[Dixielandjazz] "Hanky Panky"

[Phil O'Rourke]

Bill

This is what I can come up with.Still no answer to the theme song though

Phil O'Rourke
Australia

Tommy James & the Shondells' first #1 song, the summer of 1966's "Hanky
Panky" repeats the first line five times and actually repeats again for five
more times the same lines (for a total of ten) before another lyric is
heard. Of the seven tunes that were #1 in the summer of 1966, Frank
Sinatra's "Strangers In The Night", the Beatles' "Paperback Writer", the
Troggs' "Wild Thing", the Lovin' Spoonful's "Summer In The City", Donovan's
"Sunshine Superman" and the Association's "Cherish", Tommy James & the
Shondells' "Hanky Panky" had the longest and most convoluted time reaching
the #1 position. In 1963, "Hanky Panky" (written by the songwriting team of
Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich) was released as the B-side of the Raindrops'
"That Boy John". A 13-year old, Tommy Jackson heard the Raindrops version
and Jackson from Niles, MI recorded with his group the Shondells (started in
1959 as Tom & the Tornadoes) it at a club in South Bend, IN (where Jackson
couldn't remember the lyrics and just made them up as he went along) for the
tiny "Snap" label. The 1963, the Shondells version also went nowhere as did
the B-side version by the Raindrops. Then in late 1965, a Pittsburgh DJ
started playing it and it started to become a huge radio hit throughout the
U.S., with bootleggers selling 80,000 copies illegally before the record
company "Roulette" could release the original master copy. Realizing that
they had a huge hit on their hands, "Roulette's", Pittsburgh DJ, DJ "Mad
Mike" Metro asked Tommy Jackson to re-record the tune in Pittsburgh. But by
then the Shondells had long since disappeared and Jackson had to ask a local
group, the Raconteurs (not Jack White's later group) to become the new
Shondells with very little pay, which they agreed to. And at this time Tommy
Jackson changed his last name to James, and the rest as one might say was
history! -"


I've got you under my skin: Pete Fountain (cl) Stan Wrightsman (p) Morty
Corb (b) Jack Sperling (d)
Las Vegas & Nashville, 1967
    Hanky panky    Coral CRL57488






> Dear friends,
> A local mate has asked me for details "about a tune used as a theme for
> a radio program, 'Hanky Panky' played by Pete Fountain".
> "Hanky Panky" was a big hit/$million seller in 1966 for Tommy James &
> The Shondells, written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich (a
> husband/wife team).
> I've established that Pete recorded it in 1967 for Coral and suspected
> that this was when he was with Lawrence Welk.
> However, the Welk/Fountain 'partnership/ was from 1957 to 1959.
> Too early.
> Can any of youse old blokes (like me), with intact memories, recall
> which radio show it was?
> Kind regards,
> Bill.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> To unsubscribe or change your e-mail preferences for the Dixieland Jazz
Mailing list, or to find the online archives, pleas visit:
>
> http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz
>
>
>
> Dixielandjazz mailing list
> Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com