But had his solo career been predicated on the success of "Honey", I'm not sure he would have been comfortable singing that song for the next 40+ years. The song has little in the way of redeeming qualities, in my opinion. Granted, the chick dies in the end (as did Tom Dula) but, OMG - what a sappy lyric.
Now consider this: the KT was offered "Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" and turned it down. Can you imagine going to KT concerts for the past 50 years to hear that gem as the big hit? The song was ultimately recorded by Brian Hyland and reached #1 on Billboard in 1960, with sales of over 2 million copies. Lucky for Brian, he followed that a couple years later with "Sealed With A Kiss", which is a decent song. So at least he had another hit to hang his hat on.
It's interesting to consider the songs associated with individual artists or groups and how those hits molded their careers. A couple years ago Meri and I were working to promote a group that featured Merrilee Rush as the lead singer. She had one hit: "Angel Of The Morning", a singable ballad written by Chip Taylor. Merrilee's recording of the song made it to #7 on Billboard in 1968 (and #1 in Canada and Australia), but she never had a follow-up, so this song has become her legacy.
In working with her for several months we came to know her as an on-fire entertainer with a raspy R&B quality voice. Most of her repertoire is nothing at all like "Angel" and I think people are a little surprised by that. Still, it's that one song that gets her gigs and she's saddled with performing it in every show, albeit somewhat out of context with the rest of her repertoire.
By the way, Chip Taylor also penned "Wild Thing" for The Troggs. As an interesting tie-in, the lead guitarist for the band we put together to back Merrilee (The Radio Idols) was Richard Moore, who did a stint as lead-guitarist for The Troggs in the '70's. The other members of The Radio Idols were Terry Rangno on bass, who also is a current member of We Five, and Steve Peterson, the current drummer for The Kingsmen. (Merrilee's husband played keyboard in the band, but he's the reason we're not involved anymore.)
My solo career is currently defined by a song I wrote that became a national "hit" on talk radio, of all things. "Can You Get Me In" deals with the flip-side of the illegal immigration issue, i.e., why can't I just walk over the border into Mexico and reside there with no restrictions? Maybe even get some free stuff from the Mexican government? As a result of the airplay I got on this ditty, some in the talk-show biz have dubbed me the "conservative protest-singer". I'm not unhappy with that designation, altho I'd be even happier to have a hit that made me some money too. Maybe "Folk In A"? That would certainly define me.
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