Sally Go 'Round the Roses

Background

The producer of "Sally Go 'Round the Roses," Abner Spector, was an A&R man for the Chicago-based Chess Records. Spector was responsible for the Corsairs' 1962 number 12 hit "Smoky Places," which had been released on Tuff, a subsidiary of J&S Records. In the summer of 1963, Spector asked J&S owner, Zelma "Zell" Sanders, to assemble a vocal ensemble to record a girl group style record to which end Sanders wrote the song "Sally..." with Spector's wife Lona Stevens, drawing inspiration from the nursery rhyme "Ring Around the Rosie." The songwriting copyright for "Sally..." is now in the name of Abner Spector who died in 2010; Zell Sanders died in 1976.

The arrangement for "Sally Go 'Round the Roses" was provided by Artie Butler, who recalls Spector "asked me to listen to [the] song...[I] decided that in its present form it did not [have potential], but I heard something in my head. He said, 'Go into a small demo studio and do what you hear,' and he would pay for it." Butler states that he prepped the backing track for "Sally..." at Broadway Recording Studios in the Ed Sullivan Theater and claims that he himself played all the instruments on the track except for the guitar parts which were by Al Gorgoni and Carl Lynch, although it is widely reported that Buddy Miles is the drummer on "Sally...". Butler states the entire recording of "Sally..." was done "on an old Ampex tape machine at 7 ¹⁄₂ IPS mono....Each time when I added another element" - including the final element: the vocalists - "I added a different type of reverb. Each generation [ie. development] seemed to add to the distinct sound of the record."

Besides the five vocalists credited in the group which Zell Sanders assembled to record "Sally Go 'Round the Roses" (Yvonne Bushnell, Ethel Davis (aka Vernell Hill), Ada Ray Kelly, Johnnie Louise Richardson and Mary Sue Wells (aka Mary Sue Wellington/Mary Green Wilson)) at least five other vocalists are known to be featured on the track: Selena Healey, Marie Hood, Marlene Jenkins (aka Marlina Mack/Marlina Mars), Louise Harris Murray, Lezli Valentine and Iggy Williams have been identified as participating in the recording sessions for "Sally...". The recording sessions took place over a week, running up of costs of $60,000, then an exorbitant amount of time and money for a single track. According to Johnnie Louise Richardson: "Anybody that came in the studio that week, [Spector] would put them on [the track]. Originally, I think he had about 20 voices on 'Sally.'"

Butler's recollection is that Spector only heard the "Sally Go 'Round the Roses" track when it was completed and "hated it. He was really angry. He felt that I wasted his money." Butler played the track for Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who offered to buy it from Spector: the interest of the duo caused Spector to reassess "Sally..."" which he had Sanders release as a single credited to 'the Jaynetts,' with the instrumental track as the B-side. Butler claimed his only return for arranging "Sally..." was being credited as the arranger on the record: a 1971 Billboard article states that Butler's arrangement of "Sally..." did earn him $3.

The recording engineer of "Sally Go 'Round the Roses" was John P. "Jack" Sullivan.

Success

"Sally Go 'Round the Roses" had its first major market breakout in San Francisco, its ringing arrangement being a precursor of the San Francisco Sound. A favorite performance number of Grace Slick when she fronted her pre-Jefferson Airplane outfit, the Great Society, "Sally Go 'Round the Roses" was also a formative influence on Laura Nyro.

"Sally Go 'Round the Roses" peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated 28 September 1963, remaining at number 2 on the Hot 100 dated 5 October, both weeks kept out of the top slot by "Blue Velvet" by Bobby Vinton. On the Music Vendor Top 40 dated 12 October 1963, "Sally Go 'Round the Roses" was ranked at number 1. In the Cash Box Top 100, it reached the # 3 spot on 28 September 1963 as its highest position, and remained there for another week (5 October 1963). It was also a hit in France, reaching number 7 with a 17-week chart run, and reached number 2 in New Zealand.

Tuff released a Sally Go 'Round the Roses album which, despite the group being promoted as a quintet, displayed a cover image of a trio, only two of whom, Ethel Davis and Lezli Valentine, are identifiable. Besides the title cut, in both vocal and instrumental versions, and the follow-up single "Keep An Eye On Her," the album featured "Archie's Melody," "Bongo Bobby," "I Wanna Know," "No Love At All," "One Track Mind," "Pick Up My Marbles," "School Days" and "See Saw." Also featured as 'a special guest appearance' was "Dear Abby" credited to the Hearts, a minor hit (No. 94) recorded by at least some of the same personnel as "Sally...".

Interpretations

"Sally Go 'Round the Roses" was quite unlike other pop songs of the day, with a spooky, even ominous, musical ambience heightened by the sometimes odd and opaque lyrics, which gave the song a mysterious feeling that probably accounted in part for its popularity, and which has led to speculation on the meaning of the song. "Sally Go 'Round the Roses" could be interpreted as a conventional song of heartbreak over cheating, or it could be – and has been – seen as alluding to deeper matters, including drug use, illegitimate motherhood, madness, suicide, or, most especially, lesbianism.

Tim Buckley builds on this latter notion on his song "Sally, Go 'Round the Roses" from his 1973 album Sefronia. Although the song contains many new lyrics not in the original (and credits only Buckley as the songwriter), it begins with a version of Sanders' song but with the lyric "Sally don't you go, don't you go downtown; saddest thing in the whole wide world is to see your baby with another girl" replaced with "Oh Sally don't you go down, oh darlin' don't you go downtown; Honey the saddest thing in the whole wide world is to find your woman been with another girl".

Other versions

A 1966 performance of the song by Grace Slick is featured on Conspicuous Only in its Absence, the Great Society's live album released in 1968. The recording was released as a single by Columbia Records in 1968 and got some Top 40 airplay but failed to chart.

In the UK, where the Jaynetts' single had a non-charting 1963 release on Stateside Records, "Sally Go 'Round the Roses" was first covered by Lyn Cornell, which had an October 1963 release on Decca: this version also failed to chart as did later covers by the Remo Four in May 1964, and Dee King in April 1966, both on Piccadilly Records. "Sally..." would gain its highest UK profile when recorded by Pentangle in 1969, for their hit album Basket of Light; "Sally..." was employed as B-side for the 1970 US single release of the Basket of Light track, "Light Flight," which had charted in the UK but with a different B-side ("Cold Mountain").

A French language version of "Sally Go 'Round the Roses," rendered by Jacques Plante as "Rose (Parmi Les Roses)" (Rose among roses) was recorded in the autumn of 1963 by both Richard Anthony; Anthony's version became the hit in 1963-64 reaching number 3 in France and also - as a double A-side hit with "Tchin Tchin" - No. 4 in Belgium (Wallonia). Nana Mouskouri, who also recorded "Rose (Parmi Les Roses)", recorded the Italian rendering "Rosa tra le rose" which charted in Italy at number 32 in 1965.

Joan Baez is shown singing a fragment of "Sally Go 'Round the Roses" in the 1967 film Dont Look Back.

In Australia, Doug Parkinson and the Questions had a hit with "Sally Go 'Round the Roses," reaching number 33 in 1967.

A version of "Sally Go Round The Roses" was also the first single release by the American singer Donna Summer, then known as Donna Gaines. Gaines recorded the track in a session in London, produced by former Bee Gees' guitarist Vince Melouney, also recording the Melouney original "So Said the Man," which served as the single's B-side. "Sally..." by Donna Gaines was issued as a one-off 1971 release on MCA Records in the UK (with catalog# MK 5060) and Europe with no evident result.

"Sally Go 'Round the Roses" has also been recorded by Question Mark & the Mysterians, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Judy Collins (on Portrait of an American Girl 2005), Yvonne Elliman, Fanny, Holly Golightly, the Ikettes (B-side of "(Never More) Lonely For You" - December 1965), Alannah Myles, Asha Puthli, Normie Rowe, Sarah June (2010), Mitch Ryder, Susanna Hoffs, Voice Farm and - as an instrumental - by Henry Kaiser. The soundtrack for the 1999 film A Walk on the Moon featured a remake of "Sally..." by Damnations TX. Anny Celsi remade "Sally Go 'Round the Roses" for her 2009 album Tangle Free World: Celsi's version features Evie Sands as a backup vocalist. The Del-Byzanteens also covered this song on the album Lies To Live By in 1982.

Patti Scialfa's self-penned song "The Word" on her 2007 album Play It as It Lays references the lyrics of "Sally Go 'Round the Roses" and acknowledges the source.

Tim Buckley included a song entitled "Sally, Go 'Round the Roses" on his 1973 Sefronia album, which begins with extensive quotes from the Jaynettes' song, although it adds many new lyrics and is credited only to Buckley as sole songwriter.