Hang On Sloopy
Hang On Sloopy is a pop song from 1964 that became a million seller in both the McCoys and Ramsey Lewis Trio versions .
History of origin
Composers are the producer and songwriter Bert Berns (under the pseudonym Bert Russell) and Wes Farrell . Both were experienced authors, because 232 songs are registered with BMI for Bert Berns alone . Sloopy was the stage name of jazz singer Dorothy Sloop, who inspired the authors in their composition. The rhythm and blues group Vibrations recorded the song with the original title My Girl Sloopy on January 7, 1964 as their second single on Atlantic Records . The play is about the social stratification, because the beloved girl lives in a very bad part of the city, where everyone tries to put her down. The song with a harmonic ostinato (|: D, G, A, G: |) was released under its original title My Girl Sloopy / Daddy Woo-Woo in March 1964 (Atlantic # 2221) and reached number 26 on the Rhythm & Blues Charts .
First cover version
The white Strangeloves should be used for the record label Bert Berns just founded Bang! Records record a cover version , but rejected the song after the music track for it had already been completed. Because at the same time the Strangeloves with I Want Candy were for Bang! Records already represented in the charts. Instead, Berns opted for a group with a Beatles haircut, because he believed they had more hit potential. The Strangeloves performed with such a band called Rick & The Raiders . In addition to the voices of the McCoys - reinforced by session singer Ron Dante - the producers in the Bell Sound Recording Studios in New York only put Rick Derringer's guitar over the existing music track .
In July 1965, the McCoys version was released under the title Hang On Sloopy (Bang # 506) and appeared on the pop charts on August 14, 1965. On October 2, 1965, the record finally reached the top position of the US hit parade for a week, sold over a million times in the US and received a BMI award. In November 1965, Bang! Records after an LP with the title Hang On Sloopy , on which the McCoys' follow-up single Fever was already included. Including all cover versions, Hang On Sloopy 's worldwide sales are estimated at around 10 million records.
More cover versions
The next cover as a single comes from the jazz-influenced Ramsey Lewis Trio , whose instrumental version with live character made it to number 11 on the hit parade in November 1965 and was also sold a million times. With their remake from 1973, the trio won a 1974 Grammy Award for "Best R&B Instrumental Performance".
Hang On Sloopy is represented on LPs by Little Caesar and the Consuls (Canada, 1965), the Supremes (LP The Supremes a Go Go ; August 1966), the Kingsmen (LP 15 Great Hits ; August 1966), the Yardbirds (LP For Your Love ; July 1965) or Jan & Dean (LP Folk 'n Roll ; January 1966). The Kölschrock band BAP published a version of the piece on their album in 1979, Wolfgang Niedecken's BAP rocks other Cologne Leeder , and the group Die Toten Hosen covered the song in 2000. A total of 59 cover versions are registered. In 1985 he was declared the official rock song of the state of Ohio and its university - the Ohio State University .
literature
- Eric Lyttle: The Real Story of Hang on Sloopy . In: Columbus Monthly , September 2003.
Web links
- Hang On Sloopy on The Sixties Official Site
Individual evidence
- ↑ Entry for Bert Berns ( Memento of the original from January 9, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
- ^ "My girl Sloopy lives in a very bad part of town, and everybody tries to put my Sloopy down."
- ^ A b Fred Bronson: The Billboard Book Of Number One Hits , 1985, p. 184.
- ↑ Cover info about Hang On Sloopy .
