#1: Falling Tears by the Eternals

City: Dryden, ON
Radio Station: CJCA
Peak Month: April 1968
Peak Position in Dryden: #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Falling Tears”

The Eternals were formed in 1961 by brothers Ron & Ted Paley from Rosa, Manitoba, and brothers John & Harry Hildebrand from Steinbach, Manitoba. Ted Paley played drums and fiddle. Ron Paley played piano, organ, drums and saxophone. John Hildebrand played on bass guitar and lead guitar. While Harry Hildebrand played bass guitar, rhythm guitar and lead guitar. The group was sometimes billed as Ronny and The Eternals.

Ron Paley in a CitizenFreak write-up details the group’s early start:

They began live performances throughout rural Manitoba, using popular 580 CKY Radio DJ’s Peter Jackson, Dennis Dino Corey, Daryl Burlingham, Mark Parr and J. Robert Woods as their evening dance promoters and hosts. The new dance hall in St Malo, MB was the starting point and a dance advertised extensively by Peter Jackson of CKY as the guest DJ drew a crowd of over 500 teens. This combination of the Eternals and CKY DJ’s resulted in packed dance venues wherever they toured throughout Manitoba, North Dakota and Northern Ontario. All along, the building of a very large rural fan base kept the Eternals on the road every weekend of the year. The CKY “On Air” promotions of the Eternals helped to introduce Winnipeg teens to the Eternal’s name and music.

In 1963 Bob Burns of CKY-TV Teen Dance fame became their manager and with Winnipeg’s Hungry “I” Agency they organized the first breakthrough in Winnipeg at The Pink Panther Discotheque. This was then followed up with appearances at the popular J’s Discotheque, The Cellar, The Hungry I Club, River Heights CC, North End YMCA, Glenwood CC, West End CC and many other city high school venues.

In March 1966, the Eternals went on tour to Ontario, Quebec and several states in the USA including Minnesota.

Tania James of Metro Teen Scene, a Winnipeg, Manitoba, weekly wrote in December 1967,

Out East, The Eternals have gained a reputation for themselves in the past 3 years that is “second to none”.  Instead of having to play at the Village and up, as other clubs have had to do, The Eternals opened at the Friar, the biggest and best known club going.  Each time they appear at a club, they break attendance records, inevitably the one they made at their last engagement.  Every time they appear, they make new fans, and old fans go out of their way to see them, even going as far as to phone Winnipeg to see if anyone knows where they’ll be playing!

It’s obvious that The Eternals have the East in the palm of their hand.  But they’re not taking advantage of it.  They know that if they stop giving the public what it wants, it’s the beginning of the end.  They’re not idols, they’re just people … people who love people, life, and doing what they know best hot to do, entertain.

In December 1966, the Eternals had a debut single titled “Girl In The Window” reach the Top 40 in Montreal. In August 1967, “Come Go With Me” climbed to #31 in Winnipeg. And “Summer Blue” also charted in Winnipeg in September ’67. In December ’67, “Christmas” charted in Winnipeg.

The Eternals next release was “Falling Tears”.

“Falling Tears” was written by David Britten who was born in Ottawa. In the early 60’s he was a member of the Ottawa doo-wop group the Regals. The Regals released a single in 1961 titled “Deep Sea”. The following year Dave Britten with The Regals released “Loneliness”, which charted in the Top 40 in Halifax.

“Falling Tears” is a song about a guy whose relationship has ended. He wants his ex-girlfriend to come back to him. In the meantime he’ll have to cope with his falling tears.

In the summer of 1968, “Falling Tears” peaked at #6 in Fort Frances (ON), Thunder Bay (ON), Kenora (ON) and Dryden (ON), #23 in Winnipeg, and #27 in Calgary. The song also charted in Hamilton and Regina.

The Eternals’ follow-up single, “The Real World of Mary Ann”, charted in the Top 50 in Toronto. The song was written by Randy Bachman. Their final charting single in any regional record market was in the fall of 1968 with “My Woman”, cowritten by Randy Bachman. The single peaked at #28 in Winnipeg.

The Eternals continued to perform in 1968 while they founded Century 21 Studios. John Hildebrand became the recording engineer of Century 21 Studios, while Ron Paley supervised the technical installation and operations of the recording equipment. Harry Hildebrand worked on the creative writing of commercials and jingles. While Ted Paley co-wrote, presented and sold the creations to radio and businesses throughout Canada and the USA.

In 1970, Ron Paley founded Oakwood Audio Labs to expand Century 21 Studio’s technical services, and to arrange the supply of equipment to the recording and radio industry. The group recorded covers of a number of hit singles. They also performed them as part of a Winnipeg cover band called The House of Random. Their covers included the Bobby “Boris” Picket Halloween tune “Monster Mash”, Three Dog Night’s “Mama Told Me Not to Come”, Christie’s “Yellow River”, Neil Young’s “Cinnamon Girl”, and Blues Image’s “Ride Captain Ride”.

In 1974, the Eternals retired from live performances. The two businesses – Century 21 and Oakwood Audio – became very viable on their own. All four band members continued to record as session men and as creative jingle and song writers.

The four men continued jointly with both Oakwood Audio and Century 21 Studio through the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. In 1998, Harry and John Hildebrand retired from business operations of these companies. John worked as a music engineer, including for stages with the Calgary Stampede. Harry Hildebrand founded a music delivery company.

Meanwhile, Ron Paley had founded MediaTouch in Salem, New Hampshire. In time Ron became founder of Ron Paley Broadcast, focused on consulting and hi-tech broadcasting.

References:
Ron Paley, “The Eternals,” CitizenFreak, March 2011.
“The Eternals,” Manitoba Music Museum.