in my opinion, this is one of the greatest performances in live muisc history. the shirelles only agrred to record this song in the studio if there was a full string accompaniment, because the felt the song was too raw and exposed without it. The fact that this live (all music and vocals are live - no tapes) version exists, is truly amazing. really shows off the vocal talents of the group. the first time the backup vocals come in, perfectly in pitch, melts my ears.
Unforgettable. 51 years have passed and I remember every word. The Shirelles personified music of this great era. An era where lyrics were simple, classic and genuine, and you needed talent to sing. I remember exactly where I was when I first heard this song. What impact it had. The lyrics are timeless and universal. 13 or 50--it's natural to question...Music of this era was created from the soul, sung from the soul, and touched your soul. Timeless. Incomparable. Not possible today.
It's interesting that today's artistes with all the latest voice enhancing technology and expensive choreography still can't hold a candle to this. So evocative, so natural, so timeless. Wonderful song, wonderful performance.
This is so awesome, what makes it even more appealing is the lo-fi quality and the very very basic backing music which all puts so much more emphasis on their voices and how beautiful they are.
Gerry Goffin passed away today. Gerry and Carole King wrote this, the Shirelles made the world feel it. Thank you Gerry and Carole, and thank you to the Shirelles for making this incredible work of musical art heard around the world.
I absolutley love this I have had it on repeat for an hour they were without doubt the greatest of all the girl groups of the 60's, pioneers of all that followed. Sung with feeling and a slight shyness, but they knew what it was all about its in the happiness of their voices, terrible guitar. Simply beatiful a captured moment in time RIP Micki and Doris you left a lasting legacy
WOW!!! I remember these Jersey girls.From Passaic,NJ,they were truly class acts.Not like the crap we have today.Thses babes truly rocked.Thank you for bringing back the memories.
A very fine song from Goffin and King, that never seems to date. The lyrics are simple and straightforward, but the moment is deep and timeless, universal. Great songwriting, good 60's video with the Shirelles.
I was 16 years old when that song came out. I loved it then and, now 53 years later, I still think it was one of the best Rock "n"Roll love songs ever made.
Oh wow, what a magical performance, a brilliant version of this song. You can still see the wonder and excitement in Doris Coley's (RIP) face in the backing group. Thanks for sharing this. Edit, the show is from the UK, a TV station called Granada and the show was called Don't Knock The Rock. It also featured Little Richard singing Houndog which can be found on youtube with the Shirelles jiving in the background. The backing band was called Sounds Incorporated.
so rare to hear a true, live performance of these great old tracks! Most of the TV shows had the recording paling while the groups sang into dead mics. This was awesome! Thanks for posting!
Shirley is spectacular!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And so are the other girls!!!! I love this vid. It's everything that we don't have now in the music and entertainment industries.
I think I was born in those days and probably my mother would sing this song many times. This is the reason why I love so much. Thanks Doris and Micki, wherever you are ... in heaven. Beverly thanks for making the flame of the Shirelles continue living. And thanks Shirley, I am still in love with you
!!! Beautiful heart and eyes !!! ... brave women at that time expresing their thoughts when times were abused by the color of the skin ... Can't take enough of this AWESOME video !!! Thank you !!!
I envy those who had the chance to live through the 60's. Damn this music is good!! what the fuck happen to music??? It doesn't exist nowadays.. Lucky bastards all of you!!!
Shirley Reeves could kick it. This was real music. I remember riding in the back of a team bus on an out of town trip in 1960 singing this song. I really feel sorry for the kids now with Miley Cyrus and those other minimal talents when I grew up with Elvis, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee, The Shirells, the Drifters and Rick Nelson. As the Who would say now, "It's a Teenage Wasteland."
Absolutely pure heavenly magic!!!!! Shirley is angelic, enchanting, and beautiful. Wow, watching this vid made my night. This was one of the first 45s I bought way back in the day.
Another fine song of my youth I had not listened to in a lot of years. It is good to hear it fifty years later. I recall my freshman year in the University. Good times and this song brings to me so many remembrances of a time gone by.
What a great video of one of the best songs ever. Shirley is so damn cute. Wow, I fell in love with this song when I was just a kid and has so many great memories for me. Love it.
To my dear friend Shirley Alston Reeves you are the best. Keep on doing what you do best. Singing and serving the Lord. Love your old friend.........Shirl
Why there is not groups like this anymore! this was so great, very simple but just awesome, I just love this music! remind me a lot of my aunts and uncles who lived in this period of music.
I was a 12 years old boy in Park Slope, Brooklyn, at the time. Hazel (a real knockout) wanted to ask me a question, but was too shy(?). So her friend Norma Jeane did it for her. It was the question in this title, a recoding of which Hazel was holding. I stupidly said "no", because I didn't want to look like a chump in front of my guy friends. In a rage, Hazel broke the record into pieces with her bare hands, and flung them at me. I was a chump.
I was 15 in San Francisco and my mother bought all the hit 45s --- it was such a great period in music, soul and rock beginning to really take off. Incredible.
I liked this song a lot and since I could never get the record I asked the radio station by phone, to play it for me. A very good song and one that brings me happy memories. Good to hear and enjoy.
I used to pay to see them at the Apollo in Harlem. Even met them after the shows-there were no Diva acts, only people meeting other people. Thanks for Posting this. All of the Ladies were down to earth and actually got embarrassed when you would ask for autograph or fawned over them. Just some high school girls from Passaic NJ. who happened to like to sing
this is in my top three all time favs prob no1 but my jury is still out. never a finer line in any song 'can i believe the magic of your sighs' cant be beat in my humble opinion. this song always, always without fail gives me goosebumps, the magic line just about kills me off, can i say anymore 'cept one of the finest songs ever written. i absolutely love it.
Great music and a great group, one had to be part of this era to know what it meant, this music will never die, if the music and the groups of today can last as long as this timeless magic then they can class themselves as great, but they never will. This was indeed magic and the groups like the Shirelles were class acts never to be surpassed.
Terrific rare video & audio of the live Shirelles. I always liked 'em but I was taken with the shortest of the Shirelles, Beverly, who did much of the vocals on their very first hit, "I Met Him on a Sunday" back in the 1950's!
Makes me cy to see the world the way it is today, back then when this song was made what an AWESOME time that was..58 Chevy, top down, radio blasting, what an innocent time..
I've always loved Micki's voice. She is sorely missed by those who love her. I was living in Atlanta when she passed away, would pass by the hotel where she had the heart attack, and remember her every time. (Wikipedia says "onstage"; at the time, everyone said at the time, in the lobby of said hotel, on the way to perform.
What a question! Angel, I think it must have been the Hyatt Regency Atlanta. Of course, there are no pictures of the atrium inside so I can be sure (it was a lifetime ago!) I know it wasn't the Peachtree Plaza (or, as we called it back in the day The Portman Penis), it was across the street, and the only thing that looked like it might have been the hotel, was the Hyatt.
Of course, I wasn't "there" there, I wasn't in the atrium as she crossed through, but it's the detail that stuck in my mind at the time. There are varied accounts - some have it onstage, some have it backstage, but that's the version I remember from the day, day after it happened. It was also in downtown Atlanta that I got Lauren Bacall's autograph in her autobiography, but I don't think that was at the Plaza, either! :-)
Walker I It was at the Hyatt Reg June 10 1982 after the shows by the elevator bank she was like a mom to me and my best friend I travelled with her since I was 16. At the time of her death I was 26 still miss her!
Thanks for sharing your memories of that sad day. Also, thanks for confirming the story that I'd heard originally, but never had confirmed before. Blessings.
Beautiful song. Now we have Born again star Leslie Grace from the Bornx. She sing this song so beautiful just like Amy Winehouse may she rest in peace. Nice to see a new generation to bring back memory from the oldies. I was just 10 year old at the time went this song from The Shirelies!
Over 60 years old, this has to be one of the true golden oldies. Deades away in the future when I am long gone, this song by the Shirelles, will still be rated as one of the all time greats. Can any body tell what the chart toppers were last week ?
I just love this. Great song to begin with and I love the little touches that aren't on the studio version. And they're beautiful and sexy in that classic understated way that is so much cooler than crappy skankiness.
I am 20 and i wish i could be at your age (12-13) or at least be part of that generation when that great song came out.. really hard to find quality music these days...
I am glad I was born when I was..we had great times in the 60's dancing to songs like this, we had great times, dancing with the chaps that asked us for a dance..we used to have a drink, but not till we dropped..my friend and I never took a drug, although I can remember being offered a "purple heart" which was the drug I believe in the 60's. We had fantastic times..without being off our heads, those days will never come back..
