Chords for Bill Deal & The Rhondels Documentary

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[G] _ _ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Eb] _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Eb] _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ _
Bill Deal, [Dbm] _ who we're celebrating today, [D] I _ always knew [E] him as William.
We [Gbm] were friends for many, many years since high school.
_ And one thing [D] about, there were a lot of good things about [E] his personality that [A] I think
you got [E] from the stage.
He always had a bright [Gbm] smile.
He was always very, very kind and [Abm] accessible to his audience.
I think William had a gift in that this type of music is happy, fun music, as I've said many times.
And _ that's something that _ you don't always see in the music today.
And his music was simple enough that you would remember the words, and yet they were fun
and happy and people had a good time and they were very danceable.
[F] _
_ _ _ [Dm] _ _ _ _ [F] _
_ Bill Deal was a real pro.
Two artists who knew the orchestration of music and the [F] harmonies of a vocal group.
[C] He had perfect pitch, [F] _ spent numerous [D] hours putting the music together [F] and adding that Rondel touch.
May [E] I certainly was a [Eb] record that [Ab]
Bill [Gb] produced on his own, recorded it in downtown [Eb] Norfolk
_ [E] at Studio [Bbm] Center, _ [G] and brought me a [Fm] copy.
I was working [F] at WGH at that [Bb] time. _
[Gb] And [E] in fact, I had the honor of being music director of the [Bb] station at that time.
[F] And I really liked the [Eb] record. _
_ _ [Cm] _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ [Eb] _
_ _ _ [Cm] _ _ _ _ _
[Eb] _ His music is such a happy [Cm] music.
When [Bb] Bill and the various people he played [B] with, and Fat Ammons and others, got on stage,
there was just that energy that made you feel happy and good.
We [F] could tell that there were enough [E] calls coming in.
People really liked the record.
[Fm] Bill and the band [E] put the record out at local shops, [Gb]
started to sell a [Ab] lot of records.
It's the whole [Gb] beach music.
And it's funny, some of the other performers go, well, there's Carolina beach music, you
know, there's Virginia beach music.
Bill just crossed over everything.
I mean, you just couldn't help but love Bill and his band.
May I became [G] a top ten [Ab] hit nationally [F] for Bill Deal and the Rondels.
[G] I had the good fortune of seeing Bill and the [Gb] band progress over many [Fm] years.
We used to use the band as an opening [C] act for some of the big concerts we did at [F] the
Virginia Beach Dome.
We had them open for the Beach Boys.
We had them open at William and Mary Hall for Sly and the Family [Gb] Stone.
Prior to that, Bill was involved just as every [F] band that got its start in battles of the
band, of the bands [Gb] _
[Fm] playing at the Peppermint Beach [Cm] Club.
Forty-five years [Db] ago at this location, we [C] played our first Atlantic Avenue [Bb] nightclub,
the Top Hat.
Beach music is something I certainly grew up with and _ it's great living in a [Bbm] market
that loves beach music and there's so [Bb] many of us, albeit old ones, we're all here, I love it.
And Bill performed at a lot of parties, at dead parties, [Bbm] at weddings, and people would
accept invitations to parties they probably [Ab] didn't want to go to because Bill was playing.
[A] _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ [Am] _ _
[C] _ _ [F] _ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ We [C] all love it when [A] a native does well and he did well [Bb] as a very young person and was
[G] able to keep that [Dm] going and a [G] lot of us who were not [C] 18 anymore really [Em] appreciate [Am] the
[C] aspect of being a [Em] part of something that we [Am] remember from our [D] teen years.
Bill and the [Dm] Rondelles _ [G] _
became so [Dm] popular with locals long [G] after their record career ended
because [Em] they had taken a [Am] piece of what [C] had been the beach history of this market [Gm] and
truly spread it worldwide.
[A] I think fans, whether they had [Bb] ever heard of Bill or not, [G] always walked away going,
[A] wow, he must have at least lost [G] 15 pounds just that hour on [C] stage.
His fans always knew that they were definitely a part of what made him popular [E] and if you
don't [C] have fans, as we [Dm] all know, _ the [G] popularity goes by the wayside.
[Dm] William was _ [G]
a very giving [C] person.
He was one of the most [Gb] down to earth, [C] nicest guys you would ever want to [Gm] meet, very humble,
_ _ [A] always appreciated his success.
He just made you [Dm] want to move and smile [G] on your face and in [Dm] all the shows [G] that I saw
him up and down the coast, _ everybody had smiles [A] on their faces [C] and I think that [Am] epitomized [C] William Deal.
He always gave _ [F] 100%.
He loved the audience [Dm] and the audience loved him.
Plus he was [F] always smiling and happy [Dm] and made people feel good about themselves and about [Bb] the music.
[Dm] That's the reason he was such a happy guy and people loved him so much because there
was nothing phony about Bill Deal.
[F] He had one large, [Dm] large group of friends and family.
[F] People loved Bill Deal [Dm] because he was the genuine artifact.
When you talk to Bill and you ask him if he [F] could do a benefit, which he spent [Dm] so many
of his hours doing [F] countless benefits to so [Dm] many worthwhile charities, which really tells
a great deal about the depth and the character [Bb] of that man.
Maybe one of the reasons Bill was really loved is, and I'm speaking [F] obviously for my generation,
is to see [Bb] one of us [Dm] up there [Bb] and having that incredible energy that he has had and going
for all those hours and [F] never, never stopping on stage and always giving that incredible performance.
[Bb] Bill was not someone who _ _ kind of withdrew from the local scene once he had the hit records.
_ To me he was the same guy [E] _
[F] in the last few years [Dm] as he was in the early 60s.
One thing I always teased William about, and right up until _ two days [Bb] prior to his [F] leaving
us was [Bb] I always [F] teased him about never looking older and that we all in his age group felt
terribly _ _ mad with him that he never seemed to age and the rest of us just didn't look
[Bb] like we were still in our 30s.
And he maintained that sort of Dick Clark [F] youthfulness that we'd all love to have.
You might not see him tonight, [F] but he's here. _
And he would say to [Dm] you, hold back the night, [C] turn off the [Gb] light, I'm gonna [C] dream about
you baby.
[N] _ Bill, _ here's to you [G] baby.
I hope they're [A] walking the floor over you up in the big Beach Music place in the sky.
Keep shaggy.
_ _ _ _ [Bm] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _