not to read the record as a pro-virginity message dressed up in (yes, very pretty and tender) pop trappings. That’s fair enough - coded discussions of going all the way aren’t uncommon in 60s pop. But a record like The Shirelles’ “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” locates the question in the first person and in a moment of decision and is much more potent for it. “Don’t Throw Your Love Away” - also originally a Shirelles track - is more impersonal and so never escapes the shadow of wagging fingers. 5
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FT's Doctor Mod on July 31st, 2006
“A pro-virginity message”. . . hmm. My mother didn’t think so! She banned the song from the house after hearing the line “Go out and have your fun/ you better have your fun with anyone,” thinking it was advocating promiscuity! (I’ll not speculate on my mother’s idea of “fun,” although I rather think she was opposed to it, whatever it was.)
I didn’t know that this was a Shirelles cover. (Someday I’m going to write something on the the Shirelles’ influence on British male pop music, but don’t hold your breath.) Considering the girl-group ethos, then, the “pro-virginity message” is probably correct, even if I find the lyrics a bit ambiguous–just what is this “fun” one is supposed to have with “anyone,” eh? But the Shirelles were great at what I call the “advice” song (think “Foolish Little Girl”), and this particular advice, for what it’s worth, makes an interested addition to that genre.
FT's wichitalineman on May 12th, 2008
A pedant writes… it was originally by Philadelphia girl (and one guy) group The Orlons, b-side of small US hit Bon Doo Wah. And they sing “go out and have a ball, have a ball with one and all” instead of the “have your fun” line. So the Searchers adapted this virginity-promoting item to make it a little more risque.
FT's DJ Punctum on May 12th, 2008
Or perhaps to get it played on the Light Programme.
The Searchers turned up on the Johnnie Walker show yesterday; very funny and entertaining as people but I wish I could feel more passionate about their music.