Songs with Earlier Histories Than the Hit Version

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Tagged: The Happenings

1960s, Pop

Working My Way Back to You

First recorded by The Four Season (US #9/UK #50 1965).
Also recorded by The Happenings (1972)
Other hit versions by The Spinners (US #2 1979 |UK #1/AUS #12/NZ #3/IRE #1 1980), Boyzone (IRE #3 1994).

From the wiki: “‘Working My Way Back to You’ was written by Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell, with the song originally recorded in 1966 by The Four Seasons, reaching #9 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. and #50 on the UK Singles chart. It is the only Four Seasons’ hit to feature the group’s arranger, Charles Calello, in the temporary role of bassist/bass vocalist, having replaced original member Nick Massi.

“In 1979, The Spinners recorded a medley of ‘Working My Way Back to You’ and Michael Zager’s ‘Forgive Me Girl’, charting Top-5 in the US in late 1979 and topping the UK Singles chart for two weeks in April 1980.

“The Irish boyband, Boyzone, released a cover version of ‘Working My Way Back to You’ as their debut single in May 1994. The song reached #3 on the Irish Singles Chart. It is one of the few songs to feature Mikey Graham on lead vocals.”

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1960s, Pop

Go Away Little Girl

First recorded by Bobby Vee (1962).
Hit versions by Steve Lawrence (US #1/R&B #14 1962), Maryk Wynter (UK #6 1962), The Happenings (US #12 1965), Donny Osmond (US #1 1971).
Also recorded (as “Yu-Ma/Go Away Little Boy”) by Marlena Shaw (R&B #29 1977).

From the wiki: “‘Go Away Little Girl’ was written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, and was first recorded in 1962 by Bobby Vee. The song would go on to become notable for making the American Top-20 three times: for Steve Lawrence in 1962, for The Happenings in 1966, and for Donny Osmond in 1971. ‘Go Away Little Girl’ was also the first song, and one of only nine total, to reach US #1 by two different artists (Lawrence, in 1962; and Osmond, in 1971). The original recording by Vee was cut during same session as ‘It Might As Well Rain Until September’ and ‘Sharing You’. Not satisfied with the result, the song was shelved until producer Don Kirshner passed the song along to his good friend, Steve Lawrence.

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1930s, Broadway/Movies/Television

I Got Rhythm

First recorded by Fred Rich & His Orchestra (1930).
Hit versions by Red Nichols & His Five Pennies (US #5 1930), Ethel Waters (US #17 1931), Louis Armstrong (US #17 1932), The Happenings (US #3/UK #28 1967).

From the wiki: “‘I Got Rhythm’ was composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and first published in 1930. It has since become a Jazz standard; its chord progression, known as the ‘rhythm changes’, is the foundation for other popular jazz tunes such as Charlie Parker’s & Dizzy Gillespie’s Bebop standard ‘Anthropology (Thrivin’ From a Riff)’. ‘I Got Rhythm’ was first performed in the musical Girl Crazy. Ethel Merman sang the song in the original Broadway production, and Broadway lore holds that George Gershwin, after seeing Merman’s opening reviews, warned her never to take a singing lesson. A complete list of notable singers who have recorded ‘I Got Rhythm’ would take up several pages. The most popular versions are those by Red Nichols & His Five Pennies (US #5 1930), and The Happenings (#3 on the US charts in 1967). A version of the song, set to a Disco beat, was re-recorded by Ethel Merman for her Ethel Merman Disco Album in 1979.

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1950s, Pop

See You in September

Originally recorded by The Tempos (US #23 1959).
Also recorded by The Quotations (1962), The Chiffons (1963), Teddy Robin & the Playboys (1967).
Other hit versions by The Symbols (UK #19 1966), The Happenings (US #3 1966), The Mike Curb Congregation (MOR #15 1972).

From the wiki: “‘See You in September’ was first recorded by the Pittsburgh vocal trio The Tempos (whose members included a pre-‘Rose Are Red’ Bobby Vinton). This first version peaked at #23 in the summer of 1959. The most popular version of ‘See You in September’ was the version by The Happenings in 1966, when it reached #3.

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