BRENDA LEE, "HEART IN HAND" C/W "IT STARTED ALL OVER AGAIN," DECCA 31407 (REL. 6/1962)

Nashville star Brenda Lee took several songs by Jackie De Shannon and Sharon Sheeley into the pop and country charts. One of their lesser-known collaborations is the striking, stop-what-you’re-doing song “Heart in Hand.” This 1962 release got up to #15 but doesn’t get heard anymore. What remains of oldies radio only plays a handful of over-familiar chart-toppers and ignores thousands of worthy contenders that were hits as well.

On the bi-weekly podcast, we have a segment called “The Token Hit” that explores the story of hit records that time has forgotten. Here’s a special edition of that segment with a record that deserves to be better-remembered than some of Lee’s bigger successes.

De Shannon/Sheeley songs follow recognizable patterns: an urgent, dramatic melody with elongated phrases, blunt, direct lyrics that feel more like confrontations than odes to love or heartbreak and a hook that stays with the listener. All these qualities are present in” Heart in Hand.” Sforzando notes make the title phrase register with great impact, abetted by then-18-year-old Lee’s fervent vocal. She was the ideal candidate for these songwriters’ works: she holds notes, bends them to her will and wrings all the feeling out of words and music.

Those words are a stark condemnation of a lover who isn’t doing their part and who has left our narrator vulnerable, exposed and concerned about her well-being. Lyricist Sheeley didn’t pull any punches, and Lee’s voice was an ideal delivery method for these proto-feminist broadsides.

Add a restrained (for 1962 Nashville) arrangement that keeps the inevitable Anita Kerr Singers out of the picture ‘til late in the game and it’s a highlight in Ms. Lee’s early 1960s catalog. The song feels more like a 1965 item than ’62; De Shannon and Sheeley were ahead of the pop curve.

>>> Hear it HERE! <<<

Cash Box got the potential hit wrong. This happened often.

“It Started All Over Again,” recorded two months and 11 days later, shows the early influence of British songwriting on American pop music. That April, British performer Joe Brown released “A Picture of You,” a song penned by two members of his band. The plaintive, folkish air got to #2 on British charts and was issued in America; though it didn’t hit here, it inspired a few Yank cover versions and caught the ear of songwriters.

Among them were lyricist Gerry Goffin, co-creator of some enduring songs with his then-wife Carole King, and musician Jack Keller, B-list songwriter who had a 1959 pop hit with “Here Comes Summer.” Carole King recorded the song, which appeared on a various-artists LP issued by Dimension Records in 1962. Her rendition may have served as Lee’s demo for her fleshed-out recording.

The Kerr singers play a larger role on this side, but their performance as a response to Lee’s emotive lead works well enough. It’s a catchy song, with the inherent drama of “Picture of You” and its distinctive chord changes the focal point of the arrangement.

When was the last time you heard a clarinet solo on a pop recording? Well, here’s one. Yup. It’s the last ingredient needed to make this a peculiar li’l B-side. It’s an earworm as well, so proceed with caution.

>>> Hear it HERE! <<<

There you go. A not-all-that-obscure record by the statistics, but it’s unheard nowadays like hundred of other double-digit hits of the past.

Tomorrow: not a hit at all. Released 13 days after my birth, Jimmy Basile’s lone single is an eerie predictor of folk-rock songs to come, coupled with a weird take-off on the Buddy Holly sound. Capitol Records batted this one into the far weeks in April 1963, alongside my favorite 45 of them all, which we’ll touch on in tomorrow’s post.