"Lipstick on Your Collar" is a song written by

Brill Building The Brill Building is an office building at 1619 Broadway on 49th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, just north of Times Square and further uptown from the historic musical Tin Pan Alley neighborhood. It was built in 1931 as t ...

staff writers Edna Lewis (lyrics) and George Goehring (music) which was a 1959 hit single for

Connie Francis Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero (born December 12, 1937), known professionally as Connie Francis, is an American pop singer, actress, and top-charting female vocalist of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Called the “First Lady of Rock & Roll” ...

History

In a 1959 interview, Connie Francis attributed her being the sole songstress then scoring rock and roll hits by saying: "Rock 'n' roll is a masculine kind of music" with its mindset of "'Come on out baby we're going to rock'... estsuited for a man to sing...The mistake that many girl singers have made is trying to compete with the men hereasI've tried for the cute angle in lyrics, things like 'Lipstick on Your Collar' and ' Stupid Cupid'." Songwriter George Goehring recalled in 1982 that he had personally pitched "Lipstick on Your Collar" to Francis, when he made an unannounced visit to her New Jersey home and played the song for her on her piano. Francis recorded the song April 15, 1959 in a session at Metropolitan Studio (NYC) produced and conducted by

Ray Ellis Ray Ellis (July 28, 1923 – October 27, 2008) was an American record producer, arranger, conductor, and saxophonist. He was responsible for the orchestration in Billie Holiday's '' Lady in Satin'' (1958). Biography Raymond Spencer Ellis ...

, with veteran guitarist George Barnes contributing a solo to the track. At the same session Francis recorded the romantic ballad "

Frankie Frankie may refer to: People *Frankie (musician), indie pop musician from Los Angeles, California * Frankie Abernathy (1981–2007), American MTV Real World cast member *Frankie Adams (born 1994), Samoan New Zealand actress *Frankie Avalon (born ...

", a

Howard Greenfield Howard Greenfield (March 15, 1936 – March 4, 1986) was an American lyricist and songwriter, who for several years in the 1960s worked out of the famous Brill Building. He is best known for his successful songwriting collaborations, including o ...

Neil Sedaka Neil Sedaka (; born March 13, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Since his music career began in 1957, he has sold millions of records worldwide and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collabo ...

composition meant to appeal to

Frankie Avalon Francis Thomas Avallone (born September 18, 1940), better known as Frankie Avalon, is an American actor, singer, and former teen idol. He had 31 charting U.S. ''Billboard'' singles from 1958 to late 1962, including number one hits, "Venus" an ...

fans. "Lipstick on Your Collar" was originally intended to serve as the B-side to "Frankie", but MGM Records and Francis herself were so pleased with the recording that the two tracks were both promoted equally. The result was the most successful double-sided hit of Francis' career, as "Lipstick on Your Collar" – the first uptempo Connie Francis single to reach the US Top Ten – peaked at No. 5 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in July 1959, while "Frankie" peaked at No. 9. "Lipstick on Your Collar" sold over one million copies in the US. In the summer of 1959 "Lipstick on Your Collar" also reached No. 3 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, and became Francis' first Top Ten hit in Australia at No. 4.

Other versions

The

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of "Lipstick on Your Collar" for the UK

Embassy Records Embassy Records was a UK budget record label that produced cover versions of current hit songs, which were sold exclusively in Woolworths shops at a lower price than the original recordings. The original label was active between 1954 and 1965, a ...

budget disc label was recorded by

Maureen Evans Maureen Evans (born 23 March 1940, Cardiff, Wales) is a Welsh pop singer who achieved fame in the 1950s and 1960s. Career Evans career began as a singer with Waldini's Gypsy Band in the mid-1950s, mainly doing summer seasons at UK holiday re ...

. "Lipstick on Your Collar" was recorded in German by Conny as "Lippenstift am Jacket" which reached #13¹ in Germany in April 1960 (the single was a double-sided hit with the

Rex Gildo Rex Gildo (formerly Alexander Gildo, born Ludwig Franz Hirtreiter; 2 July 1936 – 26 October 1999) was a German singer of Schlager ballads who reached the height of his popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, selling over 25 million records and st ...

duet "Yes, My Darling"). It was the success of the German version of "Lipstick on Your Collar" that alerted Francis to her potential success singing her singles in other languages: she made her first foreign language recording, that being "

Everybody's Somebody's Fool "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" is a song written by Jack Keller and Howard Greenfield that was a No. 1 hit for Connie Francis in 1960. A polka-style version in German, "Die Liebe ist ein seltsames Spiel", was the first German single recorded and ...

" in German, in April 1960. A Swedish rendering of "Lipstick on Your Collar" entitled "Läppstift På Din Krage", had been recorded in 1959 by respectively

Lill-Babs Barbro Margareta Svensson (9 March 1938 – 3 April 2018), known by her stage name Lill-Babs, was a Swedish singer, actress and television host. From the early 1950s until her death in 2018, she was one of Sweden's best-known and popular singers. ...

, Mona Grain ( sw) and

Bibi Johns Bibi Johns is a Swedish singer and film actress active in Germany.Koepnick p.64 Filmography * ''Ten on Every Finger'' (1954) * ''How Do I Become a Film Star?'' (1955) * '' Ball at the Savoy'' (1955) * ''A Thousand Melodies'' (1956) * ''Beneath ...

( sw). Also in 1959 the Danish rendering "Tusind skøre tanker" had been recorded by Grethe & Jørgen Ingmann while Québécois singer

Michèle Richard Michele (), is an Italian male given name, akin to the English male name Michael. Michele (pronounced ), is also an English female given name that is derived from the French Michèle. It is a variant spelling of the more common (and identically ...

( fr) had recorded the French rendering "Du rouge à levres sur ton collet". The Italian rendering "Rossetto sul colletto" was recorded by Mina for her 1960 album '' Il cielo in una stanza''. In 1960, the song was covered by Japanese artist Kayoko Moriyama. "Lipstick on Your Collar" was one of several hits remade by Helen Shapiro on her March 10, 1962 album release ''Tops With Me''. In 1963,

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

female singer Chang Loo covered this song under the title 妒人的口紅 ("Lipstick on your collar"), alternating between

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...

, on her LP album ''An Evening With Chang Loo'', an EMI Columbia Records release. Phyllis Dillon released a reggae version in 1969 on

Trojan Records Trojan Records is a British record label founded in 1968. It specialises in ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub music. The label currently operates under the Sanctuary Records Group. The name ''Trojan'' comes from the Croydon-built Trojan truck ...

TR-686. In September 1977 Australian punk rock pioneers the Saints had a single release with their remake of "Lipstick on Your Collar". The 1981

Elisabeth Andreassen Elisabeth Gunilla Andreassen (; born 28 March 1958), also known as just Bettan, is a Norwegian-Swedish singer who has finished both first and second in the Eurovision Song Contest. Career Her talent was discovered in 1979 by Swedish musician and ...

album ''

Angel of the Morning "Angel of the Morning" is a popular song written by Chip Taylor, originally recorded by Evie Sands, but first charting by Merrilee Rush. The song has been covered by many artists including P. P. Arnold, Connie Eaton, Mary Mason, Guys 'n' ...

'' features a cover of "Lipstick on Your Collar". In 1982, Mud recorded the song. Dana had a 1987 single release with a remake of "Lipstick on Your Collar" which did not chart. A

Welsh-language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it has al ...

version, "Lipstic ar dy Goler", was recorded by violinist Angharad Davies in 1989, and included on her album ''Y Ferch o'r Filltir Sgwâr''. In 1991 Dutch duo Maywood remade "Lipstick on Your Collar" for their ''Walking Back to Happiness'' album. "Lipstick on Your Collar" was a favorite song to sing for the young Donna Summer.

Other uses

The song was also used in the off-Broadway musical, ''The Marvelous Wonderettes'', a revue of 1950s and 1960s songs. In 1982 Wisk laundry detergent utilized an adaption of "Lipstick on Your Collar" as a jingle in a radio ad campaign celebrating the product's twenty-fifth anniversary; the lyrics for the Wisk jingle version were composed by George Goehring who'd written the original song's music (but not its lyrics).''Billboard'' May 29, 1982 (vol. 94 #21) p. 38. Connie Francis' "Lipstick on Your Collar" served as the theme song for the 1993 British television series '' Lipstick on Your Collar'' which was set during the Suez Crisis of 1956, three years before Francis' hit single.

References

{{authority control 1959 singles Connie Francis songs 1959 songs MGM Records singles Elisabeth Andreassen songs Songs about infidelity