(Just Like) Romeo And Juliet
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"(Just Like) Romeo and Juliet" is a song written by Bob Hamilton and
Freddie Gorman Freddie Gorman (born Frederick Cortez Gorman, April 11, 1939 – June 13, 2006) was an American musician and record producer, most famous as a singer, songwriter for the Motown Records, Motown label in the late 1960s and mid 1970s. He was a n ...
, first made famous by the 1964 hit recording by the Reflections. The song is the first person narrative of a young man who plans to find a job so that he can buy his girlfriend presents and a car to take her out on dates. He fears that if he fails to find gainful employ, their love will fall apart, a situation he likens to the famous tragedy ''
Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...
''. The song is widely regarded to be among the final
doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a subgenre 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, ...
singles to chart on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 during the
British Invasion The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when Rock music, rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of Culture of the United Kingdom, British culture became popular in the United States with sign ...
era.


Background

Ed Wingate, owner of the newly formed Detroit-based
Golden World Records Golden World Records was an American record label owned by Eddie Wingate and Joanne Bratton (née Jackson, former wife of boxing champion Johnny Bratton). The recording studio was located in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The studio's nationa ...
, had signed the Reflections on the basis of the group's regional success with the single "You Said Goodbye" on the local Kay-Ko label. Songwriter Freddie Gorman, who had been recruited by Golden World from
Motown Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...
, would recall that he considered his recent composition "(Just Like) Romeo and Juliet" as "tailor made" for the
doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a subgenre 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, ...
-styled Reflections "because it had a pop feel, as opposed to the R&B thing they were doing." However Reflections' lead singer Tony Micale recalls that none of the group responded positively to the song when Gorman first sang it for them: "It just didn't sound like much with ormanjust playing a little piano backup". The Reflections recorded the vocal for the track several weeks later at the RCA recording studio in Chicago. According to Micale, the group's members still regarded the song as somewhat of a joke. While running through the song prior to the recording session they ad-libbed a
falsetto Falsetto ( , ; Italian language, Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ...
"doo-doo-doot" hook line as irreverent mimicry of Gorman's vocal style when he had pitched them the song. The group was surprised when Gorman added that line to the song's vocal arrangement. The instrumental track for "(Just Like) Romeo and Juliet" had been recorded at
United Sound Systems United Sound Systems is a recording studio and locally designated historic district in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Many popular music artists over the last seventy years have recorded at the facility, including blues musicians like John Lee ...
in Detroit. Micale would recall that when the group's members first heard that instrumental track through the CAstudio monitors "we were just blown away... Some of the Motown ession musicianswere playing on it, and the sound was just amazing. Besides our vocals, the only thing added at that point were he'doo-doo-doot's that we had come up with, and hand claps".


Chart history

First aired on
CKLW CKLW (800 AM) is a commercial radio station in Windsor, Ontario, serving Southwestern Ontario and Metro Detroit. CKLW is owned by Bell Media and has a news/talk radio format. It features local hosts in morning and afternoon drive times, with ...
in
Windsor, Ontario Windsor ( ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is situated on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from the U.S city of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Esse ...
in February 1964, the single topped the hit parade of CKLW, as well as those of Detroit radio stations
WJBK WJBK (channel 2) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Owned and operated by the Fox network through its Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios and transmitter facilities on West 9 Mile Road in th ...
and
WKNR WKNR (850 AM) – branded as ''850 ESPN Cleveland'' – is a commercial sports radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland. Owned by Good Karma Brands, WKNR is the Cleveland affiliate for ESPN Radio and the AM flag ...
in March 1964. "(Just Like) Romeo and Juliet" made its national chart debut on the Billboard Hot 100 dated April 11, 1964, ranked at #86 and rose to a Hot 100 peak of #6 on the chart dated May 30, 1964. In New Zealand, the song reached #5.


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Cover versions

*Garage-rock band Michael and the Messengers released a cover version of the song as a single in 1967. While their recording failed to crack the Hot 100, it eventually gained recognition due to its inclusion on the 1972 compilation album '' Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968''. *In 1969 a
psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...
band from
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
,
Ultimate Spinach Ultimate Spinach was a short-lived American psychedelic rock musical ensemble, band from Boston, Massachusetts which was formed in 1967. In terms of style and national recognition, the band was one of the most prominent musical acts to emerge fr ...
, released their cover version as a single, but it failed to chart. It was also included in their third and final album '' Ultimate Spinach III''. *"(Just Like) Romeo and Juliet" returned to the Hot 100 in 1975 via a remake by
Sha Na Na Sha Na Na was an American rock and roll and doo-wop revival group formed in 1969. The group performed a song-and-dance repertoire based on 1950s hit songs that both revived and parodied the music and the New York City street culture of the 1 ...
which, despite falling short of the Top 40 with a #55 peak, and #47 on the
Easy Listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...
chart, was the group's most successful single. *A rival remake by Fallen Angels, also in 1975, reached #106 on the bubbling under the Hot 100 chart. *The song has also been recorded by
Little Caesar and the Consuls Little Caesar and the Consuls is a Canadians, Canadian rock music, rock band, originally active in and around Toronto from 1961 to 1971. The earliest tangible evidence of a group by that name is on February 11, 1961, when they played for the Dow ...
(album ''Little Caeser and the Consuls'', 1965),
The Outsiders The Outsiders may refer to: Literature and stage * ''The Outsiders'' (novel), a 1967 novel by S. E. Hinton * ''The Outsiders'' (musical), a 2023 musical based on S. E. Hinton's novel * ''The Outsiders'' (play), a 1911 play by Charles Klein * ...
(album '' Album #2'', 1966), and Stephen Bishop (album '' Blue Guitars'', 1996). The Austin, TX
honky-tonk A honky-tonk (also called honkatonk, honkey-tonk, honky tonk, or tonk) is either a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons or the style of music played in such establishments. It can also refer to the type of piano ...
band Jim Stringer and the AM Band released their version of the song as a single in 2020.


Mental As Anything's version

(Just Like) Romeo and Juliet" was recorded by Australian band
Mental As Anything Mental As Anything was an Australian new wave and pop rock band that formed in Sydney in 1976. Its most popular line-up (which lasted from 1977 to 1999, and recorded all of its charting singles and albums) was Martin Plaza (birth name Martin ...
, released in November 1980 and it reached #27 on the
Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music historian David Kent from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music Report (AMR) in July 19 ...
.Australian Music Database - Mental As Anything - (Just Like) Romeo And Juliet
/ref>


Track listing


Personnel

*
Martin Plaza Martin Edward Murphy (born 23 December 1955), commonly known by the pseudonym Martin Plaza, is an Australian singer-songwriter, musician and visual artist who is a founding member and vocalist and guitarist of the new wave band Mental As Anythin ...
— lead vocals, guitar *
Greedy Smith Andrew McArthur "Greedy" Smith (16 January 1956 – 2 December 2019) was an Australian vocalist, keyboardist, harmonicist and songwriter with Australian pop/ new wave band Mental As Anything. Smith wrote many of their hit songs including " Liv ...
— lead vocals, keyboards, harmonica *
Reg Mombassa Christopher O'Doherty, also known by the pseudonym Reg Mombassa, is a New Zealand-born Australian artist and musician. He is a founding member of the band Mental As Anything and member of Dog Trumpet (alongside his brother Peter O'Doherty). Ea ...
— guitar, vocals *
Peter O'Doherty Peter O'Doherty (born 23 March 1958) is a New Zealand-born Australian musician and visual artist. He is a founder of Australian pop band, Dog Trumpet, in 1991 on guitar and vocals, alongside his older brother, Chris O'Doherty ( Reg Mombassa) on ...
— bass, guitar, vocals * Wayne de Lisle – drums


Charts


See also

*
List of 1960s one-hit wonders in the United States A one-hit wonder is a musical artist who is successful with one hit song, but without a comparable subsequent hit. The term may also be applied to an artist who is remembered for only one hit despite other successes. This article contains artist ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Just Like) Romeo and Juliet 1964 songs 1964 singles 1980 singles 1980 songs Doo-wop songs Mental As Anything songs Songs written by Freddie Gorman Regular Records singles