By 1959, Neil Sedaka had released several songs, including “The Diary”, out in 1958, which became his first Top 15 single. But it wasn’t until 1959 that Sedaka had his first Top 10 hit, with a song called “Oh! Carol”. Written by Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, “Oh! Carol” is the only single from Neil Sedaka Sings Little Devil And His Other Hits, a record that came out in 1961.
“Oh! Carol” begins with, “Oh! Carol / I am but a fool / Darling, I love you / Though you treat me cruel / You hurt me / And you make me cry / But if you leave me / I will surely die.“
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While the song is actually a sad song, the idea for part of “Oh! Carol” came from another songwriter, namely Carole King. Before King was known as one of the most prolific songwriters of all time, she was a high school student named Carol Klein. Some sources say that Sedaka and Klein dated, a fact that is not confirmed. But King, while still known as Klein, was part of the singing group the Linc-Tones.
The Story Behind “Oh! Carol” by Neil Sedaka
It was Sedaka’s producer, Don Kirshner, who made the suggestion that led to “Oh! Carol”.
“Write a song with the girl’s name in the title,” Kirshner advised. “Talk in the middle like The Diamonds did in ‘Little Darlin’”.
After Klein became King and married Gerry Goffin, she released “Oh! Neil”, a response to “Oh! Carol”. The single failed to chart for King.
Sedaka later recalled how he wrote “Oh! Carol”, a song that still remains one of his signature songs.
“I looked at the No. 1 record in every country in the world and analyzed it,” Sedaka says. “And that’s how Howie and I wrote ‘Oh! Carol’. I took the beat. I took the drum licks. I took the guitar licks. I took the harmony changes, and I went to school on them. Howie wrote the lyrics in twenty minutes but was embarrassed. He thought it was terrible. But it was exactly what I wanted.”
After “Oh! Carol”, Sedaka released three more singles, which did not chart at radio. But in 1960, Sedaka found success again, this time with “Stairway To Heaven”, his first Top 5 hit. In 1962, Sedaka had his first single to reach the top of the charts, with “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do”. That song, on his Neil Sedaka Sings His Greatest Hits album, was also written by Sedaka and Greenfield.
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