THE STYLISTICS - TEARS AND SOUVENIRS

TEARS AND SOUVENIRS

THE STYLISTICS

SONGWRITER: THE STYLISTIC

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: THANK YOU BABY

LABEL: AVCO RECORDS

GENRE: SOUL

YEAR: 1975

 

          The Stylistics are an American, Philadelphia soul group that achieved their greatest chart success in the 1970s. They formed in 1968, with a lineup of singers Russell Thompkins Jr., Herb Murrell, Airrion Love, James Smith and James Dunn. All of their US hits were ballads characterized by the falsetto of Russell Thompkins Jr. and the production of Thom Bell. During the early 1970s, the group had twelve consecutive R&B top ten hits, including "Stop, Look, Listen", "You Are Everything", "Betcha by Golly, Wow", "I'm Stone in Love with You", "Break Up to Make Up" and "You Make Me Feel Brand New", which earned them 5 gold singles and 3 gold albums.

    The Stylistics were created from two Philadelphia groups, The Percussions and The Monarchs. Russell Thompkins Jr., James Smith and Airrion Love came from the Monarchs, and James Dunn and Herb Murrell came from the Percussions. In 1970, the group recorded "You're a Big Girl Now", a song their road manager Marty Bryant co-wrote with Robert Douglas, a member of their backing band Slim and the Boys, and the single became a regional hit for Sebring Records. Producer Bill Perry spent $400 to record the song in the Virtue Studios in Philadelphia. The larger Avco Records soon signed the Stylistics, and the single eventually climbed to No. 7 on the US Billboard R&B chart in early 1971. 

The day she said goodbye

the day she said goodbye

she left me with tears

tears and souvenirs

tears and souvenirs

tears and souvenir

hello faded valentine

do you remember me

how will I know

your words of yesterday

valentine what's new today

 

hello happy photograph

I still remember you

that funny face

that change my life somehow

photograph where is she now...

 

the day she said goodbye

the day she said goodbye

the day she said goodbye

she left me with tears

tears and souvenir

 

little painted clown

lies that meants so much

we've been out of touch

and you were born of

deck of cards

you knew very well

I've been left alone

playing solitaire...

 

hello silent souvenirs

forgive me if I should cry

but no one knows.

as well as you my friends

this life of mine

came to an end

the day she said goodbye

the day she said goodbye

and left me with tears

tears and souvenirs

tears and souvenirs

 

the day she said goodbye

tears and souvenirs

the day she said goodbye

tears and souvenirs.