Pop Music

White, pink, and blue. Being passed over for another in love can certainly color your world. Marty Robbins wrote both the words and music to the “A White Sport Coat (and a Pink Carnation)” in 1957. He was in Ohio, driving from a motel to a gig, and he saw high school students all dressed up going to their prom. Ray Conniff did the arrangement, as he was the Columbia Records’ in-house conductor/arranger at the time. Mitch Miller produced the record. In 1957, it went to #1 on the U.S. Country Chart, #2 on the U.S. Billboard Pop Chart, and #1 in Australia. In the U.K., a covers by Terry Dene and also The King Brothers charted within the Top 20 there. Robbins’ version sold more than one million copies and earned an RIAA gold record.

Marty Robbins was a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and an avid racing car driver. He had successfully charting song for nearly four decades. Robbins was in the United States Navy during World War II. He had other hits with “El Paso,” a signature song for him, “Don’t Worry,” “Big Iron,” and “I Told the Brook,” to mention a few.

Here are the lyrics to “A White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation)”:

A white sport coat and a pink carnation
I’m all dressed up for the dance
A white sport coat and a pink carnation
I’m all alone in romance

Once you told me long ago
To the prom with me you’d go
Now you’ve changed your mind it seems
Someone else will hold my dreams

A white sport coat and a pink carnation
I’m in a blue blue mood.
A white sport coat and a pink carnation
I’m all dressed up for the dance
A white sport coat and a pink carnation
I’m all alone in romance

Once you told me long ago
To the prom with me you’d go
Now you’ve changed your mind it seems
Someone else will hold my dreams

A white sport coat and a pink carnation
I’m in a blue blue mood.

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.

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