B-side You Never Loved Me Format 7" Length 2:24 | Released February 1958 Recorded September 1957 | |
Genre Rock and roll
rhythm and blues
doo-wop
pop | ||
"The Book of Love" (also titled "(Who Wrote) The Book of Love") is a rock and roll song, originally by The Monotones. It was written by three members of the group, Warren Davis, George Malone and Charles Patrick, and it peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Top 100.
Lead singer Charles Patrick heard a Pepsodent toothpaste commercial with the line "wonder where the yellow went". From there he got the idea for the line, "I wonder, wonder, wonder who, who wrote the book of love", working it up into a song with Davis and Malone. The "boom" part of the song was a result of a kid kicking a ball against the garage while they were rehearsing. It sounded good, so they added it to the song.
In September 1957, the Monotones recorded "The Book of Love", which was released on the Mascot label in December that year. The small record company could not cope with its popularity, and it was reissued on Chess Records' subsidiary Argo label in February 1958. It attained a Billboard ranking of No. 5 for pop songs and No. 3 for R&B in 1958. It also reached No. 5 in Australia. In the UK, the hit version was a cover by The Mudlarks.
In 1985, the song was covered on The 4 Seasons album, Streetfighter.
In 1988, the song became the new theme song for The Newlywed Game, when Paul Rodriguez replaced Bob Eubanks as host for one year.
In 1990, Ben E. King and Bo Diddley featuring Doug Lazy recorded a revamped rap version of "Book of Love" for the soundtrack of the film, Book of Love.