Unless you’re a Girl Group aficionado, you’ve probably never heard today’s classic song of the day. The song is “When the Boy’s Happy (The Girl’s Happy Too)” and it is a perfect piece of Wall of Soundish Girl Group pop.
The single of “When the Boy’s Happy (The Girl’s Happy Too)” was released on the Rust Records label (a subsidiary of Laurie Records) in September of 1963 and credited to a group billed as the Four Pennies. But here’s the thing: the Four Pennies didn’t exist. The song was actually recorded by the very real group the Chiffons, but released under the Four Pennies moniker. Fooled you!
The Four Pennies story is somewhat interesting. The Tokens (AKA Bright Tunes Productions) discovered the Chiffons, four teenaged girls from the Bronx, in 1962. For whatever reason, they decided to create a dual identity for the group and released a small handful of their singles under the Four Pennies moniker. In general, the Four Pennies tunes had more of a West Coast Wall of Sound feel while the Chiffons records were more of an East Coast Brill Building thing. After the success of “He’s So Fine,” however, it was decided to drop the Four Pennies charade and go all in with the Chiffons.
Listening to “When the Boy’s Happy,” a driving uptempo shuffle number, it shouldn’t surprise you to realize that the song was written by the stellar team of Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. They’re the duo behind a bevy of Girl Group hits in the early 1960s, including “The Kind of Boy You Can’t Forget” for the Raindrops, “People Say” and “Chapel of Love” for the Dixie Cups, “Then He Kissed Me” for the Crystals, “Baby I Love You” and “Be My Baby” for the Ronettes, “Look of Love” for Leslie Gore, and “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” for Darlene Love. The Chiffons, of course, had a fair number of hits under their own name, including “He’s So Fine,” “One Fine Day,” “I Have a Boyfriend,” and “Sweet Talkin’ Guy.”
Unfortunately for all concerned, “When the Boy’s Happy” wasn’t quite as successful as those other Barry/Greenwich collaborations, stalling out at #95 on the Billboard Hot 100. That’s a shame, it’s a terrific tune that should have charted much higher.
