Ricky Nelson – It’s Late

Ricky Nelson was a rockabilly guy and a very good one. He gets lost in the shuffle because he was a huge teenage actor at the time on his family’s show…The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Actors that switch to music are sometimes looked over but Nelson was very successful. All in all, he released 94 singles and 24 studio albums in his career. When talking about the fifties though….Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, and Elvis get brought up a lot but Nelson not as much.

t’s Late was written by Dorsey Burnette and his cousin Johnny Burnette and Dorsey released it in 1958. The following year Nelson recorded and released the song. It peaked at #9 on the Billboard 100 and  #3 in the UK in 1959.

I went through a Ricky Nelson phase when I graduated high school in 1985. I purchased a greatest hits package and was learning more songs from him. I wanted to go see him perform that year and I kept waiting for him to appear somewhere because I heard he was touring. This was before the internet and you had to look at the newspapers for any announcements and listen to the radio. Musicians would play at places and you would never know sometimes.

I never got a chance to see him because on December 31, 1985, his chartered jet crashed killing him and six other passengers.

I have to admit…I like the Dorsey Burnette version of this also.

It’s Late

It’s late, it’s lateWe gotta get on homeIt’s late, it’s lateWe’ve been gone too long

Too bad, too badWe shoulda checked our timeCan’t phone, can’t phoneWe done spent every dime

It’s late, it’s lateWe’re ’bout to run outta gasIt’s late, it’s lateWe gotta get home fast

Can’t speed, can’t speedWe’re in a slow-down zoneBaby, look at that clockWhy can’t it be wrong

If we coulda left home at a quarter to nineWoulda had fun and plenty of timeWe got started just a little bit lateHope this won’t be our last date

Look up, look upIs that the moon we see?Can’t be, can’t beLooks like the sun to me

It’s late, it’s lateI hate to face your dadToo bad, too badI know he’s gonna be mad

It’s late, it’s lateWe gotta get on homeIt’s late, it’s lateWe’ve been gone too long

It’s late, it’s lateWe’re ’bout to run outta gasIt’s late, it’s lateWe gotta get home fast

Can’t speed, can’t speedWe’re in a slow-down zoneBaby, look at that clockWhy can’t it be wrong

If we coulda left home at a quarter to nineWoulda had fun and plenty of timeWe got started just a little bit lateHope this won’t be our last date

Look up, look upIs that the moon we see?Can’t be, can’t beLooks like the sun to me

It’s late, it’s lateI hate to face your dadToo bad, too badI know he’s gonna be mad

It’s late, it’s lateWe gotta get on homeIt’s late, it’s lateWe’ve been gone too long

It’s late

…

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

38 thoughts on “Ricky Nelson – It’s Late”

    1. Yea…that is part of what we were talking about on your blog. I think the show helped him get the music across but not taken seriously which was crazy…he was releasing really good songs.

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      2. You brought up a great point! Some of those movies were as cheesy as you could get… and even him in Vegas didn’t get downplayed either as much.

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      2. Johnny’s son Rocky had a hit in the 80s…that is how I heard of Johnny. I’m looking forward to it…I could…and do listen to this music all day on some days.

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  7. That’s the thing I love about following blogs as you scroll thorough the reader and it goes from Ricky Nelson to Vinnie Vincent lol. I think his twin sons were here in town a few months ago button sure. Bang on point about trying to find out where bands or artists would be playing. Circus Magazine was good for that kind of thing….

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    1. I missed out on some concerts back then because of that…a band would be gone before you knew they were there.
      I love the variety we get with blogging.

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      1. Tell me about I got into The Who after there last show in Toronto back in 82 supposedly lol
        That was a first for me. Band breaks up one night and I want to get there tunes the next day lol

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    2. One of the few good things about living in a musical backwater is that if ANYONE who had a hit music-wise, be it Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee through to Melanie, Cleo Laine to Bob Marley you heard all about it on the radio, complete with competitions for tickets to be won, history, background on the band etc. For a music fan there was none of this picking and choosing malarky, you wanted to hear something outside of some pub band ot New Zealands biggest Latest Hot Thing Of The Moment you went out and bought your tickets and went, even if the band was playing on the night of your Granny’s 100th birthday party. It opened my ears to a lot of people I never would have listened to.

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  8. I had a cassette of Ricky’s Greatest Hits which I played while driving our Diane (now wife of 42 years) to Edinburgh for her train home to Newcastle each weekend we were dating.
    This was one of our favourites.
    😀

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  9. Obvious but this has that innocence of ‘Wake Up Little Suzie.’
    Sick sad bad pun but you left it too late to see him. (Yeah, I know, I’ll go sit in the corner and repent for mocking the dead.)

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    1. LOL…you know I don’t mind sick, dark, and bad puns. I can top it though! You know Garden Party…we did that song…and remember I’m a fan but it just hit me at the time and I did sing these words… “But It’s alright now, I’ve learned my lesson well, you can’t free base cocaine while you are still in the air”
      I know it’s terrible…but I was around 18…thats my excuse.

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      1. LOL- ah, the lyrics a warped and twisted mind can come up with. ‘I always thought part of the lyrics to sweet Julie bloody Andrews Sound Of Putrid song ‘The Lonely Goatherd’ was ‘High on some pills was a stoned-out goatherd!!!’

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  10. Dorsey Burnette was a classic, and so was his cousin (he did “You’re Sixteen” that was covered later by Ringo). Ricky was a hell of a singer, and I can’t think of a song of his that I don’t like.

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    1. I have to listen to more of Dorsey….I know Johnny and his song pretty well…
      I’m the same with Nelson…to me he is up there with the big ones of the 50s.

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  11. Always liked the Burnette brothers stuff, one of the first if not the original Rockabilly group. Ricky was a talented guy and really could rock a song. At the risk of being ‘blasted’ by CB I like the the Shakin’ Steven’s version of the song as well!

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  12. I always liked how they wrote excuses for him to sing in the sitcom plots. Nothing like a high school dance so Ricky could sing for his friends. Like “I Love Lucy”, a real sitcom family. It was only later that I learned Ozzie was a bandleader.

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  13. Both versions really good. Great song to do the twist to. I had a crush on Ricky even as a little kid. He was so cute on the TV show. He has a resemblance to Elvis. I remember how much I loved singing along to Travelin Man.

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    1. I think that show made people overlook him later on…which is totally unfair. Yes he looked like a star but rocked like the other rock stars.

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  15. Yeah Rick is under-rated, his ’72 hit Garden Party was about his own career really, a teen hits machine when he wanted to get serious. Many of his records stand up though, and he had a pleasant voice that is warm but not bland.

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