Doc Pomus - You Can’t Hip A Square: The Doc Pomus Songwriting Demos

“My dad used to say, if you talk to any songwriter who’s had a bunch of hits, they’ll tell you about the 50 other songs they wrote that were just as good, or even better, that nothing ever happened with.” —Sharyn Felder (Doc Pomus’ daughter) 

Doc Pomus was a songwriter’s songwriter, crafting lyrics that have stood the test of time. You Can’t Hip A Square: The Doc Pomus Songwriting Demos is a masterclass in songwriting through the lens of Doc Pomus’ career and via previously unheard demos largely sung by his writing partner, Mort Shuman. You Can’t Hip A Square traces Doc and his songwriting partners’ careers across the beloved rock, pop and R&B hits that became 20th century standards. Songs like, “A Teenager In Love,” “Viva Las Vegas,” “Lonely Avenue,” “Save The Last Dance For Me,” “This Magic Moment,” recorded
by artists like Elvis Presley, Lou Reed, The Drifters, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Beach Boys, Ray Charles, The Coasters, Dionne Warwick, Dion, The Everly Brothers, Linda Ronstadt, and more! The lists of songs and artists who recorded them goes on and on. Now, for the first time, the demo acetates kept by Doc and cared for by his daughter
Sharyn Felder, have been carefully transferred, restored, mastered, and assembled into a 6-CD / Digital boxed set that includes some of the biggest hits of Doc’s career in demo form as well as a treasure trove of previously unheard, unknown songs that were left behind and never cut by any artist. It’s a remarkable collection of ‘what ifs’ of late ’50s and ’60s
popular music. Is it possible one of the songs left behind could have hit #1 had it been cut by a popular artist like Elvis?

Co-produced by Sharyn Felder, publisher Will Bratton, and Omnivore’s multiple Grammy Award-winning producer Cheryl Pawelski, the collection also features a main liner note essay by Geoffrey Himes with additional side notes by Sharyn Felder, Peter Guralnick, Eddie Gorodetsky, Will Bratton, and Cheryl Pawelski. Restoration and mastering were handled by multiple Grammy Award-winning engineer Michael Graves and Jordan McLeod at Osiris Studio. The packaging includes ephemera from the estate, photos from throughout Doc’s life and pictures of choice acetates and sheet music all in a 48-
page hardbound book. Don’t be a square, get hip to the songs and enduring legacy of Doc Pomus!

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