B-side "No One," "Baby Roo" Format 7" single | Released January 1961 Genre Traditional pop music | |
Recorded October 18, 1960 (A-side)
December 27, 1960 (B-side) Length 2:43 (A-side)
2:48 (B-side) | ||
Where the Boys Are is a song written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield and first recorded by Connie Francis.
Contents
Premise
Connie Francis recorded "Where the Boys Are" as the theme song for the motion picture Where the Boys Are a 1961 MGM release filmed in 1960 in which Francis made her movie acting debut as one of four coeds on spring break in Fort Lauderdale.
According to Francis she was on location in Fort Lauderdale when the film's director Joe Pasternak advised her that he had commissioned the Oscar-winning songwriting team of Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen to write a theme song for the movie which Francis would sing. When at Francis' insistence Pasternak agreed to consider a submission from the Sedaka-Greenfield songwriting team behind her "Stupid Cupid" hit - (Pasternak quote:) "They've got a week but it's got to be here by Wednesday: that's when we're picking the song" - Francis phoned through to Howard Greenfield in New York City and Greenfield agreed to complete a "Where the Boys Are" theme song with Sedaka although Francis recalls Greenfield initially reacting unfavorably to the assignment (Greenfield quote: "'Where the Boys Are'? What kind of stupid title is that? Who can write a song with a title like 'Where the Boys Are'?"). Sedaka and Greenfield in fact completed two "Where the Boys Are" theme songs and so as to meet Pasternak's deadline the demos of Sedaka singing both songs were given to an airline hostess of Francis' personal acquaintance who was working a Florida-bound flight on which she brought the demos to Francis.
Sedaka and Greenfield had indicated to Francis that they both much preferred one of their two bids for a "Where the Boys Are" theme song over the other and Francis herself concurred with the songwriters' judgement: (Francis quote:) "One of the versions we loved and the other we [three] all hated. Joe Pasternak came to me after [the Wednesday] meeting with the decision. 'You're right, Connie,' he said: 'This is the [right] song.' And it was the version the three of us hated."
An alternate scenario for Pasternak's vetting of the two Sedaka-Greenfield bids for the "Where the Boys Are" theme song indicates that the producer was able to witness a live performance of Francis performing both songs to Sedaka's piano accompaniment: according to this scenario the rejected version of the "Where the Boys Are" theme song was never recorded even as a demo.
Neil Sedaka has stated that "Where the Boys Are" is the only one of his 700 plus compositions not written with any intent of his singing it himself: (Sedaka quote:) "People think I wrote [a lot of] songs for others, but the truth is I wrote them all for me to record. Other people then picked them up and recorded them themselves."
Motion Picture Version
The version chosen by Joe Pasternak was recorded for the first time on July 12, 1960 in Hollywood and was only used when combined to medleys with the overture and closing credits scores written by George E. Stoll.
Original Version 1960
Francis recorded the record version of Where the Boys Are on 18 October 1960 in a New York City recording session with Stan Applebaum arranging and conducting. The same session also came up with Francis' hits Many Tears Ago and Breakin' in a Brand New Broken Heart as well as the songs On the Outside Looking In, Happy New Year Baby, and Mein Herz weiß genau, was es will, which all would remain unreleased until the 1980s.
Subsequently, Francis recorded "Where the Boys Are" in six other languages on November 9, 1960:
The different versions of the track would provide her with a #1 hit in some fifteen countries. The Japanese version Atashi-no was even released in the US on MGM Records Single K 13005.
Where the Boys Are was comparatively less successful in the English speaking world: In the US, the song peaked at #4. while the track peaked on both the UK and Australian charts at #5. However, Where the Boys Are became Francis' signature tune and remains a fan favorite.
1978 Recording
After several years of stage absence, Francis recorded a new album entitled Who's Happy Now? in 1978. A revamped Disco version of Where the Boys Are was chosen as the leading track of the album and issued as a single. Although the English recording wasn't able to crack the charts anywhere, Francis also recorded Spanish, Italian and Japanese Disco versions of the song.