# G'bye, Mort - shoulda smoked 'em while you had 'em. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 13, 2001, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gbye-mort-shoulda-smoked-em-while-you-had-em/57817 "2001-03-13T17:19:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2001, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gbye-mort-shoulda-smoked-em-while-you-had-em/57817/1 "2001-03-13T17:19:15Z")
Just read on Yahoo! that The Mouth, Morton Downey Jr., has passed on. Lung cancer, doncha know. I’m not here to excoriate the man, since I hadn’t formed any serious political opinions when his show was on. But this line caught my eye: > [@](#): > > _Downey was the son of popular singer Morton Downey and his dancer-wife, Barbara Bennett. He pursued a number of professions including businessman, author, radio host, singer and songwriter, composing such hit surf-rock songs as “Pipeline” and “Wipeout” in the 1960s._ Say it ain’t so, Joe! Not that I go out of my way to listen to “Wipe Out”, but now every time I hear it I’m gonna connect it with that doofus. Anyone able to point me to resources that might indicate whether this is true or not? (NB: I realize this may be a GQ kind of thread, but it just didn’t seem like one to me.) ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2001, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gbye-mort-shoulda-smoked-em-while-you-had-em/57817/2 "2001-03-13T18:00:03Z")
What a shame. Remember, Morton, always to the right, never to the left. But I’ve got a feeling there aren’t many mirrors where you’re going, anyway. I didn’t find much about Morton’s songwriting career, but I did find [this unanswered question](http://www.xnet2.com/bomp/searchable/9706/msg00368.html) through a Google search: “I own a copy of Wipe Out by the Lively Ones which in my opinion complely blows away the Surfaris version. Anyway, on the British CD (Music Club label), the song is credited to (Frankhauser) Frankhauser Merrell Wayne. That would be ok, however, on the Rhino Surfin’ Hits CD the credits for the Surfaris version goes to Berryhill, Connolly, Fuller & Wilson. Both versions are almost the same, except the Lively Ones version leaves out the final bridge before the closing chords, and it is about twice as fast as the Surfaris version. Since Berryhill, etc were members of the Safaris, I would imagine those credits are correct. So who is Frankhauser??? This may have something to do with the Del Fi label, who originally released the Lively Ones disc. Even if they recorded an abridged version, shouldn’t the writing credits still go to Berryhill, etc?” I know this merely complicates the question, but perhaps someone who knows better will come along. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2001, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gbye-mort-shoulda-smoked-em-while-you-had-em/57817/3 "2001-03-13T18:07:08Z")
I would also like to extend my condolances to the millions of Celebrity Deathpool players around the globe who picked _the wrong Downey, Jr._ ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2001, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gbye-mort-shoulda-smoked-em-while-you-had-em/57817/4 "2001-03-13T18:19:58Z")
::MsRobyn fires up a Marlboro in tribute, coughs, and puts the damn thing out:: Robin ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2001, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gbye-mort-shoulda-smoked-em-while-you-had-em/57817/5 "2001-03-13T20:31:10Z")
I think Downey was also a team owner in the old American Basketball Association. The New Orleans team, maybe???