Released August 1957 | Length 2:40 | |
Format Vinyl record 45rpm (7"), 78rpm (10") Label Brunswick US (1957) 9-55024Coral UK (1957) Q 72290SMP UK (1985) SKM 3BR Music Belgium (1985) 1245095Columbia US (1987) 07329Carrere France (1987) 72012 Writer(s) | ||
"Reet Petite (The Sweetest Girl in Town)" (originally subtitled "The Finest Girl You Ever Want to Meet") is a song made popular by Jackie Wilson. It was his first solo hit after leaving the Dominoes and, over the years, has become one of his biggest international chart successes.
Contents
History
The song was written by Berry Gordy, Gwen Gordy Fuqua and Wilson's cousin Roquel "Billy" Davis (though credited under his pseudonym Tyran Carlo on the record) and produced by Dick Jacobs, and its title was taken from the Louis Jordan song "Reet, Petite and Gone". It was Jackie Wilson's first recording as a solo artist. The song peaked at #62 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1957 and reached #6 on the UK Singles Chart. With the success of the song, Gordy was able to fund the launch of Motown Records.
The song was reissued in 1986 following the showing of a clay animation video on the BBC Two documentary series Arena. The video was directed by Giblets, a London-based animation studio.
The reissued version proved so popular that in December 1986, almost three years after Wilson's death, the song became a No. 1 in the UK for four weeks (selling over 700,000 copies), some 29 years after its chart debut. This was the record for the longest time between a song's debut on the chart and it reaching number one, until it was overtaken by Tony Christie's "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo" in 2005.
The clay animation video used was only ever meant for a showreel, thus one verse was cut out of the song on the music video.