Remember (Walking in the Sand)
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| “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” | |||||
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| Single by The Shangri-Las | |||||
| B-side | "It's Easier to Cry" | ||||
| Released | 1964 | ||||
| Format | 7" single | ||||
| Length | 2:17 | ||||
| Label | Red Bird | ||||
| Writer(s) | Shadow Morton | ||||
| The Shangri-Las singles chronology | |||||
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| “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Aerosmith featuring Mary Weiss of The Shangri-Las from the album Night in the Ruts |
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| B-side | "Bone to Bone" | ||||
| Released | 1980 | ||||
| Format | 7" single | ||||
| Recorded | 1979 | ||||
| Length | 4:04 | ||||
| Label | Columbia | ||||
| Producer | Jack Douglas | ||||
| Aerosmith featuring Mary Weiss of The Shangri-Las singles chronology | |||||
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"Remember (Walking in the Sand)" is a song written by Shadow Morton.
The genesis of the song is the stuff of rock and roll legend. George Morton was looking to break into the music business in some capacity, and went to the Brill Building in New York City to see an old girlfriend, Ellie Greenwich, who was a successful pop songwriter. Morton and Greenwich's writing partner, Jeff Barry, took an instant dislike to one another. Pointedly asked what he did for a living, Morton casually replied, "I write songs" (although he had never written one in his life). When Barry asked him what kind, Morton retorted, "Hit songs!" Looking to call the upstart's bluff, Barry said he would love to hear one of George's tunes, and invited him to come back the following week with something.
His honor at stake, Morton sat in his car and wrote the first thing that came to him..."Remember (Walking in the Sand)". He then hired a local teenaged girl group from Queens that he knew, the Shangri-Las, to sing on the demo, which Morton produced himself. According to some accounts, the original version of the song was nearly seven minutes long...about three times the length of the average Top 40 hit in 1964. Barry was impressed with what Morton had accomplished, as were executives at Red Bird Records; the label not only picked up the song for release, but also signed Morton and the Shangri-Las to contracts.
In order to fit the rigid AM radio format of the day, the song had to be cut drastically in length. Rather than slice it up and edit it in pieces, Morton simply faded it out after the 2:10 mark.
In 1964, the song was released as the debut single on Red Bird Records by girl group The Shangri-Las. It proved very successful for them, becoming a top ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as a top twenty hit on the UK Singles Chart. It became more successful in the UK when reissued on several occasions in the 1970s. Billy Joel, an unknown working as a session musician at the time, played piano on the original demo recording of the song...and has playfully badgered Morton for years, claiming that the producer failed to pay him his $67.00 union scale fee for the performance.
The Shangri-Las' recording placed #396 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list in 2004.
[edit] Cover versions
In 1979, Louise Goffin remade the song and released it as a single. This version also became popular, charting in the top fifty of the Hot 100.
Aerosmith released a more rock-oriented version of the song (featuring uncredited backing vocals by Mary Weiss of the Shangri-Las) as a single in 1980 from their album Night in the Ruts. This version also charted on the Hot 100 (peaking at #67), though it did not achieve the success of the other two.
Other artists to release versions include Mouth & MacNeal (on their 1972 album How Do You Do?), The Nylons, and The Beach Boys (on their 1992 album Summer in Paradise). The Go-Go's performed the song often in their early days and a live version from 1981 is included on their 1994 retrospective album Return to the Valley of the Go-go's.
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