The “Wildwood Fun” single, by Lefty and the Leadsmen.
Presumably inspired by Bobby Rydell’s 1963 hit “Wildwood Days,” Pittsburgh’s Lefty and the Leadsmen came up with a harder-rocking, Chuck Berry-influenced Wildwood song of their own, “Wildwood Fun.”
“When you’re there for the first time/You’ll be back next year/You can count on that, without any fear/You see everyone, they’re having Wildwood fun,” go some of the lyrics.
It came out on the Pittsburgh-based Co and Ce label, which also put out discs by Pittsburgh artists such as Lou Christie and the Vogues. And while it didn’t really become a hit, it did make it onto several compilation albums, and remains a fun relic of the time.
Check it out below.
Lefty, by the way, is Lefty Pedroski, who went on to have a long career as a songwriter and actor. (He’s been in many national commercials you’ve probably seen.)
There is more information on him at leftypedroski.com.
New Jersey celebrated its 350th birthday in 2014. And in the 350 Jersey Songs series, we marked the occasion by posting 350 songs — one a day, from September 2014 to September 2015 — that have something to do with the state, its musical history, or both. To see the entire list, click here.
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