Don't You Worry My Little Pet

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"Don't You Worry My Little Pet"
Don't You Worry My Little Pet.png
Single by the Teddy Bears
A-side "To Know Him Is to Love Him"
ReleasedSeptember 1958 (1958-09)
RecordedMay 20, 1958 (1958-05-20)
Studio Gold Star, Hollywood
Genre Rock and roll
Length2:01
Label Doré
Songwriter(s) Phil Spector
The Teddy Bears singles chronology
"To Know Him Is to Love Him" / "Don't You Worry My Little Pet"
(1958)		"I Don't Need You Anymore"
(1959)

"Don't You Worry My Little Pet" is a song written by Phil Spector for the American pop quartet the Teddy Bears, of which he was a member. It was released in September 1958 as the B-side of the group's "To Know Him Is to Love Him", which topped the Billboard Hot 100. [1]

Contents

Background and recording

Spector wrote the upbeat rock and roll song based on his then-current favorite performers, Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers. [2] It was his first experience with studio recording; the production was achieved by taking a demo tape of the song and playing it back over the studio's speaker system in order to overdub another performance over it. [3] The end product was a cacophony, with stacked harmony vocals that could not be heard clearly. He would develop these methods further, culminating in what would later be dubbed the Wall of Sound. [4]

On May 20, 1958, [2] the song was recorded at Gold Star Studios, Hollywood in a single two-hour session. [5] According to biographer Mick Brown: "Nobody apart from Spector was really convinced the song was any good. [Studio owner] Stan Ross would later dismiss it as 'a piece of crap', and even Anette Kleinbart [ sic ] thought it was 'dreadful'." [2]

Personnel

The Teddy Bears

Art and Dotty Todd version

On November 17, 1958, another version recorded by Art and Dotty Todd was given a four-star rating in Billboard, indicating "very strong sales potential". The publication referred to it a "swingy rocker ... Side moves, and it could get some action." [6]

References

  1. ↑ Ribowsky, Mark (2000). He's a Rebel: Phil Spector, Rock and Roll's Legendary Producer. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 303. ISBN   978-0-8154-1044-7.
  2. 1 2 3 Brown, Mick (2012). Tearing Down The Wall of Sound: The Rise And Fall of Phil Spector. A&C Black. p. 36. ISBN   978-1-4088-1950-0.
  3. ↑ Smith, Carlton (2007). Reckless: Millionaire Record Producer Phil Spector and the Violent Death of Lana Clarkson. St. Martin's Press. p. 57. ISBN   978-1-4299-0890-0.
  4. ↑ Howard, David N. (2004). Sonic Alchemy: Visionary Music Producers and Their Maverick Recordings. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 5–7. ISBN   978-0-634-05560-7.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Warner, Jay (2006). American Singing Groups: A History from 1940s to Today . Hal Leonard Corporation. p.  304. ISBN   978-0-634-09978-6.
  6. ↑ "This Week's Singles". Billboard . Nielsen Business Media, Inc. November 17, 1958. ISSN   0006-2510.
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