POLL: Greatest Ellie Greenwich-penned song

Impossible, objectively. But luckily see a personal favorite I can vote for.

There is a great story told by Leiber and Stoller about how the "Chapel of Love" demo was chosen as the song to be recorded as their next (first? on their new label) hit single.

Unreleased master, actually, not demo. Below from All Hopped and Ready to Go: Music from the Streets of New York 1927-1977, by Tony Fletcher.

Leiber and Stoller were revered producers and songwriters, and respected businessmen, but as their own label bosses, they were repeated failures. Goldner had some of the best ears in the business; he just couldn’t be trusted with money. Together, however, they had the makings of the perfect partnership. When Leiber told Goldner about the unreleased masters, Goldner offered to listen to them immediately, through the night if need be. They left Weiss at Al and Dick’s, and Leiber showed him into the office. “I came back the next morning,” said Leiber. “There he sat, every hair in place. His tie up where it belonged, his jacket on, and he’s waving this acetate in my face. ‘Leiber, on my mother’s grave…’” The record was “Going to the Chapel,” by the Dixie Cups. “I said, ‘George, I hate this fucking record.’” Stoller, who joined Leiber for that morning meeting—it was the first time he had ever met George Goldner, too—felt otherwise. “I liked it very much,” he said.

And there's lots more about this in Leiber and Stoller's own book, Hound Dog. First US-made #1 single after the start of the British Invasion, apparently.

"Then He Kissed Me" is sometimes my favourite pop song of all time, so that.

"Out in the Streets" or "Christmas," argh..

Prefer The Butterflys' version of "I Wonder" to The Ronettes'

There are *at least* 10 indisputably correct answers here, yes.

Things like "I Wanna Love Him So Bad" sound so perfect as recorded, with that typical Red Bird stripped-down anti-Spector production sound

So many gold-plated classics here. Hard for me not to vote for all of these: "Train From Kansas City," "Da Do Ron Ron," "Maybe I Know," "River Deep, Mountain High," "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," "Chapel of Love." Even at that, the obvious pick for me is "Baby I Love You." So great in every version.

I made a Spotify playlist.

Thanks! I was crying, waiting, hoping.

Things like "I Wanna Love Him So Bad" sound so perfect as recorded, with that typical Red Bird stripped-down anti-Spector production sound

Immediate visceral answer is "Maybe I Know."

'He's Got The Power' is a bit of a shock to the system first time you hear it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOu5jM_un3Q

Barry interview tidbit

Jeff Barry talked about his girl-group hits of the 1960s. When the conversation turned to how the work was divided between him and Ellie Greenwich—his songwriting partner at the time, who died in 2009—he offered a surprise. "People always marvel at how closely Ellie could identify with the teenage girl's psyche," said Mr. Barry, who recently turned 75. "Except I wrote most of the lyrics—not Ellie. She wrote most of the music."

She's also said in interviews she's been robbed of producing credits because it was just 'proper' that the guy got it

thanks for the spotify list crypto

this is an insane list of songs

"Da Doo Ron Ron" is really wonderful raw material for rock n roll, i love the Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra cover of it. "Leader of the Pack" is a technicolor pre-punk pop masterpiece. "Baby I Love You" may as well be excluded like "Be My Baby" for being too good a contender for Ultimate Pop Song. the whirlwind Pillar of Cloud that is "River Deep Mountain High".

i suppose the rockist line is this stuff was written for teenage girls but imo it is very universal and i think thats a big reason why it is so beloved. a patriarchal society may effectively gender that experience (and the expression of it) but the need to be loved is a huge part of the human experience no matter who you are. these songs are relatable if you have ever been in love or ever dreamed of being in love.

these songs are about emotions and feelings you can't accurately describe with words other than elucidating the human drama through the imperfect details you remember. it is flawed like memory. the music is perfect for the words, the organicness of all the duplicate players and layers of sound, quivering with emotion. the teenage Ritual of High Drama rendered in glorious excess.

Off the top of my head and I don't know 'em all:

1. Maybe I Know
2. Out in the Streets
3. I Have a Boyfriend

Out in the Streets over Look of Love

I voted Maybe I Know.

Not really into her Shangri-la ones too much. They have half a dozen stronger numbers than even "Train From Kansas City".

People Say, the other Dixie Cups song on the list, is so good.

this is totally "Maybe I Know" for me, always loved Leslie Gore and wouldn't put it above "You Don't Own Me" per se but of the ones on this list it wins, though lot of worthy contenders.

Not really into her Shangri-la ones too much. They have half a dozen stronger numbers than even "Train From Kansas City".

whaaaat, I love "give us your blessing" to, those tunes kick ass

Their best ones are "Dressed in Black", "Past, Present & Future", "I Can Never Go Home Anymore", "He Cried", "Never Again", "Give Him a Great Big Kiss". The Greenwich-penned numbers aren't close to that standard (except for Train from Kansas City possibly).

I think this is my top 4 but I'm not positive about which I'd rank highest:

Da Doo Ron Ron
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Then He Kissed Me
Chapel of Love

^ I like all of those better than "Be My Baby" fwiw

I'll cosign "He Cried" & "Great Big Kiss" on your best of the S-L's list but otherwise we're going to have to be at odds here

this is an interesting poll, not the least because it features so many great songs i don't know, but also because it's so tough to isolate the songwriting from the performance and production. like River Deep Mountain High, which features an incredible vocal from tina turner but also a classic spector production job. how would that song sound with a lesser singer, and with generic production?

i have no idea, but it's fun to try to figure it out!

A couple more good ones:

Darlene Love - (Today I Met) The Boy I'm Gonna Marry
The Butterflys - Good Night Baby
The Ronettes - I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine
The Chiffons - Sweet Talkin' Guy
Ellie Greenwich - You Don't Know

And then there's this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf-dPsk1uCA

Darlene Love - "Johnny (Baby Please Come Home)"

(This is all a stall tactic to keep me from having to decide what to vote for.)

Oh no, I would've added '(Today I Met) The Boy I'm Gonna Marry' if I remembered. That Ronettes too. Then there are more than enough great, more obscure songs of hers for a second poll of the same size. "Good Night Baby" and "Baby Be Mine" are tracks where she's also credited with "Conducted by"

Ronnie Spector's birthday today.

had no idea she wrote Doo Wah Diddy!

i had an amazing opportunity to see her live back in 2011. i was on tour in New York and had a day off and there was a free oldies show at Lincoln center. we spent the day on mushrooms at Coney Island beach and then went to this show late in the afternoon. Paul Schaffer and the usual music pros were there backing up Ronnie. Lesie Gore was there singing "It's My Party". Ronnie sang "Be My Baby". it was incredible. she still sounded very much like the records.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/01/arts/music/shes-got-the-power-at-lincoln-center-review.html

I know "The Train from Kansas City" from Superchunk as they covered it and it's on their first singles collection.

That is a very impressive list of tunes.

River Deep Mountain High is even more obvious than Be My Baby

They're about even for me, but I agree with the idea that "Be My Baby" would not have been an automatic #1. It's got the burden of over-familiarity ("Leader of the Pack," too). I suspect it would have ended with the same handful of votes that a bunch of songs from that list will.

I like their production on the early Neil Diamond records. If she is one of the geniuses who came up with the horn break on "Solitary Man," then wow.

River Deep Mountain High is even more obvious than Be My Baby

Maybe if you're British? But that was not a hit in the U.S. and has had no life as an "oldie" here either.

Boy, the Everly Brothers could have done a job on "Maybe I Know."

tim, from a Neil Diamond interview after her death:

She was too young. She will always be that 20 year old in the studio just overflowing with energy and enthusiasm, laughing, having fun, coming up on the spot with these fantastic background parts or these horn parts on 'Kentucky Woman' or 'Solitary Man.'

V jealous of seeing that gig, Adam

<3

Also jealous of Adam, and tempted to delete my Adam bookmark from Spotify, but guess I have to be happy that I got see Lala Brooks a year or two back, with a few members of Ronnie's band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RyOvPACi6k

How many of you can answer this trivia question without peeking: What super-funky jazz drummer was LaLa Brooks once married to?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RUOp6Qjn9U

I know I can't vote for this so I am putting it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KH6e_6O_dE

That was the TNT show, this is Shindig:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrVbawRPO7I

Would post Ronnie on the Sha Na Na show, except you'd have to sit through Sha Na Na

Didn't Brian Wilson write "Don't Worry Baby" as an answer song to that?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwABXrExhiE

Those concert films are a blessing, amazing footage of Ronettes, also those killer Lesley Gore performances from the T.A.M.I show.

Recommending you all read the book mentioned at this post if you haven't already.

Only one part of a book, so obviously not nearly so detailed, but I'd also recommend the Carole King section in Sheila Weller's Girls Like Us. There's lots in Greenwich and the Brill Building in there--I think it was the Weller book that got me to buy the Greenwich compilation where I was introduced to the Raindrops' "The Kind of Boy You Can't Forget."

So wondering now if the Charlie Gillett book The Sound of Music got its title from the lyrics of "I Can Hear Music."

i love the larry lurex version of "i can hear music".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5tr6O1XvjM

this poll needs an "all of them" option. but since there isn't: "train from kansas city." every single thing about this song is perfect, including but not at all limited to the melody of "baby, baby" (i mean, christ, this song has completely destroyed me by the time it gets to the second syllable of the first word); the line "i'll be back in the time it takes to break a heart"; and the reverb on the snare drum in the last verse, which i realize is not technically considered a "penned by" part of this song, but every detail in this song works with every other detail in this song, and all of them are necessary. there are obviously other songs on this list for which this is similarly true.

also my vote and yeah, the bit when the drums come back in is one of the greatest pop moments ever

honourable mention to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFrecN_dsPc

Neko Case version of "Train From Kansas City" is good too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMhp_YqR08w

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I had to go for 'River Deep Mountain High', which is a perfect package of song, production and artist!

Couple of neat songs not on this list:

Too much fun:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaIOa6A1Row

This minor Shirelles cut is icky sweet one moment and sensual the next
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNEtp07uT1E

Want to rep the Connie Francis song that is on this list and probably won't be anyone's #1 as a great, cool modern piece of pop. Should've been a hit. https://youtu.be/yvq6_GXp1js

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Suitably wide spread!

Kinda pleased Leader of the Pack didn't get a vote

Should do a "Grand Final" with tv he top five against "Be My Baby"

Remarkable that "Train from Kansas City" was only a b-side

yup

Also, only one vote for the Ronettes!

("I can hear music" is Beach Boys, c'mon)

Doesn't really seem like there were enough votes to go around.

I actually questioned whether my impulse not to vote for "Leader of the Pack" was just song fatigue. It's an absolutely amazing song.

Introducing Be My Baby again could be interesting.

All of her work with the Ronettes is amazing, but you'd just listen to their greatest hits and then find other artists standout songs to vote for.

It's probably been spoiled for me by a stupid ad from when I was a kid ("That's when I fell for/the Cadbury Pinky Bar")