Written by Howard Greenfield and Carole King, this was the Everlys' first hit with a song from the Brill Building stable of songwriters.
King, writing with her usual partner Gerry Goffin, had just previously come from two top-charting successes: "Run To Him" and "Take Good Care Of My Baby," both for Bobby Vee. Don Kirshner, co-producer at Aldon Music, had originally intended "Run To Him" to be for the Everly Brothers, but Vee's producer had snagged that song, too. Kirshner had been eager to produce a hit for the Everlys since his first day in business, so this was a dream come true for him.
This was recorded shortly before Don and Phil Everly were inducted into the Marine Corps Reserves on November 25, 1961. On February 18, 1962, the duo performed the song in full uniform on The Ed Sullivan show, and on March 3, the song reached its peak of #6 on the US charts. Don and Phil got out of the Corps on May 24, after six months of service. It was the only Everly Brothers song released during their time in the military.
This was the Everly's first Top 10 hit song in a year. As a gesture of gratitude, they found out that producer Don Kirshner's favorite snack was peanuts, so they shipped him a fifty pound sack. Talk about working for peanuts!
Shortly after this song came out, the performance rights organization Broadcast Music, Inc., held their annual awards to honor the most-played songs of the year. Out of the 90 awards handed out that night, Aldon Music took home 12, four times more than any other music publisher. So this song comes from a golden age of the Brill Building music era.
Norwegian pop trio a-ha, of "Take On Me" fame, covered this on their 1990 album, East of the Sun, West of the Moon. Their version reached #1 in their native country and #13 in the UK.
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