Today’s classic song of the day is “Hang On Sloopy,” by the McCoys. Released in July of 1965, this track zoomed all the way to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became a garage band classicโwith an equally famous music video.
“Hang On Sloopy” was a three-chord (G, C, and D) wonder written by Wes Ferrell and Bert Berns, two old songwriting pros. Ferrell was responsible for the tunes “Boys” for the Shirelles and, later the Beatles; “Come On Down to My Boat” for Every Mother’s Son; and “Come a Little Bit Closer” and “Let’s Lock the Door (and Throw Away the Key)” for Jay and the Americans. Bert Berns wrote “Twist and Shout” for the Isley Brothers and, more famously, the Beatles; “Piece of My Heart” for Erma Franklin and, more famously, Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company; “Tell Him” for the Exciters; “Cry to Me” for Solomon Burke; “Here Comes the Night” for Them; and “I Want Candy” for the Strangeloves and, later, Bow Wow Wow.
The song, “Hang on Sloopy,” then titled “My Girl Sloopy,” was originally recorded in 1964 by an R&B group called the Vibrations. Their version of the song, on Atlantic Records, peaked at #26 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In early 1965 the Strangeloves, who’d had a previous hit with Bert Berns’ “I Want Candy,” decided to record “Hang On Sloopy” as a follow-up. When they heard that the Dave Clark Five, with whom they were touring, also planned to record the song, they decided to hold off on releasing the single. Instead, the Strangeloves recruited a group called Rick and the Raiders to release the single. The Rick in Rick in the Raiders was a 16 year-old singer and guitarist named Rick Zehringer, who later changed his name and went onto even greater fame as Rick Derringer.
The producers already had the Strangeloves’ backing track, so they just recorded Rick’s vocal over that. Oh, and they changed the name of Rick’s group to the McCoys. The result was a song covered by nearly every garage band in America for several decades to come.
Ten years later, in 1975, Rick Derringer decided to update “Hang On Sloopy” and promote it with a newly shot music video. That video somehow manages to be both wholesome and salacious at the same time. It’s a simple concept; Rick and the band are performing “Hang On Sloopy” on an outdoor stage when a young woman walks up and starts dancing. She’s wearing cutoff jean shorts, a tank top (with no bra), and a denim newsboy cap. When Derringer sings the “Sloopy let your hair down girl” line, the young lady takes off her cap to reveal a flowing mane of long blonde hair. That’s it. A band on a stage and a single dancing girl. But, boy, did that video catch your attention; to date, it’s been viewed online more than 50 million times.
And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, a short documentary about the young woman dancing in the “Hang On Sloopy” video. Her name was Lisa Leonard Dalton; born in 1956, she went to El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. In 1974, she won the Miss Gazzarri Dancer competition at the famous Gazzarri’s nightclub in L.A. and shortly after got a dancing part in a short filmโthe “Hang On Sloopy” promo film. She was told to wear a tank top and shorts, but no bra and no makeup or jewelry. She was given the newsboy cap when she got there, to temporarily hide her long blonde hair; her dance was totally improvised. She was just 19 at the time and was paid $200 for her work. (By the way, the promo film was exclusively for European use, although it obviously made its way back to our shores.) Today, 68 year-old Lisa Leonard Dalton has her own “Sloopy Girl” YouTube channel where she talks about making the video and other stuff. Nobody puts our Sloopy down anymore.
