THE HIT HAMMER: Paul & Paula's "Hey Paula"

(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.)

Paul & Paula - "Hey Paula"

Hit Number 1: February 9, 1963

Stay at Number 1: 3 Weeks

Let me clear the air real quick before we get started here: the duo who performed this song weren't actually named Paul and Paula. Rather their real names were Ray Hildebrand and Jill Jackson, but they had the cutesy idea to go by "Paul and Paula" and perform a song called "Hey Paula". Hildebrand got inspiration for the idea from an Annette Funicello song "Tall Paul", and somehow he ended up created a dreamy, drippy ballad about two young lovers already set on getting married after graduation. Hildebrand knew Jackson from Jackson being the niece of the owner of the boarding house where he lived, so he wanted her to join him on the song he wrote, and the two performed the song on a radio station where they lived. It became popular enough, that they decided to make a real, professional recording of the song.

At first, they were just going to go by their real names "Jill & Ray" for the recording, and the song was titled "Paul & Paula", but the stars sort of aligned perfectly for them. As they were setting out to record the song, they happened to run into a producer, Major Bill Smith, with studio time, musicians booked, and lacking a lead singer. He recorded their song, and released it on his Le Cam Label, but changing the name of the song to "Hey Paula" but still keeping the artists' names to "Jill & Ray". When the record became even more successful, Phillips Records, a much larger record company than Le Cam, picked up the song, and they were the ones who changed their names to "Paul & Paula". Obviously, Hildebrand and Jackson were okay with this, so the record was now changed to "Hey Paula" by "Paul and Paula". I have to say, that that certainly made the title and artists easier for the public to remember.

There isn't much exciting about what's going on in "Hey Paula" though. All it is, is 2 and a half minutes of dreamy music, and two lovers finding different ways to tell each other about how much they can't wait to marry one another. It's basically a lot like Bobby Vinton's "Roses Are Red (My Love)", in that it's a real corny and drippy ballad that tries too hard to be cute, but at the same time, not being a song that I despise. I would imagine that it's a song a lot of high school sweethearts could relate to. Unfortunately, I think I might have to chalk up "Hey Paula" under the category of "nice enough, but in a half hour I'll completely forget its existence". I know that doesn't sound "good", but trust me, it can be worse.

GRADE: 5/10

JUST MISSED:

Dion got kept away from a second #1 again, this time his "Ruby Baby" was victimized by "Hey Paula". It's a 6.

10 ALERT!!!:

The Drifters' nice and smooth masterpiece "Up On the Roof" peaked at #5 behind "Hey Paula". It's a 10, of course.