CNS STORY: Song from '50s still paying off for Dominican priest who co-wrote it

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CNS Story:

SONG Oct-16-2007 (710 words) With photo. xxxn

Song from '50s still paying off for Dominican priest who co-wrote it

By Peter Finney Jr.
Catholic News Service

HAMMOND, La. (CNS) -- So what's a nice, mild-mannered, 72-year-old Dominican priest doing collecting thousands of dollars in royalty checks for a rock 'n' roll classic that he co-wrote in the 1950s -- a song eventually made famous by Ricky Nelson and one that has furthered the religious mission of the Dominicans?

Father Cayet Mangiaracina, who co-wrote "Hello, Mary Lou, Goodbye Heart," simply shakes his head and chuckles about the song that keeps on giving.

"The embarrassing thing about the song, which I wrote as 'Merry, Merry Lou,' is that it sounds like I got jilted," said Father Mangiaracina, a New Orleans native who is parochial vicar of Holy Ghost Church in Hammond.

"The words were like, 'Why do you do the things you always do? ... I sit here sighing, just thinking all about you.' In the '50s, songs didn't make that much sense. Rhythm was the big thing," he told the Clarion Herald, newspaper of the New Orleans Archdiocese.

In 1953, Father Mangiaracina was 18, fresh out of Jesuit High School and considering a religious vocation when he auditioned as a piano player for the Sparks, a rock 'n' roll group whose five members played for $1 an hour at youth dances.

He could only play chords, "but when we started to play some rock 'n' roll, I kind of clicked with the group," Father Mangiaracina recalled.

The band's four other members -- Ronnie Massa, alto sax; Don Bailey, bass; Joe Lovecchio, tenor sax; and Don Connell, drums -- were still in high school.

For the two years the young man attended Loyola University, he kept the idea of a vocation to the priesthood in the back of his mind, but he also couldn't get enough of rhythm and blues and country music, either on the radio or in person.

"I would hear Fats Domino sing 'Blueberry Hill' and I tried to imitate him," Father Mangiaracina said. "We played one night at Annunciation Parish for a Friday night dance, and we had just finished a song when a bunch of white teenagers came up to the band and said, 'Gee, whiz, it's a white band.' That was the greatest compliment I ever had."

In 1954 he sat down at his family's upright piano and banged out a tune that he titled "Merry, Merry Lou." It became a local hit for the Sparks.

A few years later when he had left New Orleans to study for the Dominican priesthood, the Sparks won a battle-of-the-bands contest in New Orleans and earned a recording session in New York City with Decca Records.

One of the two original songs the band selected for their 45 phonograph record was "Merry, Merry Lou." Bill Haley and the Comets and Sam Cooke liked the song so much they recorded their own versions. Then in the 1960s, Ricky Nelson released "Hello, Mary Lou, Goodbye Heart," written by Gene Pitney.

Because the song was a dead ringer for "Merry, Merry Lou," the Sparks' publisher filed suit, and Father Mangiaracina was given co-authorship with Pitney. Royalties from the song went to the priest's mother until her death in 1988, then they were forwarded to the Dominicans' Southern province.

"Last year it was $35,000," Father Mangiaracina said, smiling. "About three or four years ago, I got a check for $90,000. When I was studying for the priesthood, I thought about all the glory I could be sharing. But then, by the grace of God, God hit me in the head and said, 'You'd better rethink this.'"

"I think it's been my calling to be a people person and to serve others through liturgy and preaching and then doing other ministry such as preparing people for weddings or baptisms, visiting the sick in the hospital and at home," he said.

Father Mangiaracina, who helped form a popular contemporary Catholic music group while he was at St. Dominic Parish from 1967 to 1980, feels good music is crucial in enhancing today's worship experience.

"It helps us lift our hearts in praise to God," he said. "That's what liturgy is all about -- to come and worship God through Christ. Good music helps create the atmosphere to do that."

END

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