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Little Eva dead? Saw nothing in the papers! That was a monster hit, but a few years later when Carole King became prominent we saw (or heard) that Little Eva did little more than imitate Carole's demo note for note, inflection for inflection. That's all right, they all do it.

As far as this stuff lasting, don't make me laugh! Rudy Valee's stuff was supposed to last too! Bing Crosby anyone? Cole Porter, Irwin Berlin are nearly forgotten now considering their prodigious output, and will be completely forgotten in a couple of decades, save for a small handful of embarassing lounge standards and jazz themes. It's a generational thing, that's all. I made a note recently of how the oldies section in my local TOWER Records outlet has been shrinking over the years.

I'm reminded of a quote in a Russian film I saw recently (The Russian Ark:

"Everyone knows the future, but nobody remembers the past!"

Even George Harrison knew that "All Things Must Pass"!

My high school son freaks everytime one of his favorite songs is played as a "Flashback" tune on the radio.

"That's not old enough to be on "Flashback"! It's not an oldie (yet)!"

The truest of all of the curses put upon man ... you will grow up to be a curmudgeon just like your parents!

It probably is a simply matter of math: Bach and Beethoven lived in an age when few people were educated enough to know anything about writing music; thus, few people did write music, and those few were remembered for centuries. Now, composers get lost in the crowd.