The late Gene Pitney

In the late fifties and early sixties, I went through what seemed like an endless string of crushes. Girls I knew at school, at church, or who were the daughters of my dad's friends -- I fell madly in love with them, but most of them never acknowledged my existence. As soon as I started getting over one huge crush, I'd fall deeply in love with a new girl who didn't know I was alive, or care.

Those hours spent moping over unrequited love needed a soundtrack, and my background music was played on AM radio and performed by singers like Gene Pitney. This song, True Love Never Runs Smooth, accompanied one particularly painful heartbreak, and whenever I hear the song, I still think about the girl.