Leader of the Pack

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This article is about a 1964 pop song. For other uses, see Leader of the Pack (disambiguation).

“Leader of the Pack”

Song by The Shangri-Las
Released	1964
Genre	Pop, Teenage Tragedy
Label	Red Bird
Writer	George "Shadow" Morton Jeff Barry Ellie Greenwich
Producer	George "Shadow" Morton

"Leader of the Pack" is a 1964 pop song recorded by girl group The Shangri-Las. It became number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 28, 1964.

1 Original Shangri-Las recording
- 1.1 Plot
2 Cover versions, tributes and parodies
3 References

[edit] Original Shangri-Las recording

The tune was credited to producer George "Shadow" Morton with Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. According to Morton^[1], he originally wrote the song for a different group, the Goodies (also known as the Bunnies^[2]), but instead it was needed as a follow-up to the Shangri-Las hit "Remember (Walking in the Sand)". Morton later claimed that he credited Barry and Greenwich as co-writers for business reasons; however, his recollection of these events has been questioned by Ellie Greenwich.

In July 1964, Morton recorded the song with the Shangri-Las at the Ultrasonic Sound studio on the second floor of a Manhattan hotel. Billy Joel, then a young session musician, has claimed that he played piano on "Leader of the Pack", but this has been denied by Ellie Greenwich.

According to legend, to add the authentic sound of a motorcycle engine, one was driven through the lobby of the hotel and up to the floor of the recording studio. No one was arrested, but a ticket was issued^[3]. However, in an interview four decades later, Shangri-Las lead singer Mary Weiss scoffed at this story, and said that the motorcycle sound was simply taken from an effects record. The Zombies' drummer Hugh Grundy recalls being the one revving up a real motorcycle backstage, when the Shangri-Las performed the song on a U.S. tour.

In the United Kingdom, the song was refused airplay by the BBC. This is probably due to its death theme,^[4] although some have speculated that it was because it was considered likely to encourage violence between mods and rockers.^[5] It still charted four times in the UK between 1965 and 1976, peaking at number 3 in 1972^[6] (by which time the BBC ban had been lifted). The record also reached number 1 in Australia. In 1990, it featured in the soundtrack of the Martin Scorsese film Goodfellas.

In 2004 Rolling Stone ranked the song among the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, at #447.

[edit] Plot

The song is about a young high school-aged girl named Betty, who is asked by friends to affirm rumors that she is dating Jimmy, the leader of a motorcycle gang. After singing of how her love for Jimmy came at first sight ("I met him at the candy store/He turned around and smiled at me/You get the picture?/That's when I fell for the Leader of the Pack"), Betty's heart turns to despair as she bemoans her parents' disapproval of Jimmy. The parents claim that Jimmy hails from "the wrong side of the tracks" and will be a bad influence on her. They ask Betty to tell Jimmy good-bye and find someone new.

A heartbroken Betty does as she is asked, and an obviously upset Jimmy — after putting up his bravado — speeds off on his motorcycle. Moments later, Jimmy crashes his motorcycle on a rain-slickened surface and dies instantly; Betty's pleas for Jimmy to slow down were in vain. In the end, Betty is left to deal with both heartbreak and grief, but vows never to forget her brief fling with Jimmy, the "Leader of the Pack."

[edit] Cover versions, tributes and parodies

Later in 1965, a parody record, "Leader of the Laundromat," written by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss, was released by The Detergents. This resulted in Morton, Barry and Greenwich filing a lawsuit for plagiarism.
The Downliners Sect also released a parody on their 1965 "Sect Sing Sick Songs" EP called "Leader Of The Sect."
Bob Rivers also did a parody of "Leader of the Pack" which is called 'Leader of Iraq'. The song was centred around the execution of former president of Iraq Saddam Hussein.
On her album "The Divine Miss M" Bette Midler did a version which started in the regular tempo, sped up in the second verse, and was so fast by the end that it's difficult to understand the lyric.
The opening line from "Leader of the Pack" - "Is she really going out with him ?" - was recycled both as the opening line of "New Rose" by the Damned - usually considered the first British punk rock record, in 1976 - and as the title of the 1979 hit song by Joe Jackson. It is also paraphrased in the opening line of The Boomtown Rats song "I never loved Eva Braun" where the question is changed to "Are you really going out with Adolf?"
In 1984, a Broadway musical, "Leader of the Pack," opened, based on the songs of Ellie Greenwich.
In 1985 the hard rockers Twisted Sister gave the song a short revival by putting a cover version (from the eponymous Leader's perspective) on their album Come Out and Play and publishing a video for the song.
The comedian Julian Clary recorded a cover version of the song in 1988.
The song was also used in the 2006 movie Happy Feet sung by the character Néstor, with a sad rhythm quite different from the original.
The tune was used by the political satire group The Capitol Steps for their song "A Leader Like Barack", about Barack Obama.
The song was performed by Hilary Duff on the since-cancelled primetime television show American Dreams.
Jim Steinman has stated on several occasions that the title song of the debut Meat Loaf album, "Bat out of Hell", was inspired by "Leader of the Pack".
There is a live recording of Belle & Sebastian performing the song.