Foolish Little Girl (song)

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"Foolish Little Girl"
Single by The Shirelles
from the album Foolish Little Girl
B-side"Not For All the Money in the World"
ReleasedMarch 1963
GenreR&B
Length2:19
LabelScepter 1248
Songwriter(s)Helen Miller, Howard Greenfield
Producer(s)Luther Dixon, Stan Greenberg
The Shirelles singles chronology
"Everybody Loves a Lover"
(1962)
"Foolish Little Girl"
(1963)
"Don't Say Goodnight and Mean Goodbye"
(1963)

"Foolish Little Girl" is a song written by Helen Miller and Howard Greenfield and performed by The Shirelles. The song reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, #9 on the R&B chart, and #38 on the UK Singles Chart in 1963.[1] The song appeared on their 1963 album, Foolish Little Girl.[2] The song was ranked #57 on Billboard magazine's Top Hot 100 songs of 1963.[3]

Rival or cover versions of the original song were released by several groups that same year including Clara Wilson (aka Alpha Zoe Hall)[4] and The Cleftones (April 1963), Don Mercedes (July 15, 1963), The Chiffons (September 1963), the father and four son Filipino group The Rocky Fellers (1963), and The Cookies (1963). Two additional covers were recorded decades later by Shirley "Lady Rose" Alston (1977) and Dionne Bromfield (October 12, 2009).[5]

Background[edit]

Cash Box described it as "a most attractive, easy beat cha cha romancer."[6] The song released as a single was a demo recorded at Associated Studios in NYC on 7th Avenue. The plan was to re record the song at the studios Scepter Records had access to at the time, but when their attempts at re recording the song at their studios proved to be unsatisfactory, Luther Dixon sent out The Shirelles to record their vocals on the demo version of the song at Associated, and that was the version that was released as a single and that was the version that became a hit.

Personnel[edit]

The Shirelles' version[edit]

  • Lead vocals by Shirley Owens and Beverly Lee
  • Spoken intro by Doris Coley
  • Backing vocals by Addie "Micki" Harris, Doris Coley, and Beverly Lee
  • Charles Macey: Guitar and Upright Bass
  • Buddy Saltzman: Drums
  • Leroy Glover: Organ.

Chart performance[edit]

Chart (1963) Peak
position
UK Singles (The Official Charts Company) 38
US Billboard Hot 100 4
US Billboard Hot R&B Singles 9

Other versions[edit]

  • French-Vietnamese singer Tiny Yong released a French language cover of the song, Tais-toi petite folle, in 1963.[7]

In media[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ The Shirelles, "Foolish Little Girl" Chart Positions Retrieved March 1, 2014
  2. ^ The Shirelles, Foolish Little Girl Retrieved March 1, 2014
  3. ^ "Billboard Top 100 - 1963". Archived from the original on November 29, 2013. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  4. ^ Zoe, Alpha. "Discogs". Discogs.
  5. ^ Foolish Little Girl by The Shirelles, retrieved 2024-01-01
  6. ^ "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. March 23, 1963. p. 10. Retrieved 2022-01-12.
  7. ^ Eric Brightwell, "Thiên Hương (aka “Tiny Yong”)", EricBrightwell.com. Retrieved 19 August 2020