Jewel Akens' Gay 45 rpm Record, "He's Good For Me," 1973

Jewel Akens will be forever famous for his 1965 hit song "The Birds and the Bees," which reached #3 on the Billboard Charts. He continued to record over the years and in 1973 to producers convinced him to take a song he'd written and switch the pronouns, to appeal to the gay market. They advertised in the main gay publication, The Advocate, on 9/12/73, and the record very quickly disappeared.

I found the ad in 2010 and wanted to get the story behind it, as I had never heard that Jewel Akens was gay. I reached him by phone (on 6/16/10) and he graciously told me how that record came to me. Akens died in March 2013. This interview first appeared as part of my August 2010 Queer Music Heritage show, at http://www.queermusicheritage.com/aug...

Jewel Akens – He’s Good For Me (1973) 2:19...the lyrics....

He’s Good For Me
Jewel Akens
[ G. Olds – J. Akens – N. Avenetti ]

Mama, when I was young you taught me right from wrong
Now I’m grown, I must leave home, my true love has come along
You know, mama, he’s so good for me

You told me to leave him, to let him go
I tried to do it but I love him so
Mama, he loves me too, and there’s just one thing that you can do
Is leave us both alone

Mama, when I was young you taught me about the birds and the bees
Now I’m grown and on my own, you can’t control me as you please
Oh, mama, he’s so good for me

You told me to leave him, and to let him go
I tried to do it but I love him so
Mama, he loves me too, and there’s just one thing that you can do
Is leave us both alone

Mama, woman, you better stop, the man is here to stay
All the wrong that he may do, I love him anyway
And oh, mama, he’s doggone good for me
Oh, so doggone good, oh mama, the man is good to me
He’s good to me, he’s good for me, he’s good to me
He’s good for me, mama, I love that man, you don’t understand
You just don’t know, I love that man, cause he’s good for me
He’s so doggone good, he’s good for me, so doggone good

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