One hit wonders

Correction to my own corrections
... the action of an ultimate pedant - correcting one's own statement.

Baby It's You was by Promises. Reel to Real (sp?) was the album title.

That is so true, Sharptongue, about pedantry. I honor you for that!

I'll be good to you - Brothers Johnson
Do it till your satisfied - BT Express
Fire - Ohio Players
Dancing in the Moonlight - King Harvest
Brandy - Looking Glass

Oh! The Ohio Players were hardly one hit wonders. Neither was BT Express.

Oh man...the Brothers Johnson, 'Thunder Thumbs and Lightning Licks.' Names I have not heard in a while...

How about....

Requiem - Army of Lovers

Wooly Bully was Sam the Sham and the Pharohs. They had another hit, even bigger, "Little Red Riding Hood".

? and the Mysterians were indeed one hit wonders, only not with Wooly Bully. It was "96 Tears"-organ sound was really unique for mid sixties.

96 Tears later became a hit for somebody else-not sure who.

Perhaps my favorite One Hit Wonder of all time:

"Lies" by The Knickerbockers.

Imitation early Beatles, just as good as the original.

It could be strongly argued that from Mandy to Can't Smile Without You to I Write The Songs, Barry Manilow has been singing the same song with different lyrics since Nixon was in office.

Does he count as a One Hit Wonder?

Can't find the name or performer but any aussies or poms out there should know it (I don't think it was released in the US.) goes like this;

Atsa matta you, why ya looka so sad,
Itsa not so bad, itsa a nica place, ah shutupaya face!!

I'm pretty sure it's still the highest selling aussie single of all time!
(mainly from sales in the UK I have to point out!)

Here is a big hit by another One Hit Wonder: I Fought The Law by the Bobby Fuller Four. No, The Clash didn't do it first.

And another: Last Kiss by J Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers. Remade by someone else, not sure who.

Oh where oh where can my baby be
The Lord took her away from me
She's gone to heaven soI got to be good
So I can see my baby when I leave this world

We were out on a date in my daddy's car
We hadn't driven very far
There in the road straight up ahead
A car was stalled the engine was dead
I couldn't stop so I swerved to the right
I'll never forget the sound that night
The screaming tires the busting glass
The painful scream that I heard last

Thanks, Cereal Killer. Damn, a group that big I should have remembered.

Anyway, here's another one: Tell Him by the Exciters.

I know something about love. You've gotta want it bad
If that guy's got into your blood, go out and get him
If you want him to be the very part of you
That makes you want to breathe, here's the thing to do...

[Reff:]
Tell him that you're never gonna leave him
Tell him that you're always gonna love him
Tell him, tell him, tell him, tell him right now

None of their follow-ups ever seemed to make it onto the radio. However, one of their follow-up that flopped was re-made into a monster hit, Doo Wah Diddy by Manfred Mann.

Interesting question: If the Exciters, an American group, never got Doo Wah Diddy played on the radio in America, how the heck did an English band get hold of the record in order to remake it?

Lots of American music that didn't sell (or wasn't allowed to be sold) in the US was exported to England and, in large part, fueled what was called the "British Invasion"... Where do you think Mick Jagger got his inspiration?

I don't think that there was any issue of Doo Wah Diddy not being allowed to be sold in America. The Exciters were already a known group, and the author of the song, Ellie Greenwich, already had many hits, performed by others, of course.

I think that Mick Jagger probably got his inspiration from blues, which always had a following in Europe. It is well chronicled that many American bluesmen, just getting by in the USA, found that their most loyal following was in France or someplace. Although I am sure that in Europe, only certain record stores carried the blues.

However, it is a point well taken that Doo Wah Diddy may well have been a bigger hit, albeit minor, in England where it wasn't one here. Another possiblility is that, pre-British Invasion, Tell Him might not have been a hit over there until well after it had it's run over here. Doo Wah Diddy might have been the first follow-up record The Exciters had after Tell Him's run on the English charts. Meanwhile, back in the USA, nobody was playing Doo Wah Diddy because The Exciters' followup records had all flopped previously.

Here is one that was all over the radio in the early sixties: I Will Follow Him by Little Peggy March.

I Will Follow Him by: Little Peggy March
Lyrics by: J. Plant, J. Stole, D. Roma, A. Altman, N. Gimbel
Peak: 1
Year: 1963


Love him, I love him, I love him
And where he goes Ill follow, Ill follow, Ill follow

I will follow him, follow him wherever he may go
There isnt an ocean too deep
A mountain so high it can keep me away

I must follow him, ever since he touched my hand I knew
That near him I always must be
And nothing can keep him from me
He is my destiny

Space Hog's 'In the Meantime' is an amazing song, but everything else they've done has been a major disappointment IMO.

Keltic, you're right about the blues. But as a little white suburban goil, "race" records were not sold where I could get my hands on them. I could sometimes pick up Southern radio stations that played them, late at night if the weather was right, but blues music was not otherwise available to me. The first records I was able to find of the old blues tunes that I still love were in the "import bin" at my local record store -- beginning in about 1968, and rare then...

Plenty of white suburban British kids loved 'em...

I loved "I Will Follow Him"!

A Bunch More 1HW's...
Here are a bunch more that I came up with...

Al Di La' Emillo Pericoli
My True Story Jive Five
Mr. Bass Man Johnny Cymbal
Apache Jorgen Ingmann
Dear One Larry Finnegan
Liar, Liar Castaways
The Men in My Little Girl's Life Mike Douglas
One Summer Night Danleers
Wheels String-a-longs
Theme From Dr Kildare (3 Stars Will Shine Tonite) Richard Chamberlain
Keep On Dancing Gentrys
Cherry Pie Skip & Flip
Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor (On The Bedpost Overnight) Lonnie Donegan
Pretty Little Angel Eyes Curtis Lee
Angel of the Morning Merrilee Rush & The Turnabouts
This Time Troy Shondell
I Know Barbara George
Mule Skinner Blues Fendermen
Alley Cat Bent Fabric
I Like It Like That Chris Kenner
Village Of Love Nathaniel Mayer
Sally Go 'Round The Roses Jaynetts
I'm Leaving It Up To You Dale & Grace
Mama Didn't Lie Jan Bradley
Money Barret Strong
Who Put the Bomp (In the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp) Barry Mann
Close To Cathy Mike Clifford
Shout! Shout! (Knock Yourself Out) Ernie Maresca
Happy-Go-Lucky Me Paul Evans
Here Comes Summer Jerry Keller
I Remember You Frank Ifield
Forever Little Dippers
Hurt Timi Yuro
Party Lights Claudine Clark
Last Night Mar-keys
Let's Think About Livin' Bob Luman
Little Star Elegants
Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love) Swingin' Medallions
Have I The Right? Honeycombs
Love You So Rod Holden
I Wish That We Were Married Ronnie & The Hi-lites

We many not have MWD's, but we'll always ahve 1HW's...

I'd like to say uh...Grand Master Flash is not a one hit wonder.

I was going to say traffics- low spark of the high heeled boys...but they arent exactly a one hit wonder.

easybeats-friday on my mind

fastball-was i outta my head

Glenn Fry-smugglers Blues

mr big-to be with you

La Bouche-mr vain

Carly Simon-clouds in my coffe (she counts right?)