"God Only Knows" was a regional hit for Philadelphia

Doo wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

group

The Capris ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

. It was their debut single for the group and was written by

Ruben Wright Ruben Wright is a musician and former bandleader from Philadelphia. He had an R&B Top 30 hit with " I'm Walking Out On You". He is also a songwriter. He also wrote the regional hit "God Only Knows" for The Capris in 1954. Background Wright was ...

. The song also had a dramatic effect on

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

singer

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

. It has been covered by other artists as well.

Background

The song was written by

. It was hastily written and together with five other songs it was recorded by The Capris with their very recently acquired female singer Renee Hinton on lead vocal. According to Charlie Stroud (who was to leave the group before Renee Hinton joined), he sang the song first and didn't like it. So it was given to Ruben Wright to sing the lead. Wright then gave it to Renee Hinton. The singer is singing about how only God can know how deep her feelings are and how she is worried that their relationship is breaking up. She also tells her lover that only God would know what would happen if they did. On hearing the song, Marvin Gaye said that it fell from the heavens and hit him between the eyes. With so much soul and hurt, he related to the story. It was released on Gotham G-304 on 78 RPM, and Gotham G-7304 on 45 RPM. The 1954 and 1956 issues have different color labels.

Chart positions

Other versions

The song was re-recorded by another doo wop group called The Crystals in 1955. This came about because of it being #10 on the regional R&B charts of Cincinnati in December 1954. Syd Nathan who was the owner of Deluxe, a Cincinnati record label, rushed The Crystals, an all-male group, into the studio to record it. It was released on DeLuxe 6077. In 1961, the song title was slightly changed. "Heaven Only Knows"/"My Darling" was released on the Sheryl label. The actual group that was on the single was

The Larks The Larks were an American vocal group, active in the early 1950s. They were not the same group as the Los Angeles-based Larks (originally The Meadowlarks) featuring Don Julian, nor the Philadelphia-based group The Four Larks. Original members * ...

. However, the credited artist credited on the recording was

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler.She was also a ...

. Then in 1963, again with the title as "Heaven Only Knows", a version by Little Cheryl. The female lead was similar to that of the original.Classic Urban Harmony
''Echoes of the Past'', Issue #97, Philadelphia’s Original Capris by Charlie Horner
With contributions from Pamela Horner, Article page 1
/ref>

Releases

References

External links

"God Only Knows" sung by The Capris in 1954

"God Only Knows" by Renee Hinton in 1991
{{authority control 1954 singles 1954 songs