"Bobby's Girl" | ||||
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Single by Marcie Blane | ||||
B-side | "A Time To Dream" | |||
Released | September 28, 1962 | |||
Genre | Pop Rock | |||
Length | 2:15 | |||
Label | Seville Records 45-120 | |||
Songwriter(s) | Gary Klein, Henry Hoffman [1] | |||
Producer(s) | Marvin Holtzman | |||
Marcie Blane singles chronology | ||||
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"Bobby's Girl" is a song and single written by Gary Klein and Henry Hoffman. The original was performed by American teenage singer Marcie Blane, and became a No. 3 hit on the US charts. A near-simultaneous cover by British singer Susan Maughan was a hit in the UK, coincidentally also reaching No. 3 on the UK charts. [2] [3] Both Blane and Maughan are one-hit wonders; for both these artists, "Bobby's Girl" marked their only appearance on a national top 40 chart.
Blane's version of the song was released in the United States in August, 1962. It has a spoken introduction and a backing refrain of "You're not a kid anymore" and was popular with the American teenage audience. It entered the charts in October and made the Top 10 within a month, reaching No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 by December, where it stayed for four weeks. [4] It reached No. 2 on the Cash Box chart, staying on the charts for nineteen weeks, and made Blane (very briefly) the top-selling female singer in the US. [5]
"Bobby's Girl" | ||||
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Single by Susan Maughan | ||||
B-side | "Come a Little Closer" | |||
Released | 1962 | |||
Genre | Pop Rock | |||
Length | 2:15 | |||
Label | Philips Records 326544 BF | |||
Songwriter(s) | Gary Klein, Henry Hoffman | |||
Susan Maughan singles chronology | ||||
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Susan Maughan's cover version was released in the UK, also in 1962. It featured Wally Stott and his orchestra and chorus. [13] Substantially re-arranged from Blane's original, Maughan's version dropped the spoken word intro, and had a more sophisticated, less 'teen-age' sound. It spent nineteen weeks on the UK's Record Retailer chart, peaking at No. 3. [14] [15]
Chart (1962–1963) | Peak position |
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UK Singles Chart [16] | 3 |
Ireland IRMA [16] | 3 |
Israeli Singles Chart [16] | 3 |
New Zealand (Lever Hit Parade) [17] | 6 |
Norway VG-lista [16] | 6 |
In 1983 Tracey Ullman released a version of "Bobby's Girl" on the album You Broke My Heart in 17 Places and as a single. Ullman's version reached No. 45 in West Germany. [18]
In 2001, members of the West Midlands Police force released a version in aid of the John Taylor Hospice in Birmingham. Lead vocals on the song was by Hayley Evetts and comedian Joe Pasquale.