THE HIT HAMMER: Little Peggy March's "I Will Follow Him"

(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please refer to the "Poor Little Fool" post.)

Little Peggy March - "I Will Follow Him"

Hit Number 1: April 27, 1963

Stay at Number 1: 3 Weeks

It's nothing new where there's a song about a girl who is in love with a boy. But in one song, a girl decides to take things a step further, and follow the guy she is in love with everywhere he goes. Ever since the guy touched her hand, she knew that she always needed to be around him, and he was her "destiny". I mean, why not completely stalk the person you're in love with everywhere they go? Genius.

"I Will Follow Him" was originally a song that was an instrumental called "Chariot" in 1961. English words were written for the song by Norman Gimbel, and he turned it into a song about stalking. The fifteen-year old Peggy March recorded it, and it became a massive hit in America, along with other international charts. This got the young March on the map in America, and she became the youngest female artist to score a #1 hit. And to her credit, she still holds that record, even 56 years later.

Unfortunately, "I Will Follow Him" is a pretty bad song though. Not only does the girl in the song come across as creepy, but I'm also not too impressed how March sounds like she's screaming the lyrics in the chorus. I mean, maybe she's trying to "sell" the song because she's excited about the new love she found, but yelling the same words over and over never makes for a good song. The very sad and almost tragic thing about the song, is that it had so much potential. I like the verses in the song, despite the lyrics. March's voice and the instruments swell together pretty well, and March is a pretty good singer in her own right. But then that chorus comes, and it hits you like someone threw a brick at your face. Why does she have to sound like she's so mad? Unfortunately, I don't care how good the verses are, the backbone of a song is its chorus. And the chorus on "I Will Follow Him" sucks.

GRADE: 2/10

JUST MISSED:

Peter, Paul, & Mary (who will appear in this blog) got stuck behind "I Will Follow Him" at the #2 spot with their song "Puff (The Magic Dragon)". It's pretty stupid, but it's not bad. It's a 6.