1960s Music

Subject: Re: 1960s Music Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:19 pm

1963/66 - Hanky Panky - Tommy James and The Shondells

wiki wrote:: Barry and Greenwich authored the song in 1963. They were in the middle of a recording session, and realized they needed a "B" side to a single. (It appeared on the flip of The Raindrops' hit "That Boy John.") The duo then went into the hall and penned the song in 20 minutes. Barry and Greenwich weren't particularly pleased with the song, and deemed it inferior to the rest of their work. "I was surprised when [Tommy James version] was released," Barry commented to Billboard's Fred Bronson, "As far as I was concerned it was a terrible song. In my mind it wasn't written to be a song, just a B-side."

Although only a "B" side, "Hanky Panky" became popular with garage rock bands, and many started including it in their act. James heard it being performed by one such group in a club in South Bend, Indiana. "I really only remembered a few lines from the song, so when we went to record it, I had to make up the rest of the song," he told Bronson, "I just pieced it back together from what I remembered."

James' version was released on the local label, Snap Records and sold well in the tri-state area of Michigan, Indiana and Illinois. However, lacking national distribution, the song quickly disappeared. James moved on, breaking up the Shondells, and finishing high school. In 1965, unemployed James was contacted by a Pittsburgh disc jockey. The DJ had started playing "Hanky Panky", and it had become popular in that area.

Tommy then decided to re-release the song, travelling to Pittsburg where he hired a local group to be the Shondells (the original members declined to re-form). After making appearances on TV and clubs in the city, he took a master of "Hanky Panky" to New York, where he sold it to Roulette Records. "The amazing thing is we did not re-record the song," James told Bronson, "I don't think anybody can record a song that bad and make it sound good. It had to sound amateurish like that. I think if we'd fooled with it too much we'd have fouled it up." It was released promptly and took the top position of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in June 1966.

Subject: Re: 1960s Music Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:22 pm

1967 - I Think We're Alone Now - Tommy James and The Shondells

Subject: Re: 1960s Music Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:26 pm

1968 - Mony Mony - Tommy James and The Shondells

wiki wrote:: "Mony Mony" was credited to Tommy James, Bo Gentry, Richie Cordell, and Bobby Bloom, who had a top ten record of his own with "Montego Bay". The hook in the song is said to have been inspired by James' view of a Mutual of New York's MONY sign on the New York City skyline. As Tommy James says in 1995 interview in Hitch magazine:

True story: I had the track done before I had a title. I wanted something catchy like "Sloopy" or "Bony Maroney," but everything sounded so stupid. So Ritchie Cordell and I were writing it in New York City, and we were about to throw in the towel when I went out onto the terrace, looked up and saw the Mutual of New York building (which has its initials illuminated in red at its top). I said, "That's gotta be it. Ritchie, come here, you've gotta see this." It's almost as if God Himself had said, "Here's the title." I've always thought that if I had looked the other way, it might have been called "Hotel Taft."

Subject: Re: 1960s Music Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:31 pm

1968 - Crimson and Clover - Tommy James and The Shondells - The long version! Yay2

Subject: Re: 1960s Music Wed Jan 09, 2008 7:28 pm

bobrob2004 wrote:: 1966 - You Don't Have To Say You Love Me - Dusty Springfield

How about the original?

1963 - Io Che Non Vivo - Pino Donaggio

(He's singing in Italian by the way).

Subject: Re: 1960s Music Sun Jan 27, 2008 9:09 pm

1964 - Time Is on My Side - The Rolling Stones

Subject: Re: 1960s Music Tue Mar 04, 2008 5:03 pm

1964 - Go Now - The Moody Blues