“The Sh-Down Down Song (You Better Leave Him Alone)” (The Ginger-Snaps featuring Dandee Dawson)

Your totally forgotten Girl Group song of the day is “The Sh-Down Down Song (You Better Leave Him Alone),” credited to “The Ginger-Snaps featuring Dandee Dawson.” The song was written and produced by the very prolific songwriting team of P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri for Dunhill Records. It was released in 1965 and went absolutely nowhere, which is a shame because it’s a great piece of faux-Brill Building Girl Group fluff.

Famous record producer Lou Adler founded the Dunhill label pretty much as an outlet for Phil and Steve’s creative output. They were under pressure to release as many tracks as possible; between Dunhill’s founding in May 1965 and the end of 1966 the duo wrote, produced, or performed more than two dozen singles for the label. This track was one of their first Dunhill releases.

Phil recalls how this particular recording came about:

“Dunhill wanted as many songs and records as they could possibly get. It meant money to them, catalog-wise. Steve and I were the only producers that wrote enough music to feed the monster, so to speak. I went out to Watts and knocked on doors and said, ‘Is there anyone in your house that wants to make a record?’ And this girl said, ‘Yeah!’ I gave her the address. We gave her the name Dandee Dawson.”

Dandee Dawson’s real name was Delores Donaldson, the daughter of a minister, so there’s some double-D alliteration going on there. There were no “Ginger-Snaps;” the backing vocals were done by Ms. Darlene Love and the Blossoms, who were staples in Phil Spector’s L.A. recording scene. Backing tracks for this Wall of Sound-alike track were by the Wrecking Crew, of course; he’s not credited, but that familiar snare drum crack and those rolling triplet tom fills make me think that Hal Blaine was behind the drum kit.

Barri and Sloan were also the driving force behind the better-known group known as the Grass Roots, forming that group (like the Ginger-Snaps) as a studio outlet for their creative energies. Unlike the Ginger-Snaps, the Grass Roots took hold and there was demand for the (non-existent) group to tour. As recounted in yesterday’s Classic Song of the Day, “Let’s Live for Today,” Barri and Sloan were too busy in the studio to go on the road, so they hired some ringers who actually became the Grass Roots live. (And one of the things Mr. Barri was busy doing in the studio was producing another former Classic Song of the Day, 1972’s “American City Suite,” for the duo of Cashman & West. That one made it to #27 on the Billboard Hot 100, despite its 7+ minute length.)

Back to “The Sh-Down Down Song.” Despite its lack of chart success, it’s a perfect piece of pop perfection that unfortunately got lost among everything else happening back in 1965. (Like, perhaps, the Beatles?) You can listen to it now, however, and you should. It’s groovy.