An Anthology of Demos from Fabled Pop Songwriter Doc Pomus: Review
by Jeff Burger
Back in the so-called Brill Building era, before acts like Bob Dylan and the Beatles rewrote the rules and started penning their own material, a large percentage of the hits on Billboard’s charts were composed not by their performers but by professional songwriters. Many of these tunes were the work of a handful of New York–based teams, such as Gerry Goffin and Carole King, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, Neil Sedaka and Howie Greenfield and, last but not least, Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman.
Pomus—who also wrote on his own and with other collaborators—was among the most prolific of the bunch. Unlike King and Sedaka, who achieved success as songwriters before becoming well-known performers, he began his musical career by spending 10 years as a blues singer before turning his focus to songwriting. When he did, he wrote, or in many cases, co-wrote, lots of classic early rock and pop hits, including “Lonely Avenue” (Ray Charles, 1956), “A Teenager in Love” (Dion and the Belmonts, 1959), “This Magic Moment” (The Drifters, 1960), and “Suspicion” (Elvis Presley, 1961), to name a few.
The strength of Pomus’ work has a lot to do with the extent to which it rings true for listeners. And that, in turn, probably has something to do with the degree to which much of it reflects his personal experience. For instance, “A Teenager in Love” began life as a sunny tune called “It’s Great to Be Young and in Love,” but Pomus’ own teen years taught him that romance can often be more painful than satisfying, so he re-wrote the number to include lines like, “Each time we have a quarrel, it almost breaks my heart, ’cause I am so afraid that we will have to part.”
A more poignant example is “Save the Last Dance for Me.” Pomus, who was confined to a wheelchair due to childhood polio, composed that Drifters classic after watching his bride dance with other men at their 1957 wedding. “You can dance…,” he sang, “but don’t forget who’s taking you home, and in whose arms you’re gonna be.”
The hit versions of Pomus’ songs are widely available on many albums. What has not been accessible are the original demos of these tunes, nearly all of which date from the mid-1950s through the 1960s. That changes with the Aug. 15, 2025, release of a fascinating six-CD set called You Can’t Hip a Square: The Doc Pomus Songwriting Demos. The anthology, whose compilers include Pomus’ daughter, Sharyn Felder, comes with a copiously illustrated, LP-sized hardcover book that includes an introduction from her as well as essays by producer/writer Eddie Gorodefsky and critics Geoffrey Himes and Peter Guralnick.
Medical convention: Doc Pomus (l.) with Dr. John
As Himes notes in his piece, Pomus’ “roll call of triumphs” prompts two questions: “What did these songs sound like before they were handed over to [the performers]? And if these are just the iceberg tip of a massive catalog of hundreds of songs—and they are—what do the others sound like? This collection…is an effort to answer both inquiries.”
It does just that. Issued to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Pomus’ birth, the box features 165 demos, most of which were previously unreleased. More than half feature Shuman on vocals and piano. Other performers include fellow Bill Building–era composers Greenwich and Sedaka, singer Kenny Rankin, blues and R&B artist Titus Turner and, on about two dozen tracks, Pomus himself.
Unfortunately, “Save the Last Dance for Me” isn’t in the program, but all the other songs mentioned above are here, along with some more that became hits. The anthology devotes a full disc to tunes Pomus co-wrote for Elvis, including such numbers as “A Mess of Blues,” “Kiss Me Quick,” “Viva Las Vegas” and “Kissin’ Cousins.” Equally interesting, though, are obscurities such as “It’s a Nothing World,” “Destination Heartbreak,” “It’s a Man’s World” and “Silly Boy,” all of which sound as if they could have been hits.
Related: Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller interview
If you’re just a casual fan of the musical era that produced these songs, you might be satisfied with owning just some of the original chart tunes. But especially if you’ve seen the 2013 film A.K.A. Doc Pomus or have read Alex Halberstadt’s Lonely Avenue, a 2007 biography [available here], you’re bound to want to further explore the work of this fascinating and idiosyncratic songwriter. There’s no better place to start than with this box.
[The collection is available in the U.S. here, in Canada here and in the U.K. here.]
Listen to Pomus and Shuman’s demo of “It’s Great to Be Young and In Love,” which became “A Teenager in Love,” a smash hit for Dion and the Belmonts
Burger wrote one of the first interview-based profiles of Bruce Springsteen to be published in a national magazine. He has interviewed many other music-world luminaries as well, including Steve Van Zandt, Roger McGuinn, John Sebastian, Wolfman Jack, Tom Waits, Foreigner’s Mick Jones, Billy Joel, Steve Forbert, Tommy James, the Righteous Brothers, Gordon Lightfoot, Deep Purple’s Tommy Bolin, and members of Steely Dan and the Marshall Tucker Band. He has also interviewed many other public figures, such as Suze Orman, Daymond John, James Carville, Donald Trump, Sir Richard Branson, F. Lee Bailey, and Cliff Robertson.
His books include Dylan on Dylan: Interviews and Encounters, Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon, Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen: Interviews and Encounters, and Springsteen on Springsteen: Interviews, Speeches, and Encounters, all of which are published in the U.S. and Canada by Chicago Review Press. The books have been republished in numerous other countries.
Burger has been the editor of several periodicals, including Business Jet Traveler, from which he retired in 2024. During his 20 years at that
publication, it received more than 120 major editorial awards, including multiple wins for the world’s Best Consumer Travel Magazine in the annual Folio:Eddie competition.
Burger lives in Ridgewood, New Jersey. His wife, Madeleine Beresford, is a puppeteer and former preschool director and teacher. The couple have two grown children.
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