People Say (song) explained

People Say
Type:single
Artist:The Dixie Cups
Album:Chapel of Love
B-Side:Girls Can Tell
Released:July 1964
Genre:Pop, R&B
Length:2:20
Label:Red Bird
Producer:Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry
Prev Title:Chapel of Love
Prev Year:1964
Next Title:You Should Have Seen the Way He Looked at Me
Next Year:1964

"People Say" is a hit single written by the Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich songwriting team and made popular by the American pop girl group The Dixie Cups. It was originally released in July 1964 on the Red Bird Records label. The song was arranged by Mike Stoller. Billboard named the song #53 on their list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time.[1]

Background

Sung by Barbara Ann Hawkins, Rosa Lee Hawkins, and Joan Marie Johnson, it was the second hit collaboration between the Dixie Cups and the Barry-Greenwich team, with the first being their breakthrough hit "Chapel of Love".[2] Produced by Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry,[3] the single was a hit peaking at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart.[4] It also charted at number 7 on the R&B Singles Chart.[5] In Canada, "People Say" reached number 7 on the RPM Chart.[6] It was the second single taken from the Dixie Cups' debut studio album Chapel of Love, issued on Red Bird Records in August 1964.[7] The album peaked at number 112 on the Billboard 200 chart.[7]

Chart performance

Chart (1964)Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot 10012
R&B Singles Chart7
Canada RPM7

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time: Critics' Picks. Billboard. July 11, 2017.
  2. Bronson, Fred (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits: The Inside Story Behind Every Number One Single on Billboard's Hot 100 from 1955 to the Present (5 ed.). Billboard Books. p. 149.
  3. Betrock, Alan (1982).Girl Groups The Story of a Sound (1st ed.). New York: Delilah Books. Pgs. 90-94.
  4. Whitburn, Joel (2009).Top Pop Singles 1955–2008 (12th ed.). Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p. 282
  5. Whitburn, Joel (2008).Presents Across The Charts: The 1960s (first ed.). Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p.119
  6. Web site: Item Display – RPM – Library and Archives Canada. collectionscanada.gc.ca.
  7. Whitburn, Joel (1996). Top Pop Albums 1955–1996 (4 ed.). Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation. p. 222