| (Just Like) Romeo and Juliet | |
| Cover: | (Just_Like)_Romeo_and_Juliet_-_The_Reflections.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | The Reflections |
| Album: | (Just Like) Romeo and Juliet |
| B-Side: | Can't You Tell By the Look in My Eyes |
| Released: | February 1964[1] |
| Recorded: | 1963 |
| Studio: | United Sound Systems, Detroit (instrumental track) RCA Studios, Chicago (vocal track) |
| Genre: | Pop, doo-wop |
| Label: | Golden World |
| Producer: | Rob Reeco |
| Prev Title: | You Said Goodbye |
| Prev Year: | 1963 |
| Next Title: | Like Columbus Did |
| Next Year: | 1964 |
"(Just Like) Romeo and Juliet" is a song written by Bob Hamilton and Freddie Gorman, first made famous by the 1964 hit recording by the Reflections. The song is the first person narrative of a young man who plans to find a job so that he can buy his girlfriend presents and a car to take her out on dates. He fears that if he fails to find gainful employ, their love will fall apart, a situation he likens to the famous tragedy Romeo and Juliet.
Ed Wingate, owner of the newly formed Detroit-based Golden World Records, had signed the Reflections on the basis of the group's regional success with the single "You Said Goodbye" on the local Kay-Ko label. Songwriter Freddie Gorman, who had been recruited by Golden World from Motown, would recall that he considered his recent composition "(Just Like) Romeo and Juliet" as "tailor made" for the doo-wop-styled Reflections "because it had a pop feel, as opposed to the R&B thing they were doing." However Reflections' lead singer Tony Micale recalls that none of the group responded positively to the song when Gorman first sang it for them: "It just didn't sound like much with [Gorman] just playing a little piano backup".[2]
The Reflections recorded the vocal for the track several weeks later at the RCA recording studio in Chicago. According to Micale, the group's members still regarded the song as somewhat of a joke. While running through the song prior to the recording session they ad-libbed a falsetto "doo-doo-doot" hook line as irreverent mimicry of Gorman's vocal style when he had pitched them the song. The group was surprised when Gorman added that line to the song's vocal arrangement.[3] The instrumental track for "(Just Like) Romeo and Juliet" had been recorded at United Sound Systems in Detroit. Micale would recall that when the group's members first heard that instrumental track through the [RCA] studio monitors "we were just blown away... Some of the Motown [session musicians] were playing on it, and the sound was just amazing. Besides our vocals, the only thing added at that point were [the] 'doo-doo-doot's that we had come up with, and hand claps".[2]
First aired on CKLW in Windsor, Ontario in February 1964, the single topped the hit parade of CKLW, as well as those of Detroit radio stations WJBK and WKNR in March 1964. "(Just Like) Romeo and Juliet" made its national chart debut on the Billboard Hot 100 dated April 11, 1964, ranked at #86 and rose to a Hot 100 peak of #6 on the chart dated May 30, 1964. In New Zealand, the song reached #5.[4]
| Chart (1964) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada RPM Top Singles[5] | 20 |
| Canada (CHUM Hit Parade)[6] | 16 |
| New Zealand (Lever Hit Parade)[7] | 5 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[8] | 6 |
| US Cash Box R&B | 3 |
| Chart (1964) | Rank |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[9] | 64 |
| U.S. Cash Box [10] | 60 |
(Just Like) Romeo and Juliet" was recorded by Australian band Mental As Anything, released in November 1980 and it reached #27 on the Kent Music Report.[13]
| (Just Like) Romeo and Juliet | |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Mental As Anything |
| B-Side: | Go Down |
| Released: | November 1980 [14] |
| Genre: | Pop, Rock |
| Length: | 2:12 |
| Label: | Regular Records |
| Producer: | Cameron Allan |
| Prev Title: | Come Around |
| Prev Year: | 1980 |
| Next Title: | If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too? |
| Next Year: | 1981 |
. Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 14th Edition: 1955-2012 . Joel Whitburn--> . 2013 . Record Research . 754.
. Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Joel Whitburn--> . 2002 . Record Research . 219.
. . David Kent (historian)--> . Australian Chart Book . St Ives, NSW . 1993 . 0-646-11917-6. 198 .
