Fact #88636
When:
Short story:
Jay
And The Americans release a new single, Only In America, on
United
Artists Records in the USA. The track is written and produced
by Jerry
Leiber and Mike Stoller.
Full article:
Jay Black (Jay And The Americans] : We were in Leiber and Stoller's office and I listened to the song Only In America by The Drifters and I said, 'That's gonna be a hit!' They couldn't put it out by a black group because they felt, at that time, the lyrics were hypocritical.
They gave the song to us and we recorded it using the original Drifters' backing track. They sped it up because they didn't think it was a hit the way it was. I was very unhappy. They did it without our knowledge. The first time we heard it was on the radio.
Source : Steve Kolanjian's sleeve notes to the 1990 CD compilation Come A Little Bit Closer
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They gave the song to us and we recorded it using the original Drifters' backing track. They sped it up because they didn't think it was a hit the way it was. I was very unhappy. They did it without our knowledge. The first time we heard it was on the radio.
Source : Steve Kolanjian's sleeve notes to the 1990 CD compilation Come A Little Bit Closer