Daddy Rollin’ (In Your Arms) 1968 – Dion

We are well and truly a long way from the teenage heartthrob doo-wop song – Runaround Sue (1961). That same artist Dion Francis DiMucci – better known simply as Dion had by the late 1960s spent years battling heroin addiction, a struggle that nearly consumed him. In fact by the time of his first hit with the Belmonts he was eighteen years old and already taking heroin. His attempts to break free of his addiction could not have been helped by his being the only headline survivor of the 1959 Winter Dance Party tragedy in which the other stars, Buddy Holly, Ritchie (“La Bamba”) Valens and the Big Bopper all died.

At the age of nineteen, with no PTSD counselling available or even heard of, the burden on Dion must have been considerable, especially as he’d tossed a coin with Ritchie Valens for the final seat on the plane, won, and then, because of his qualms about spending so much money on a short flight and because Valens, used to the heat of homestate California, was really suffering from the sub-zero temperatures in their tour bus, let him have the seat anyway.

By 1968, still struggling with major heroin addiction, Laurie, his record label, was considering dropping him as his contract was due to end. They relented and renewed it, on condition he recorded “Abraham, Martin and John“. Issued as the B-side Dion released today’s featured song Daddy Rollin’ (In Your Arms) – a raw, hypnotic departure from his doo-wop roots. Dion’s showing us here he can do rock blues – a genre against which to express the torment of his heroin addiction. From the ominous guitar and subdued drum intro sounds like a subway train emerging from a tunnel…

Dion himself has described Daddy Rollin’ (In Your Arms) as “either a love song or a song about drugs. I recorded it in the back of a bowling alley with a bunch of Jamaicans. We were banging on cardboard boxes. I had my Gibson Birdland guitar, and we just let it roll.”

The result was an offbeat, almost primal track – driven by pulsing rhythms, reverb-soaked vocals, and an undercurrent of something dark and restless. The song’s ghostly atmosphere stood in stark contrast to the hopeful melancholy of its A-side. While Abraham, Martin and John mourned the loss of visionaries and peacemakers (in similar modus as Bob Dylan’s They Killed Him), Daddy Rollin’ (In Your Arms) felt like a late-night fever dream, tapping into something deeply personal and unfiltered.

Give it a listen – you might find yourself hypnotized by its strange, unpolished magic.

Can’t stand leave you, babe

[Verse 1]
I’m in the cold, flat one hundred babe
I’m awful down and bound to go
In the cold, flat one hundred babe
I’m awful down on my way
Gonna have your sweet lovin’, daddy rollin’ in your arms

[Verse 2]
Gonna jump on Mr. Barker’s ship
Skip ‘cross the ocean like a stone
Gonna jump on Mr. Barker’s ship
Skip ‘cross the ocean like a stone
Gonna have your sweet lovin’, daddy rollin’ in your arms

[Verse 3]
There’s a caravan that’s wingin’ me babe
Gonna fly me to your door
There’s a caravan gettin’ warm enough for me
And I feel baby, carry me to your door
Gonna have your sweet lovin, daddy rollin’ in your arms

[Verse 4]
Listen, well the super Jesus bird
Carryin’ daddy rollin’ back home to you
You’re the sweetest little angel baby
Can’t stand leave you alone, oh yeah mama oh
You’re gonna have your sweet lovin’, daddy rollin’ in your arms

References:
1. Dion – Daddy Rollin’ (In Your Arms) – The Listenng Post Blog
2. Dion Week No 4: Daddy Rollin’ (in your Arms) – Dion – Uncle Stylus