Mid 6os song, I think.  Carmel by the Sea.  "Oh, my love, come back to
me, come back to me, ?this Carmel by the Sea?"  Sung by a woman.

---

Request for Question Clarification by markj-ga on 22 Jul 2004 03:44 PDT

ob specificterlax --

I have found a recording that meets your specifications.   It i
available in the online used-vinyl market in the form of a 45rpm
single for prices as low as a few dollars.  There is another version
available, but is from a very expensive box set of CDs by a much more
obscure country artist (obscure in her solo career, at least), so I am
confident that you are remembering the version available on a 45. 
Would information on purchasing that version be a satisfactory answer
to your question?

markj-ga

---

Request for Question Clarification by markj-ga on 22 Jul 2004 03:46 PDT

oberlax --

Sorry about mangling your name in my previous post.  My hands are much
too large for accurate typing on this laptop!

mark-ga

---

Clarification of Question by oberlax-ga on 22 Jul 2004 07:36 PDT

Thanks, Mark.  The song is vague.  I know the tune.  It sounds a bit
Patsy Cline like.  It wouldn't be a series of music CDs.  I think the
title might be "Carmel by the Sea."  I do remember the words: "come
back to
me, come back to me ..." and then something like, "this Carmel by the Sea." 

Trouble is, there is so much Carmel by the Sea junk, I can't find the song.

Driving me nuts.  Might have been 50s or 60s.

Oberlax

oberfax ?

Based on your description, I am confident that the song you remember
is indeed called ?Carmel By The Sea.?  It was written by country great
Mel Tillis and was recorded as a 45 rpm single in 1960 by Kitty Wells.
 I have found no indication that was included on any Kitty Wells LPs
or CD reissues.

Below is a link to a page from a Kitty Wells discography that includes
that recording, which may have been the ?B? side of a song called ?The
Man I Used To Know,? and is listed under its Decca catalog number,
9-31123:
Luma-Electronic: Kitty Wells Discography
http://www.luma-electronic.cz/lp/_sp/kitty_sp.htm

That recording is available from a variety of online used-vinyl
sellers.  Below are links to a couple of them:

This one offers it for $10 and is a highly rated seller on the
large-volume Music Stack site:
Music Stack:  Kitty Wells
http://www.musicstack.com/search/wells,_kitty.html

Here is a link to another seller:
Encore Records: Kitty Wells
http://www.encorerecords.net/or-w.htm

If you browse the results of the following Google search, you will
find some others, as well:

kitty wells "carmel by the sea"
://www.google.com/search?q=kitty+wells+%22carmel+by+the+sea%22&btnG=Search&num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8

Why am I so sure that this is the recording you remember?  
 
Kitty Wells, who made the first breakthrough by a female singer into a
top-tier country career, was an acknowledged influence on Patsy Cline:
Patsy Cline?s Influences
http://www.patsified.com/influ.htm

The song was recorded in 1960, about the time you remember, by a major
country artist.

A search at the site of the All Music Guide, an authoritative source
for popular music recordings (especially CDs)  lists this Mel Tillis
song, and only this song, as a potential candidate in a search for
recorded popular songs with the name ?Carmel By The Sea.?
All Music Guide: Song Search
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=17:230182

Since the All Music Guide focuses on CD recordings, the site led me
first to the only CD version of this song, which was recorded by
another 1950?s and 1960?s artist, Anita Carter, and recently released
on a mammoth ($200) CD retrospective of her recordings on Bear
Mountain Records.  Here is a link to the Barnes & Noble listing for
that collection:
Barnes & Noble: Appalachian Angel: Anita Carter
http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?sourceid=00401402267892675722&ean=790051641429&bfdate=07-22-2004+06:05:57

Since Anita Carter (a member of the legendary Carter family) did not
have a major career as a solo artist, and I found no indication that
her recording of the Tillis song was a hit or is currently available
in any form (except in this exhaustive collection), I am convinced
that hers is not the recording you remember.


Search Strategy:

As noted above, I got my first indication from the All Music Guide
that a country song with the title you remember exists.  I then
performed Google searches intended to separate the chaff (all the
references to Carmel, CA) from the wheat (the Tillis song).

The following search is the one that led to the information about the
Kitty Wells recording:

mel tillis "carmel by the sea"
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=mel+tillis+%22carmel+by+the+sea%22

I then performed various follow-up searches to confirm that the Wells
recording was indeed the only candidate (other than the unlikely
Carter recording) for the version you remember.

Based on your clarification, I am confident that this is the
information you are seeking.  If anything is unclear, or in the
unlikely event that you believe that this is not the recording you
remember, please ask for clarification before rating the answer and I
would be happy to assist you further.


markj-ga

What a great job, Mark.  You deserve to be paid more ... much more! 
Of course you won't get a dime more, but you deserve it.  Thanks.

oberlax --

Thanks for the kind words, the five stars and the tip?

markj-ga

I didn't mean to put a mysterious question mark at the end of my
comment.  It's this doggone new laptop's fault again.

markj-ga