Doc Pomus was a songwriter who penned hits such as Why Must I Be a Teenager In Love, This Magic Moment, Sweets for My Sweet, Suspicion and many others. However, his biggest and most successful hit has a wonderful back story as to how he came to write it.
Pomus had polio from a very young age. Then as an adult he needed to rely on crutches and ultimately a wheel chair to get around. He met, fell in love with and married a dancer named Willi Burke. On the day of their wedding, Willi danced with Doc’s relatives and friends as Doc sat and watched. The words “Save the last dance for me” ran thru his mind along with him advising her “don’t forget who’s taking you home tonight and in his arms you’re gonna be.” Doc wrote the complete song a couple years afterwards and Ben E. King’s Drifters had the hit:
Doc and Willi eventually divorced. Wonder if he ever thought to re-write the song to say “DON”T save the last dance for me?”