B-side "Helping Hand" Genre Pop, rock | Released 1969 Label Columbia 44902 | |
Length 2:44 (single edit)
3:17 (alternate extended version) Writer(s) Robert Nix, Billy Gilmore | ||
"Cherry Hill Park" is a song that was written by Robert Nix and Billy Gilmore, arranged by Buddy Buie, James Cobb, and Emory Gordy, Jr. and produced by Buie and Bill Lowery. Its original by Billy Joe Royal was a hit in 1969 reaching #15 on both the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the Cash Box chart. It was on Royal's 1969 album Cherry Hill Park. Buie also produced its cover version performed by the Classics IV which was released by United Artists Records in 1971. He and the Classics IV's manager Paul Cochran were two of the four owners of Studio One. The cover was actually marketed with its title combining the first two words of the original's ("Cherryhill Park").
Contents
Content
The subject of the song is Mary Hill, a girl who has sexual liaisons with various boys at the titular Cherry Hill Park, as noted in the barely disguised suggestive lyrics. However, she "marries away" to a "man with money". As a result, she stopped coming to Cherry Hill Park.
Royal came up with the song's title after a friend described seeing Cherry Hill, New Jersey on a visit to nearby Pennsylvania.
Mixes
Different mixes of this song exist, some with additional background vocals in the song's bridge, others in varying lengths, the longest version available being 3:17, with an extended finale running 33 seconds longer than the common single version.