Doo Wop

The Harptones (also spelled Harp-Tones), featuring Willie Winfield on the tenor lead, were one of the most revered and influential doo wop vocal groups, even though they didn’t have nationally charting hits in this first era of rock and roll.

The song “A Sunday King of Love” is more than one of the golden oldies favorites, as it’s a jazz and pop standard It was written by Barbara Belle, Anita Leonard, Stan Rhodes, and Louis Prima, and was first published in 1946. The first recording was by Claude Thornhill and his Orchestra, sung by Fran Warren, in 1946. Louis Prima, Frankie Laine, Jo Stafford, and Ella Fitzgerald recorded it in 1947. And then there’s the great arrangement by The Harptones, with their special harmonies, which was recorded in 1953.

The Harptones formed in Manhattan in 1953. Notable are the lead singer Willie Winfield and their pianist/arranger/singer Raoul J. Cita who knew how to work their strengths. For “A Sunday Kind of Love,” group members were Winfield, Cita, Nicky Clark, William Dempsey, Bill Brown, and Bill “Dicey” Galloway. Other classic songs from The Harptones are “Life is But a Dream” (1955) and “My Memories of You” (1956). Group personnel has changed over the years, but The Harptones continued to tour and perform for many decades.

Here are the lyrics to “A Sunday Kind of Love” by The Harptones:

“(GROUP:) I’m through with my old love,
I loved her through and through.
I’m searching for a new love–
Can that new love be you?
(LEAD:) I want a Sunday kind of love,
A love to last past Saturday night;
I want to know it’s more than love at first sight,
I want a Sunday kind of love.
I want a love that’s on the square–
Can’t seem to find somebody to care.
I’m on a lonely road that leads me nowhere,
I want a Sunday kind of love
I do my Sunday dreaming
And all my Sunday scheming
Every minute, every hour, every day;
I’m hoping to discover
A certain kind of lover–
(BASS:) Who will show me the way?
(LEAD:) My heart needs someone to enfold,
To keep me warm when Mondays are cold,
A love for all my life, to have and to hold–
I want a Sunday kind of love.
I want a Sunday– kind of–
Lo-o-o-o-ove”

For More Golden Oldies Music

The Daily Doo Wop Rec Room has daily featured doo wop, rock and roll, R&B, or rockabilly songs that were hits during the first era of rock and roll (that is, from about 1952 until the British invasion in 1964). After a song is featured, it then goes into the juke box. You are welcome to listen to any of the 40+ selections there. Every weekend, there is a Golden Oldies Juke Box Saturday Night, and the juke box is full of song requests from the 1950s and 1960s.

Please click here for the Daily Doo Wop YouTube channel, to which you can subscribe. Thank you for stopping by The Daily Doo Wop. Hope you enjoyed “A Sunday Kind of Love” by The Harptones.