1956 Songs: Why Do Fools Fall in Love

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It’s time for a shock. As I close out the alphabetical list of songs that are now 70 years old, I’m going with a cover and not the original version. Can you believe it!? Can you believe me!? There’s a reason: the cover was the first one I heard, and it’s the one that is near and dear to my heart. Back to 1956 for a doo-wop classic. Why Do Fools Fall in Love - the Diamonds Frankie Lymon co-wrote this and recorded it with his group, the Teenagers. There were FIVE charted versions of this song released in 1956!! Heck, I could do a week just of the versions! (Fun fact: the Beach Boys also covered it in 1964, using it as the B-side to “Fun Fun Fun.”) So if you don’t like this version, you can go with the Lymon and the Teenagers original, or Gale Storm’s version for a good laugh. (It’s not all that bad, but hearing it after the others makes it sound awful.) This song provided the title of the biopic about Lymon in 1998. If you don’t know, he died of a heroin overdose at the age of 25. He didn’t even make the “27 Club.” The Diamonds’ version was their first hit, in both Canada (where they hailed from) and the U.S. It’s just a good song, and you can’t go wrong with either the Teenagers’ or the Diamonds’ version. Why Do Fools Fall in Love Written by Frankie Lymon, Herman Santiago, and Jimmy Merchant Recorded by the Diamonds Released as a single, 1956 Why does the rain fall from up above: