The band’s name changed. The names of the band’s members changed. Even the song title changed. You would not imagine that this kind of chaos would be conducive to creating a hit single.
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Yet “Hang On Sloopy” by The McCoys went to No. 1 upon its release in 1965. None of the confusion behind its making could slow down this garage rock classic.
A Song in Need of a Band
It was initially called “Go On Sloopy”. Bert Berns and Wes Farrell. Berns had already had a hand in writing one sing-along classic in “Twist And Shout” and came up with something along the same lines. (As yet another twist in this saga, there are unproven stories that Berns bought the song off a teenager for a couple thousand dollars. If true, that teenager made a colossally bad financial decision.)
The first group to take a crack at what was then “Go On Sloopy” was The Vibrations, a vocal group that coaxed the song to No. 26 on the pop charts in 1964. Meanwhile, Berns, an impresario of sorts, started his own label called Bang Records in 1965. He thought the song had even more hit potential if he could find the right act for it.
It looked like that act might be The Strangeloves, a trio of American producer-writers who pretended to be Australian sheepherders. (Yes, this story keeps getting stranger.) They worked out their own arrangement of the song and called it “Hang On Sloopy.” But fate intervened, forcing them to pass it off to a then-unknown Ohio band who took it to the top of the charts.
“Sloopy” Sticks Around
The Strangeloves were touring on the strength of their hit “I Want Candy” when they played a gig with The Dave Clark Five. These British stars heard The Strangeloves do “Hang On Sloopy” and let The Strangeloves know they’d be recording the song with their arrangement.
Since “I Want Candy” was still going strong, The Strangeloves couldn’t rush out “Hang On Sloopy” to compete with Clark. They needed someone to fill in. Enter an Ohio band named Rick And The Raiders, a group of teens who shared a bill with The Strangeloves. This group was led by Rick Zehringer, who would soon use the stage name Rick Derringer.
Since this band’s name hewed too close to Paul Revere And The Raiders, it was changed to The McCoys. They sang on the track that was pre-prepared by The Strangeloves. And “Hang On Sloopy” proved a juggernaut on the charts, hitting No. 1.
Behind the Lyrics of “Hang On Sloopy”
The verses of “Hang On Sloopy” fall into the category of guy-likes-girl with difficult financial circumstances, a la “Rag Doll” or “The Poor Side Of Town”, also 60s hits. “Sloopy, I don’t care what your Daddy do,” Derringer sings.
“Sloopy wears a red dress, it’s as old as the hills,” the narrator sings in the second verse. Nonetheless, she still produces “chills” in him when she walks by. Later, Derringer asks her to cut loose: “Sloopy, let your hair down, girl/Let it hang down on me.”
Beyond that, The McCoys indulge in a lot of call-and-response as the music builds to a crescendo. Maybe they were only a one-hit wonder in the end. But considering everything that had to break their way to even record the song, it’s amazing what The McCoys were able to do with “Hang On Sloopy” in the first place.
Photo by Don Paulsen/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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