21. shangri-las, "dressed in black"
why here? see number 20. "dressed in black" segues into the unfettered horniness of the track 22 than it does into the refined jauntiness of "la vie en rose."
why this song? the b-side of "he cried," "dressed in black" deserves to be spoken in the same breath with other shangri-las classics like "leader of the pack," "past, present and future," "give him a great big kiss," etc. it's something of a sequel to "leader of the pack," but stripped down to chilling effect. the lyrics read like pages from a teenager's diary as only shadow morton could write them. parents forbid girl to see boy. girl espies boy, dressed in black, from her window. girl is implicitly dressed in black because black is how she feels on the inside. the chorus is a towering, two-hanky affair, images of lips locked and embraces shared as painted from memory. best of all is the ending: a spoken vocal is accompanied solely by a knocking meant to symbolize feet climbing stairs. love has gone forever and the silence is disquieting.