Flamingos, The - Golden Teardrops Lyrics

the best

I wanted to listen to this song, because I heard Jonny Carter from the Dells is singing in the background...

This has got to be the best group ballad ever recorded. I just bought the 78 today, I couldn't be happier.

Here are the lyrics. Some of it was hard to make out, so parts may be incorrect. Comment any correction suggestions:

Golden Teardrops
I remember when
You fell from the eyes of my love
You made me reconsider what a fool I’ve been
And swear to go astray no more
By all the stars above

Golden Teardrops
You haunt my memories
The reason you came was because of me
You made me sit right down
And head up the score
So go back where you came from
She won’t need you anymore

I never realized that I was unfair
To a love that was really sincere
I never knew how much you really cared
So darling put away your tears
'Cause I’ll remember
No matter where you’ll be
In a crowded room
Or a busy street
Or a cottage by the sea
But until the end of time
And throughout eternity
I’ll remember (I’ll remember)
To cheer (not to shed)
Those Golden Teardrops for me
Those Golden Teardrops for me
Those Golden Teardrops for me

simply the best

Johhny Carter soaring falsettos Wow!

Is that Johnny Carter doing the floating falsetto? Later became a staple in The Dells.. someone tell me please

Yep, I think it is Jonny Carter.

The falsetto from about the 2:51 mark to the 3:01 mark is just great. That might have been the late great Johnny Carter of the Dells.

Correct. Johnny was with The Flamingos until he got drafted.

A wonderful record. So great.

A classic.

I MAY HAVE COMMENT B4 BUT I AM IN TUNE AGAIN, THESE BIRDS.OMG SO GOOD AT ALL TIMES.

Certainly sounds like it was an influence on Brian Wilson for Pet Sounds & Smile/Smiley Smile

Haunting and beautiful ... I had a chance to see Zeke and Jake Carey perform a few years ago and their voices were still awesome. RIP your music is eternal.

You ain't alone.  This exquisite record makes other doo-wop groups just sit down and weep even today.  The vocal arrangement took skill, technique, and care to pull off (especially the a cappella beginning - intricate and bluesy at the same time).  Even though it fell on deaf ears initially, (except in Chicago), you just know with each record since, they never gave one inch in quality and were working towards something special....

Well said, Donald. Thx

glad they are in th r & r hall.

Another Masterpiece for future generations to enjoy! Thank you Flamingos!

Mine were 18 top hits with shake rattle and roll on 3 eps, and then Blue Suede Shoes on a 45

Co-Writer: Johnnie Carter (of The Dells)

Interesting. thx

And (of The Flamingos) where he does the counter-tenor/male soprano/falsetto/high voice, as he does, here.

Johnny was with The Flamingos until he was drafted into the army. When he got out, he joined The Dells.

The Flamingos never made a bad record !

+john haas I agree. Their style was unique, wonderful, yet never copied successfully. Look for some LPs of theirs on YT, they have some hidden gems!!

never had a bad "FRONTMAN".THE BEST & MY FAVORITE GROUP OF ALL TIME! (MY OPINION). TOM D.

You're right!

I remember listening to an oldies show on the east coast over 30 years ago, when he said this was one of the rarest records ever made. I wonder if it's still true.

+edd bayes It's certainly a good one. I see it come up on ebay like once a week. Maybe it's the same copy being resold eh?

srercrcr hey man great stuff..my older brother was always singing on street corners during mid to late 50s...we emigrated from Italy right after ww2 ( 1946) as children ..lived in Little Italy uptown ( 106th Street in Manhattan,NYC)..my brother Frankie was incredible singer who sang with alit of mostly black groups ( gangs) in area and Harlem....i could tell you stories of gang fights and vocal Harmony shootouts with Puerto Rican gangs back in the day.. singing on corners , hallways, rooftops. my brother died of drug overdose in 1959 at 18...he patterned his voice after the flamingos and Larks ! he collected ( stole) all the stuff lol .....had reputation already in streets as a soulful paisan....

Val shivley has a red wax chance for sale for about a grand, look it up on his site

ahhhhhhhhhhahhhhhhahhhhhhhahhhhhhhhhhhahflamingos omg in the days of music.

raphael askew incredible....

So good to hear this again. My favorite song  by the Flamingos is "I'll Be Home,"  which has the best ending of any record, IMHO. Like they took two years to perfect what they started with "Golden Teardrops." Thanks. for posting.

@OtisFan1 Yep, nobody could do it like the Flamingos! Thx

To charlie greenberg, You are 100% correct until you got to "THE GREAT ALAN FREED".  In the last part of your message about slim-ball Freed, you are 150% correct.  Thanks pal!

Jack Rescoe

Dick C lark never had a one black couple on his TV show dancing Who is the slime ball?

Flip side is an early rocker..."Carried Away", their 3rd recording, circa 1953

This song has that haunting sound that you will find on others later on...  "Love Walked In".  

Their GREATEST SONG EVER, in the Bronx, thats in NYC, there was a radio station in the fifties, called WINS, at night the music was hosted by THE GREAT ALAN FREED, HE WAS GREAT.  He was accused in the late fifties early sixties for being involved in the payola scandal, HE WASN'T

@charlie greenberg Freed was instrumental in launching the careers of the Moonglows.

@srercrcr He was also instrumental in launching a lot of other group's career's

charlie greenberg

Dick Clark came out of that era smelling like roses

charlie greenberg 1010 WINS was our go to station in Jersey City. I remember Alan Freed and other D J’s of that fabulous era .

in the50's in jersey there wasWNJR Newark not a lot of watts but it reached us  blues r&b and doo woop we called it the black spot on the dial the place to get away from white cover tunes

Yes a good point Fritz

I used to stop for a while when passing through listening to WNJR. If you didn't, you'd lose it about a half a mile away. AM radio toward the end 1470 or close to that.

@fritz dombroski Do you remember it well? "Danny Stiles, the keeper of the keys to the cat kingdom. The old wailer on the back fence." I used to listen to him up in Brockton, MA.

I can't believe this was 53 (I was 9) and listening to this music.
Still one of my favorites.

Just search around some Lyrics sites....maybe you'll get lucky

This song is incredible. I've listened to it 50 or more times. How this song wasn't a top 5 hit in 1953 is beyond me! Does anyone have the lyrics?

Ths so much for your contribution.

The Flamingos, One of Chicago's great groups, along with The Spaniels (who have definitely been slighted by the 'Rock & Roll Hall of Fame) The Impressions,
The Chi-lites, and of course The Mighty Dells.
Lead Vocals: Sollie McElroy
Tenor: The late Johnnie Carter, who had 40 plus career years, with The Dells, before
passing in 2009. Johnnie is a two-time inductee into the 'Rock in Roll Hall of Fame'
with: The Flamingos, and The Dells.

The best of the flamingos I have this on an original Chance 45 will never let it go.

How well I remember, such a great group in the 60's!

Working now!

I get 'em too. Thx

One of the all-time greats! It still gives me chills.

great vocals382

@themoshmenace As a witness let me state what I know.
All major cities and many smaller cities had stations that played strictly RnB at certain hours. All it took was a listener to come on down the dial. There were two Megastations I know of XERF across the river from Del Rio, TX. It reached from the Rockies east to I dont know where. The other, I'm thinking WDIA out of Galitin TN reached all over the east and midwest and south. I remember listening to both especially late at night. Thx

This copy is in GREAT shape! I can distinguish it only trivially from a brand-new copy. Truly amazing!

I listened to KXLW in Saint Louis in the '40's. Spider Burk was the region's first black DJ playing what were known ca,1947-1957 as "the boogie-joogie sounds." If you didn't start listening to black music till '56 on, you were very late to the ball. When you say, "weren't hits," do you mean exactly that? Or do you mean, "weren't hits among white people"?

Such an amazing Vocal Group, the sound will live on for those who really listen to music as this ! Then was definitely artistic than now.
Thanks !

surprised modern artist cant find a way to use some of this, especially rap as they tend to use a lot of samples