Tears on My Pillow

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"Tears on My Pillow"
US 78 tears on my pillow little anthony.jpg
The label for the U.S. 78 RPM single
Single by Little Anthony and the Imperials
from the album We Are the Imperials Featuring Little Anthony
B-side "Two People in the World"
ReleasedAugust 1958
Genre Doo-wop
Length2:20
Label End
Songwriter(s)
Little Anthony and the Imperials singles chronology
"Tears on My Pillow"
(1958)
"The Glory of Love"
(1958)
Audio video
"Tears on My Pillow" on YouTube

"Tears on My Pillow" is a doo-wop song written by Sylvester Bradford and Al Lewis in 1958. The composition was first recorded by Little Anthony and the Imperials on End Records and was that group's debut recording under that name. Their original recording of the song became a Billboard top-10 hit, peaking at No. 4, No. 3 in Canada, [1] and was the Imperials' first million-seller. It was also a two-sided hit, with its flip side, "Two People in the World," also becoming a major hit. Although it remains one of the Imperials' signature songs, "Tears on My Pillow" has been extensively covered, including a No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart version by Kylie Minogue in January 1990. [2]

Contents

The Imperials' original version

Early copies of the single were credited simply to "The Imperials," a group which had previously been known as "The Duponts" and "The Chesters." Brooklyn, New York deejay Alan Freed gave the group's lead singer, Anthony Gourdine, top billing while introducing the single over the air and the moniker of "Little Anthony and the Imperials" stuck.

"Tears on My Pillow" was a #4 hit single in the United States. Selling over a million copies, "Tears on My Pillow" was the most successful single of the Imperials' doo wop period. Its success would be matched only by the Imperials' 1964 single "Goin' Out of My Head." The Imperials ("Little Anthony" Gourdine, Clarence Collins, Ernest Wright, Tracy Lord, and Nate Rogers - the last two of whom were later replaced by Sammy Strain) performed the song on numerous TV programs, including The Dick Clark Show [3] and on the PBS Oldies special, Rock, Rhythm, and Doo-Wop in 1958 and 2002 respectively. They also performed the tune on the American Bandstand 40th Anniversary Special (also in 2002). [4] [5]

Covers

The song has been covered many times, most notably by Kylie Minogue and also by Johnny Tillotson in 1969, his version reaching No. 119 U.S. Billboard, #98 Cash Box and #94 in Canada. [6]

The song was also performed by Sha Na Na in the movie Grease from 1978 and included on the soundtrack.

In 2003, the song was revived and included on the S Club 8 album Sundown. The group of teens also performed it on GreaseMania.

Other uses

"Tears on My Pillow" is referenced by Dean Friedman in his 1977 hit song "Ariel." It is included in the lyrics, "I met a young girl, she sang mighty fine, 'Tears on My Pillow' and 'Ave Maria'."

The song was also used in the season one seventh episode of Sliders entitled "The Weaker Sex," which originally aired as episode six. The character Rembrandt Brown (played by Cleavant Derricks) sings the song repeatedly on the street in an effort to raise money for a motel room.

Kylie Minogue version

"Tears on My Pillow"
Kylie Minogue - Tears on My Pillow.png
Single by Kylie Minogue
from the album Enjoy Yourself
B-side
  • "We Know the Meaning of Love"
  • "Nothing to Lose"
ReleasedJanuary 8, 1990 (1990-01-08)
Studio London, England
Genre Pop
Length2:30
Label PWL
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s) Stock Aitken Waterman
Kylie Minogue singles chronology
"Never Too Late"
(1989)
"Tears on My Pillow"
(1990)
"Better the Devil You Know"
(1990)
Music video
"Tears on My Pillow" on YouTube

Australian singer Kylie Minogue released a cover of "Tears on My Pillow" as the final single from her second studio album, Enjoy Yourself , on January 8, 1990. Minogue's cover was also included on the soundtrack of the film The Delinquents , which she also starred in. The song reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart for one week in January 1990, [2] the final British chart topper by super producers Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW), [7] and reached No. 35 on the Canadian Adult Contemporary Chart.

Critical reception

Bill Coleman from Billboard wrote, "Aussie lass offers a faithful reading of the Little Anthony & the Imperials classic. Pop and AC programmers should take note." [8] A reviewer from Music & Media said the song "has been re-interpreted in a wholly predictable way." [9] Lisa Tilston of Record Mirror praised the song as "a perfect pop song", adding that it "puts Kylie way ahead of the PWL pack by virtue of a) she can really sing and b) she'll look fantastic in the video". [10] Similarly, James Hamilton of the same magazine considered "Tears on My Pillow" an "excellent faithful revival" of the original song, "flipped by the plaintively tuneful scurrying "We Know the Meaning of Love" (120bpm)". [11] Indeed, the track's B-side, a brand new track, "We Know The Meaning of Love", has been cited as one of SAW's best flip sides, and a landmark in Minogue's musical progression ahead of the release of her more mature third album, Rhythm of Love . [7] In 2023, Robert Moran of Australian daily tabloid newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald ranked the song as Minogue's 161st best song (out of 183), adding that he did not like it. [12]

Music video

The accompanying music video for "Tears on My Pillow" shows Kylie in a black dress with a Brigitte Bardot hairstyle singing the song. It is inter-cut with clips from the 1989 film The Delinquents.

Live performances

Minogue performed the song on the following concert tours:

The song was also performed on:

Track listings

CD single

  1. "Tears on My Pillow" - 2:33
  2. "We Know the Meaning of Love" (Extended) - 5:50
  3. "Tears on My Pillow" (More Tears Mix) - 4:14

7-inch vinyl single

  1. "Tears on My Pillow" - 2:28
  2. "We Know the Meaning of Love" - 3:25

12-inch vinyl single

  1. "Tears on My Pillow" (More Tears Mix) - 4:14
  2. "We Know the Meaning of Love" (Extended) - 5:50

US and Canadian cassette

  1. "Tears on My Pillow" - 2:33
  2. "Nothing to Lose" - 3:20

Charts and certification

See also

Related Research Articles

Stock Aitken Waterman are an English songwriting and record production trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman. The trio had great success from the mid-1980s through to the early-1990s. SAW is considered one of the most successful songwriting and producing partnerships of all time by the Guinness World Records, scoring more than 100 UK Top 40 hits and earning an estimated £60 million in royalties. The trio had thirteen UK No. 1 singles including three consecutive UK No. 1's and three US No. 1 singles. They also had at least one record in the UK Top 100 Singles Chart every week between March 1986 and October 1990.

<i>Enjoy Yourself</i> (Kylie Minogue album) 1989 studio album by Kylie Minogue

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Never Too Late (Kylie Minogue song)</span> 1989 single by Kylie Minogue

"Never Too Late" is a song written and produced by British production team Stock, Aitken and Waterman for Australian singer Kylie Minogue's second studio album, Enjoy Yourself (1989). Released on 23 October 1989, the song peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart, number one in Ireland, and number 14 in Australia. It was later rerecorded for Minogue's orchestral compilation album, The Abbey Road Sessions, in 2012. Writer Mike Stock says he deliberately composed the song with "old fashioned" lyrical themes, imagining it the style of a 1920s number.

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"Tears on My Pillow" is a doo-wop song that was written by Sylvester Bradford and Al Lewis. It was the first hit for Little Anthony and the Imperials in 1958 and later for Kylie Minogue in 1990.

References

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