Then He Kissed Me

"Then He Kissed Me" was written by Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, and a despicable person whom I will not name. Omitting his many songs, as author or producer, would suppress the artistry of many who have done no wrong, including the Crystals, whose 1963 arrangement was by Jack Nitzsche with accompaniment by the Wrecking Crew. It was 493 on Rolling Stone's 2004 list of the greatest songs of all time, and number 8 on Billboard's 2017 list of the greatest girl group songs of all time. The Beach Boys later covered it as "Then I Kissed Her."

I can only find a lip sync'd clip the original, but there are a couple of live performances, many years later, at the bottom of the post.

Music begins at :44

Interesting arrangement with the opening riff on bass:

This opening riff in on 12-string. I think the Wrecking Crew used two guitars (or more), but that's just a guess.

Springsteen sang "Then She Kissed Me"

Audio only:

Interesting use of marimba:

Inevitably meta:

Famously:

Lala Brooks, the original lead vocalist, with Letterman's own wall of sound:

She still had it forty years later:

 

Comments

[Dave G]

We can describe your non-mention as the "Wall of Silence"

[Steve L.]

Good one.

[Robert Claarke]

Summer 1969, Ellen, what an unexpected delight, and all because she asked me to dance.

[Patrick Bryant]

My favorite version of this one is by The Derailers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8SY7VlKBNs

I also love Elisabeth Shue lip-syncing it at the beginning of "Adventures in Babysitting": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFrecN_dsPc