Leader of the Pack
Encyclopedia
"Leader of the Pack" is a 1964 pop song
recorded by girl group
The Shangri-Las
. It became number one on the Billboard Hot 100
on November 28, 1964
.
with Jeff Barry
and Ellie Greenwich
. According to Morton, he wrote the song for the Goodies (also known as the Bunnies), but instead it was needed as a follow-up to the Shangri-Las hit "Remember (Walking in the Sand)". Morton claimed he credited Barry and Greenwich as co-writers for business reasons; his recollection has been questioned by Ellie Greenwich.
In July 1964, Morton recorded the vocals for the song with the Shangri-Las at the Ultrasonic Sound studio on the second floor of a Manhattan hotel. These vocals were dubbed over the instrumental parts which had been previously recorded at the Ultrasonic Recording Studios in Hempstead, New York. Billy Joel
, then a young session musician, claimed on November 16th, 2010 during an interview with Howard Stern that he played piano on one of the demos for "Leader of the Pack" and is not sure if any of his parts made the final recording. In fact, the piano part was played by Roger Rossi
, a staff musician for Ultrasonic Recording Studios at the time. Rossi said, "I remember the date like it was yesterday, there were no written charts, so unfortunately, some musicians kept making mistakes. As I recall, it took 63 recording takes before Shadow Morton was satisfied." Rossi added, "By the end of the session, in take 62, I also messed up and Morton laughingly yelled out, Ohhhh, noooo. Not you, too!!"
According to legend, to add the authentic sound of a motorcycle engine, one was driven through the lobby of the hotel and up to the floor of the recording studio. No one was arrested, but a ticket was issued. However, in an interview four decades later, Shangri-Las lead singer Mary Weiss
said the motorcycle sound was taken from an effects record. The Zombies
' drummer Hugh Grundy recalls revving up a motorcycle backstage when the Shangri-Las performed on a U.S. tour.
In the United Kingdom
, the song was refused airplay by the BBC
, probably due to its death theme, although some have speculated that it was considered likely to encourage violence between mods and rockers
. It charted three times: #11 in 1965; #3 in 1972 (by which time the BBC ban had been lifted); and once again at #7 in 1976 when its sales figures as a reissue on two different labels (Charly and Contempo) were combined to arrive at its chart position. The record also reached number 1 in Australia. In 1990, it featured in the soundtrack of the Martin Scorsese
film Goodfellas
.
In 2004, Rolling Stone
ranked the song among the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, at #447.
Betty does as she is asked, and Jimmy speeds off on his motorcycle. Moments later, he crashes on a rain-slickened surface and dies; Betty's pleas for Jimmy to slow down were in vain.
Pop Song
Pop Song is the first single by the Drugs. It was released in 2000 and earned the Drugs some positive press. It has been described as "addictive". A live version was released on The Only Way Is Up...
recorded by girl group
Girl group
A girl group is a popular music act featuring several young female singers who generally harmonise together.Girl groups emerged in the late 1950s as groups of young singers teamed up with behind-the-scenes songwriters and music producers to create hit singles, often featuring glossy production...
The Shangri-Las
The Shangri-Las
The Shangri-Las were an American pop girl group of the 1960s. Between 1964 and 1966 they charted with often heartbreaking teen melodramas, and remain best known for "Leader of the Pack" and "Remember ".- Early career :...
. It became number one on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
on November 28, 1964
1964 in music
-Events:*January 1 – Top of the Pops is broadcast for the first time, on BBC television.*January 3 – Footage of the Beatles performing a concert in Bournemouth, England is shown on The Jack Paar Show....
.
Original Shangri-Las recording
The tune was credited to producer George "Shadow" MortonShadow Morton
George 'Shadow' Morton is an American record producer and songwriter best known for his influential work in the 1960s and the introduction of girl group The Shangri-Las to the pop music world....
with Jeff Barry
Jeff Barry
Jeff Barry is an American pop music songwriter, singer, and record producer.-Early career:...
and Ellie Greenwich
Ellie Greenwich
Eleanor Louise "Ellie" Greenwich was an American pop music singer, songwriter, and record producer. She wrote or co-wrote "Be My Baby", "Christmas ", "Da Doo Ron Ron", "Leader of the Pack", "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", and "River Deep, Mountain High", among many others...
. According to Morton, he wrote the song for the Goodies (also known as the Bunnies), but instead it was needed as a follow-up to the Shangri-Las hit "Remember (Walking in the Sand)". Morton claimed he credited Barry and Greenwich as co-writers for business reasons; his recollection has been questioned by Ellie Greenwich.
In July 1964, Morton recorded the vocals for the song with the Shangri-Las at the Ultrasonic Sound studio on the second floor of a Manhattan hotel. These vocals were dubbed over the instrumental parts which had been previously recorded at the Ultrasonic Recording Studios in Hempstead, New York. Billy Joel
Billy Joel
William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...
, then a young session musician, claimed on November 16th, 2010 during an interview with Howard Stern that he played piano on one of the demos for "Leader of the Pack" and is not sure if any of his parts made the final recording. In fact, the piano part was played by Roger Rossi
Roger Rossi
Roger Rossi is an American pianist, accompanist, vocalist, bandleader, published author and composer born Roger Rossitto, in Brooklyn, New York...
, a staff musician for Ultrasonic Recording Studios at the time. Rossi said, "I remember the date like it was yesterday, there were no written charts, so unfortunately, some musicians kept making mistakes. As I recall, it took 63 recording takes before Shadow Morton was satisfied." Rossi added, "By the end of the session, in take 62, I also messed up and Morton laughingly yelled out, Ohhhh, noooo. Not you, too!!"
According to legend, to add the authentic sound of a motorcycle engine, one was driven through the lobby of the hotel and up to the floor of the recording studio. No one was arrested, but a ticket was issued. However, in an interview four decades later, Shangri-Las lead singer Mary Weiss
Mary Weiss
Mary Weiss, born on December 28 in Queens, New York, found fame in the 1960s as the lead singer of The Shangri-Las. She then vanished from the music scene for decades, returning in 2007 to record her first solo album with Norton Records....
said the motorcycle sound was taken from an effects record. The Zombies
The Zombies
The Zombies are an English rock band, formed in 1961 in St Albans and led by Rod Argent, on piano and keyboards, and vocalist Colin Blunstone. The group scored a UK and US hit in 1964 with "She's Not There"...
' drummer Hugh Grundy recalls revving up a motorcycle backstage when the Shangri-Las performed on a U.S. tour.
In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the song was refused airplay by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, probably due to its death theme, although some have speculated that it was considered likely to encourage violence between mods and rockers
Mods and Rockers
The Mods and Rockers were two conflicting British youth subcultures of the early-mid 1960s. Mods and rockers fighting in 1964 sparked a moral panic about British youths, and the two groups were seen as folk devils. The rockers were motorcyclists, wearing clothes such as black leather jackets. The...
. It charted three times: #11 in 1965; #3 in 1972 (by which time the BBC ban had been lifted); and once again at #7 in 1976 when its sales figures as a reissue on two different labels (Charly and Contempo) were combined to arrive at its chart position. The record also reached number 1 in Australia. In 1990, it featured in the soundtrack of the Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
film Goodfellas
Goodfellas
Goodfellas is a 1990 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a film adaptation of the 1986 non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese...
.
In 2004, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
ranked the song among the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, at #447.
Plot
The song is about a girl named Betty, asked by friends to confirm that she is dating Jimmy, the leader of a motorcycle gang. After singing of love at first sight ("I met him at the candy store/He turned around and smiled at me/You get the picture?/That's when I fell for the Leader of the Pack"), Betty's heart turns to despair as she bemoans her parents' disapproval. The parents claim Jimmy hails from "the wrong side of town" and ask Betty to tell Jimmy goodbye and find someone new.Betty does as she is asked, and Jimmy speeds off on his motorcycle. Moments later, he crashes on a rain-slickened surface and dies; Betty's pleas for Jimmy to slow down were in vain.
Cover versions, tributes, and parodies
- In 1984, a Broadway musical, "Leader of the PackLeader of the Pack (musical)Leader of the Pack is a musical with liner notes by Anne Beatts and additional material by Jack Heifner, music by Ellie Greenwich, and lyrics by Greenwich, Jeff Barry, Phil Spector, George "Shadow" Morton, Jeff Kent, and Ellen Foley.-Background:...
," opened, based on the songs of Ellie Greenwich.
Parodies
- In 1965, "Leader of the Laundromat," written by Paul VancePaul VancePaul Vance is an American songwriter and record producer.With over 300 recorded songs, Vance co-wrote such hits as "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini," recorded in 1960 by Brian Hyland, which rose to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and "Catch a Falling Star," recorded in 1957 by...
and Lee Pockriss, was released by The DetergentsThe DetergentsThe Detergents were an American music group consisting of Ronnie Dante, Danny Jordan, and Tommy Wynn. The group's speciality was parody songs, as with their first and best-known hit record, "Leader of the Laundromat", written and produced by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss...
. This resulted in Morton, Barry and Greenwich filing a lawsuit for plagiarism. - The Downliners Sect also released a parody on their 1965 "Sect Sing Sick Songs" EPExtended playAn EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
called "Leader Of The Sect." - Also in 1965, the parody "I Want My Baby Back" was released by Jimmy CrossJimmy CrossJimmy Cross was an American radio producer and singer who attained a minor Billboard Hot 100 hit with the novelty song "I Want My Baby Back" in 1965....
. In 1977 this was awarded the title of "The World's Worst Record" by British radio DJ Kenny EverettKenny EverettKenny Everett was an English comedian, radio DJ and television entertainer. Born Maurice James Christopher Cole, Everett is best known for his career as a radio DJ and for the Kenny Everett television shows.-Early life:...
. - Bob RiversBob RiversBob Rivers is a well-known American rock and roll radio on air personality in the Pacific Northwest as well as a prolific producer of parody songs, most famous for his Christmas song parodies....
also did a parody of "Leader of the Pack" which is called 'Leader of Iraq'. The song was centred around the execution of former president of Iraq Saddam HusseinSaddam HusseinSaddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
. - The tune was used by the political satire group The Capitol Steps for their song "A Leader Like Barack", about Barack ObamaBarack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
. - A parody version of the song ("Our leader is Lurpak") was used in a claymation TV advertisement for LurpakLurpakLurpak is a Danish brand of butter owned by the Danish Dairy Board. It is sold in over 80 countries worldwide and is best known for its distinct silver packaging...
butter in the UK. - In 2009, the BBC produced a trailer for the children's TV show Shaun the SheepShaun the SheepShaun the Sheep is a British stop-motion animated children's television series produced by Aardman Animations, and commissioned by the BBC and the WDR. It first aired in the UK on CBBC in March 2007...
featuring a parody of the song called 'Leader of the Flock'.
Cover recordings
- On her debut album "The Divine Miss M" Bette MidlerBette MidlerBette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...
did a version which began in the original tempo, sped up in the second verse, and was so fast by the end that it became difficult to understand the lyrics. - In 1985, heavy metal band Twisted SisterTwisted SisterTwisted Sister is an American heavy metal band from Long Island. Musically, the band implements elements of traditional heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, along with a style that is similar to early glam metal bands...
put a cover versionCover versionIn popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
from the eponymous Leader's perspective on their album Come Out and PlayCome Out and Play (Twisted Sister album)Come Out and Play is the fourth album by the American heavy metal band Twisted Sister, released by Atlantic Records. It was less successful than its predecessor Stay Hungry both critically and commercially.- Overview :...
. - The comedian Julian ClaryJulian ClaryJulian Peter McDonald Clary is an English comedian and novelist, known for his deliberately stereotypical camp style, with a heavy reliance on innuendo and double entendre.-Early life and education:...
recorded a cover version of the song in 1988. - In the 2006 movie Happy FeetHappy FeetHappy Feet is a 2006 American-Australian computer-animated family film with music, directed and co-written by George Miller. It was produced at Sydney-based visual effects and animation studio Animal Logic for Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures and Kingdom Feature Productions and was released...
it was sung by the character Néstor, with a sad rhythm quite different from the original. - Alvin and the ChipmunksAlvin and the ChipmunksAlvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated music group created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespectacled intellectual;...
did a cover version but changed Jimmy to Alvin. On the album Chipmunk RockChipmunk RockChipmunk Rock is a children's album by Alvin and the Chipmunks featuring covers of various rock hits, mostly from the late 70s and early 80s, plus one original tune...
, the Chipmunks are portrayed as the girls. - Estonian singer Margit Viirma recorded a cover version of the song in 2009, entitled "Jõugu liider".