The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)

"The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)"
Single by Betty Everett
from the album You're No Good
B-side "Hands Off"
Released 1964
Recorded 1963
Genre R&B, soul, pop
Length 2:12
Label Vee-Jay
Writer(s) Rudy Clark
Producer(s) Calvin Carter
Betty Everett singles chronology
"You're No Good"
(1963)		 "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)"
(1964)		 "I Can't Hear You"
(1964)

"The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)" is a song written by Rudy Clark. The song was made a hit when recorded by Betty Everett, who hit No. 1 on the Cashbox magazine R&B charts with it in 1964. Recorded by dozens of artists and groups around the world in the decades since, the song became an international hit when remade by Cher in 1990.

Merry Clayton original version

The song was rejected on behalf of the premier girl group of the early 1960s, the New York-based Shirelles,[1] and was first recorded in Los Angeles by Merry Clayton as her first credited single. Clayton had previously provided an uncredited female vocal to the hit "You're the Reason I'm Living" recorded by Bobby Darin as his debut on Capitol Records, and Darin had subsequently arranged for Clayton herself to be signed to Capitol. Clayton recorded "It's in His Kiss" - whose composer Rudy Clark was a staff writer for TM Music which Bobby Darin headed - in a session produced by Jack Nitzsche featuring Hal Blaine on drums and the Blossoms as chorale: the single was released June 10, 1963 with no evident result. Clayton recorded the song again for the soundtrack of the 1987 comedy film "Maid to Order" [2] in which she, as the character Audrey James, performs with fictional band The Loaded Blanks, played by the rock band Great White,[3] in the film's climactic scene.

Betty Everett hit version

Calvin Carter, the chief A&R man for the Chicago-based Vee-Jay Records, found "It's in His Kiss" while visiting New York City in search of material for the Vee-Jay roster which included Betty Everett. After Everett had a hit with another song Calvin Carter brought back from New York City, "You're No Good", Calvin Carter suggested Everett cut "It's in His Kiss" as the follow-up single. Everett – who found the song puerile – reluctantly agreed. The accompanying vocals on Everett's recording were provided by Vee-Jay session regulars the Opals, a trio of teenage girls (Rose Addison, Myra Tillison, and Rose "Tootsie" Jackson)[4] from East Chicago, Indiana.

Dave Marsh in his book The Heart of Rock and Soul opines that Betty Everett's version, "while [credited] as a solo performance is one of the finest girl group hits, undoubtedly the best one made outside the genre's New York City/Philadelphia/Los Angeles "axis"".[5]

"The Shoop Shoop Song" reached a Billboard Hot 100 peak of #6 in the spring of 1964: at the time Billboard was not publishing its R&B chart but Everett's "The Shoop Shoop Song" was a #1 R&B hit according to Cash Box. In international release the Everett's "The Shoop Shoop Song" was a hit in Australia (#21) but was initially overlooked in the UK although Everett's minor 1965 U.S. hit "Getting Mighty Crowded" (#65) would reach #29 UK. In 1968 UK label President Records reissued both songs on one single, with "The Shoop Shoop Song" as the A-side, with a resultant UK Top 40, peaking at #34.

Preceded by
"The Way You Do the Things You Do" by The Temptations		 "Cash Box magazine" "Top 50 in R&B Locations"
number-one single (Betty Everett version)
April 11, 1964 – April 25, 1964
(3 weeks) 		Succeeded by
"My Guy" by Mary Wells

Ramona King version

The next evident recording of "It's in His Kiss" was made in Los Angeles by Ramona King, an R&B singer from San Francisco: this version was produced by Joe Saraceno and former Phil Spector associate Jerry Riopelle and released on Warner Brothers in February 1964, the week prior to the release of Everett's version. Although Everett's single was more likely to receive airplay due to her being an established hitmaker (with "You're No Good"), Vee-Jay feared losing sales to the King version and opted to distinguish Everett's version by issuing it under the title "The Shoop Shoop Song" referring to the song's background vocals.

Linda Lewis version

"It's in His Kiss"
Single by Linda Lewis
from the album Not a Little Girl Anymore
B-side Walk About
Released 1975
Recorded Media Sound, NYC
Genre Disco
Length 3:09
Label Arista
Writer(s) Rudy Clark
Producer(s) Bert DeCoteaux, Tony Silvester
Linda Lewis singles chronology
"(Remember the Days of) The Old Schoolyard"
(1974)		 "It's in His Kiss"
(1975)		 "Rock and Roller Coaster"
(1975)

"The Shoop Shoop Song" first became a major UK hit in 1975 via a disco cover version by Linda Lewis. Her single was produced by Bert de Couteaux and Tony Silvester and featured Luther Vandross as a background vocalist. Entitled "It's in His Kiss" — despite containing a variant of the "shoop shoop" background vocal – Lewis' version reached number 6 in the UK Singles Chart.

Linda Ronstadt performances

On the episode of Saturday Night Live broadcast May 19, 1979 Linda Ronstadt and Phoebe Snow performed "The Shoop Shoop Song" as a duet: in an October 2008 interview Snow stated that she and Ronstadt "always talked about" recording "The Shoop Shoop Song" adding: "Maybe we still will";[6] although the duet remained unrecorded at the time of Snow's April 26, 2011 death. When Linda Ronstadt participated in two benefit concerts for Jerry Brown on December 21–22, 1979 she performed "The Shoop Shoop Song" that number - featuring vocal accompaniment from Nicolette Larson - being one of six songs performed by Ronstadt which were announced as tracks on her upcoming album Mad Love":[7] however Mad Love was issued in February 1980 without the inclusion of "The Shoop Shoop Song". Ronstadt performed "The Shoop Shoop Song" as a guest on an episode of The Muppet Show broadcast October 26, 1980. At the Rally For Nuclear Disarmament concert held in Central Park on June 12, 1982 Linda Ronstadt's set included "The Shoop Shoop Song": vocal accompaniment was provided by Nicolette Larson and Rosemary Butler. Had Ronstadt recorded "The Shoop Shoop Song" for her Mad Love album it would have been produced by Peter Asher who would eventually produce the 1990 international smash hit remake by Cher.

Cher version

"The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)"
Single by Cher European singles
from the album Mermaids Soundtrack and Love Hurts
B-side "Love on a Rooftop"
Released November 7, 1990
Recorded 1990
Genre Pop rock
Length 2:51
Label Geffen Records
Writer(s) Rudy Clark
Producer(s) Peter Asher
Certification Gold (UK)
Cher European singles singles chronology
"Baby I'm Yours"
(1990)		 "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)"
(1991)		 "Love and Understanding"
(1991)
Audio sample
file info · help
Cher North American singles chronology
"Heart of Stone"
(1990)		 "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)"
(1990)		 "Love and Understanding"
(1991)

Cher's remake was cut for the soundtrack of her 1990 film Mermaids in which it played under the closing credits, and the single's U.S. release coincided with the November release of the film. It peaked at number thirty three on the Billboard Hot 100, and number one in the United Kingdom, where it remained for five weeks, selling a total of 520,000 copies, making it one of the biggest-selling singles by a female artist in Britain in the 1990s. The song was Cher's first solo number one single, her previous number one in the United Kingdom had been in 1965 with her then husband Sonny Bono and their first hit: "I Got You Babe".

Cher's "The Shoop Shoop Song" also topped the charts in Austria, Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and Spain; the single achieved a number two peak in Australia and top ten status in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland.

The success of the single in the United Kingdom and Continental Europe was reflected in its addition to Love Hurts, her subsequent album, as released in those parts of the world, Australia and New Zealand. "The Shoop Shoop Song" was also included in the album's Canadian release but in the U.S. "The Shoop Shoop Song" was not available on a Cher album until the 1999 release of If I Could Turn Back Time: Cher's Greatest Hits.

Music video

The original video for "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)" was made to promote the movie Mermaids. The video features Cher with Winona Ryder and Christina Ricci, who played her daughters in the film, in a music studio in the clothes and styles of the 1960s period of the film, clips of which are shown throughout. Near the end Cher and the girls are shown in an alley spray-painting a wall. When Mermaids quickly came and went from theaters a revised video was issued which deleted the clips from the film.

A brief music video of the original version appeared at the start of the special DTV Romancin', set to clips of kisses from Disney cartoons.

An episode of Tiny Toon Adventures also featured an animated music video of the original version, with Babs Bunny lip-syncing to the song.

Formats and track listings

Worldwide CD Single[8]

  1. The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss) [2:51]
  2. Baby I'm Yours
  3. We All Sleep Alone

U.S. Promo CD[8]

  1. The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss) [2:51]

Official versions

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Chart (1990–1991) Position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart[9] 4
Austrian Singles Chart 1
Belgian Singles Chart 2
Canadian Singles Chart 21
Canadian Adult Contemporary Chart 4
Dutch Top 40[10] 5
European Singles Chart 1
French Singles Chart 3
German Singles Chart 3
Irish Singles Chart 1
New Zealand Singles Chart[11] 3
Norwegian Singles Chart 1
Spanish Singles Chart 1
Swedish Singles Chart 10
Swiss Singles Chart 4
UK Singles Chart[12] 1
US Billboard Hot 100 33
US Billboard Hot 100 Singles Sales 23
US Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales 50
US Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks 7
US Cash Box Top 100[13] 43

Year-end charts

1991 Year-end charts Position
Australian Singles Chart[14] 10
Austrian Singles Chart[15] 3
Dutch Top 40[10] 44
German Singles Chart[16] 7
Swiss Singles Chart[17] 7
UK Singles Chart 3
All Time Chart
Norwegian Singles Chart[18] 67

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Australia (ARIA)[19] Platinum 70,000^
Austria (IFPI Austria)[20] Gold 25,000x
France (SNEP)[21] Silver 255,000[22]
Germany (BVMI)[23] Gold 250,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[24] Gold 7,500*
United Kingdom (BPI)[25] Gold 400,000^

^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

Live performances

Cher performed the song on the following concert tours:

Preceded by
"The One and Only" by Chesney Hawkes		 UK Singles Chart number-one single (Cher version)
April 28, 1991 – June 1, 1991 (5 weeks) 		Succeeded by
"I Wanna Sex You Up" by Color Me Badd
Preceded by
"Joyride" by Roxette		 Norwegian number-one single (Cher version)
May 9, 1991 (2 weeks)
May 30, 1991 (1 week) 		Succeeded by
"Wind of Change" by Scorpions

Other versions

"The Shoop Shoop Song" had its first significant UK profile performed by a male act, the Searchers — with Mike Pender on lead – who cut the song as "It's in Her Kiss" for their April 1964 album release It's the Searchers. The song – similarly entitled – was subsequently recorded by the Hollies and the Swinging Blue Jeans while "Britgirls" Helen Shapiro, Lulu and Sandie Shaw all recorded "It's in His Kiss", though none of these versions was released as a single.

In 1974 the song was remade by Australian band the Bootleg Family Band: "The Shoop Shoop Song" was a top 5 hit for the band who later on became known as Avalanche.[26] Also in 1974 Lena Zavaroni recorded "It's in His Kiss" for her album If My Friends Could See Me Now, and Kristine Sparkle had a single release of the song uniquely entitled "In His Kiss" (parent album Image).

In 1976 Anne Renée (fr) recorded the French language rendering "Embrasse-le" which borrowed the arrangement of the 1975 Linda Lewis disco remake.

Kate Taylor remade "It's in His Kiss" in 1977 at the suggestion of Livingston Taylor:[27] an acoustic rendition featuring a counter vocal by James Taylor - who produced (with Lew Hahn) - the track became Kate Taylor's sole Billboard Hot 100 hit with a #49 peak and was featured on Kate Taylor's 1978 self-titled album release.

In 1979 Cisse (fi) remade the song as "It's in Her Kiss" for his Summer Party album.

The Swinging Blue Jeans hit No. 3 in the UK with their cover of Betty Everett's previous single to "The Shoop Shoop Song", "You're No Good", but the group's version of "It's in Her Kiss" was unreleased until 1998 when it was included on the At Abbey Road compilation.

Other versions of "The Shoop Shoop Song" have been cut by Aretha Franklin, the Supremes, and (as "It's in Her Kiss") by The Newbeats on their debut album Bread & Butter.

"The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)" has also been covered by Nancy Boyd & The Capello's (with Darry Campanilla - album Let's Hang On/ 1987), The Chipettes (album The Chipmunks Rock the House/ 1991), the Nylons (as "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In Her Kiss)" - album Hits Of The 60's A Cappella Style/ 1997), Vonda Shepard (album Songs from Ally McBeal/ 1997), Mary Duff (as "It's in His Kiss (The Shoop Shoop Song)" - compilation album The Ultimate Collection/ 2005), and Anna Book (album Let's Dance/ 2006).

References

  1. ↑ "The Shirelles". History-of-rock.com. Retrieved 2014-03-30.
  2. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093476/?ref_=tttr_tr_tt
  3. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093476/trivia
  4. ↑ http://www.blogg.org/blog-65325-themes-_opals__4_-217820.html
  5. ↑ Marsh, Dave (1989). The Heart of Rock and Soul. New York: Plume. p. 398. ISBN 978-0306809019.
  6. ↑ "Phoebe Snow: the Out in Hollywood Interview". Blogs.Dailynews.com. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  7. ↑ St Petersburg Times (vol 96 #170 [January 10, 1980]): p. 53. Missing or empty |title= (help);
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Shoop Shoop Song Single". Sites.google.com. Retrieved 2014-03-30.
  9. ↑ Steffen Hung. "Cher - The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)". australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2014-03-30.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Single top 100 over 1991" (PDF) (in Dutch). Top40. Retrieved April 13, 2010.
  11. ↑ Steffen Hung. "Cher - The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)". charts.org.nz. Retrieved 2014-03-30.
  12. ↑ "CHER | Artist". Official Charts. Retrieved 2014-03-30.
  13. ↑ "Cash Box 100 Singles chart
  14. ↑ 1992 Australian Singles Chart aria.com (Retrieved August 15, 2008)
  15. ↑ 1991 Austrian Singles Chart Austriancharts.at (Retrieved August 15, 2008)
  16. ↑ "INFINITY CHARTS: German Top 20". Ki.informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de. 1997-03-20. Retrieved 2014-03-30.
  17. ↑ 1991 Swiss Singles Chart Hitparade.ch (Retrieved August 15, 2008)
  18. ↑ "Norway all-time chart". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved August 27, 2010.
  19. ↑ "Accreditation Awards". Australian Fun Countdowns. April 7, 2011. Retrieved August 13, 2013.
  20. ↑ "Austrian single certifications – Cher – The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)" (in German). IFPI Austria. Enter Cher in the field Interpret. Enter The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss) in the field Titel. Select single in the field Format. Click Suchen
  21. ↑ "French single certifications – Cher – The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)" (in French). InfoDisc. Select CHER and click OK
  22. ↑ "Les Singles en Argent :". Infodisc.fr (in French). Retrieved August 13, 2013.
  23. ↑ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Cher; 'The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  24. ↑ "New Zealand single certifications – Cher – The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)". Recording Industry Association of New Zealand.
  25. ↑ "British single certifications – Cher – The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)". British Phonographic Industry. Enter The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss) in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select single in the field By Format. Select Gold in the field By Award. Click Search
  26. ↑ "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss) - BOOTLEG FAMILY BAND (1974)". Pop Archives. Retrieved 2014-03-30.
  27. ↑ Bangor Daily News (July 17, 1978): p. 35. Missing or empty |title= (help);