Then He Kissed Me

"Then He Kissed Me"
Single by The Crystals
B-side "Brother Julius"
Released July 12, 1963
Format Vinyl
Genre Pop
Length 2:35
Label London
Songwriter(s) Phil Spector, Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry
Producer(s) Phil Spector
The Crystals singles chronology
"Da Doo Ron Ron"
(1963)		 "Then He Kissed Me"
(1963)		 "Little Boy"
(1964)

"Da Doo Ron Ron"
(1963)		 "Then He Kissed Me"
(1963)		 "Little Boy"
(1964)

"Then He Kissed Me" is a song written by Phil Spector, Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry. The song, produced by Spector, was initially released as a single on Philles Records (#115) in July 1963 by The Crystals. It is a narrative of a young woman's encounter, romance, and eventual marriage with a fellow youth.

In 2004, this song was #493 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[1] Pitchfork placed it at number 18 on its list of "The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s".[2] Billboard named the song #8 on their list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time.[3]

The Crystals version

The single is one of The Crystals' most remembered songs. It was recorded at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles in April of 1963.The lead vocal was sung by Dolores "LaLa" Brooks, the arrangement of The Wrecking Crew's Wall of Sound was by Jack Nitzsche and Larry Levine was the engineer.[4] In the United States the single peaked at number six and in the United Kingdom the single peaked at number two. The single was The Crystals' third single to chart in the top ten in the United States and their second to reach the top ten in the United Kingdom. The song was also a major hit in the Republic of Ireland, reaching number three in the charts there.

The Beach Boys version

"Then I Kissed Her"
Single by The Beach Boys
from the album Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)
B-side "Mountain of Love"
Released May 1967 (1967-05)
Format 7" vinyl
Recorded May 5, 1965 (1965-05-05)
Genre Rock, pop
Length 2:15
Label Capitol
Songwriter(s) Phil Spector, Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry
Producer(s) Brian Wilson
The Beach Boys singles chronology
"Good Vibrations"
(1966)		 "Then I Kissed Her"
(1967)		 "Heroes and Villains"
(1967)

"Good Vibrations"
(1966)		 "Then I Kissed Her"
(1967)		 "Heroes and Villains"
(1967)

The song was re-worded to the title "Then I Kissed Her" and released by The Beach Boys on their 1965 album Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) with Al Jardine on lead vocals and production by Brian Wilson. Beyond title and gender changes, new lyrics were written retelling the story of the Crystals' song from the boyfriend's point of view.

Two years after appearing on the album, in April 1967 the song was released as a single in the United Kingdom, appearing as a stop-gap release while work continued on the "Heroes and Villains" single. This was reportedly done against the band's wishes, Beach Boys band member Mike Love commented on May 7, 1967 "The record company didn't even have the decency to put out one of Brian’s own compositions. The reason for the hold up with a new single has simply been that we wanted to give our public the best and the best isn't ready yet."[5]

"Then I Kissed Her" charted at number four in the United Kingdom. The B-side of the single was "Mountain of Love", a song off the band's 1965 Beach Boys' Party! album.

Chart performance

Chart (1967) Peak
position
Dutch Top 40[6] 2
German Singles Chart[7] 39
Irish Singles Chart[8] 4
Norwegian Singles Chart[9] 10
UK Singles Chart[10][11] 4

According to contemporary national charts sourced and cited by Billboard in 1967, it reached No. 2 in Sweden and South Africa and No. 9 in Belgium. It was No. 12 in Australia's Go Set chart and No. 6 in New Zealand.

Personnel

The Beach Boys
Session musicians and production staff

Other versions

Use in other media

The Crystals' version was used in its entirety in the 1990 film Goodfellas during the famous three-minute tracking shot through the Copacabana night club. In an homage to that scene, the song (in an artificially extended version) was used in the final episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

The song was also used during the opening credits of the film Adventures in Babysitting, as Elisabeth Shue dances and lip-syncs the song. It is also heard at the end of the film during the last scene and over part of the end credits.

It was used in a scene from The Simpsons 2006 episode "Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play".

The song inspired The Sun front page headline And Then He Kissed Her on 30 July 1981, the day after the marriage of Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". RollingStone.com. Retrieved 2008-09-21.
  2. ↑ "Staff Lists: The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s | Features". Pitchfork. 2006-08-18. Retrieved 2014-05-24.
  3. ↑ "100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time: Critics' Picks". Billboard. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  4. ↑ Phil Spector: Back To Mono 1958 - 1969, 4 CD box set, All Mother Bertha Music, 1991, liner notes
  5. ↑ New Musical Express, May 7, 1967
  6. ↑ "De Nederlandse Top 40, week 26, 1967". Retrieved January 10, 2009.
  7. ↑ "charts-surfer.de search results". Retrieved January 10, 2009.
  8. ↑ "irishcharts.ie search results". Retrieved January 10, 2009.
  9. ↑ "norwegiancharts.com". Retrieved January 10, 2009.
  10. ↑ "everyhit.com search results". Retrieved January 10, 2009.
  11. ↑ "Chart Stats – Beach Boys – Then I Kissed Her". Retrieved January 10, 2009.
  12. ↑ "Sonny & Cher – I Got You Babe (Vinyl) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2014-05-24.
  13. ↑ "London – Entertainment – Newspaper exhibition". BBC. Retrieved 2014-05-24.
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