The Murmaids were a one-hit wonder all-female vocal trio composed of sisters
Carol and
Terry Fischer; and
Sally Gordon from Los Angeles,CA who, in January 1964 reached #3 with "Popsicles and Icicles"
The vocal arrangements for the Murmaids sessions were by Skip Battin of the Byrds.
"Popsicles and Icicles" was written by David Gates, the future founder and front man of the band Bread!
Originally, it was titled "Tomorrow," and the Shirelles worked with King and recorded it (Scepter Released in 1960 ,Will You Love Me Tomorrow",
also known as "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow", is a song written by
Gerry Goffin and Carole King and originally recorded by The Shirelles.
It has been recorded by many artists and was ranked among Rolling Stone
's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time at #126. The song is
notable for being the first song by an all-girl group to reach #1 in the
United States. The song is in AABA form.In 1960, The Shirelles released
their version as Scepter single 1211, with "Boys" on the B-side. The
single's first pressing was labelled simply "Tomorrow", then lengthened
later. When first presented with the song, lead singer Shirley Owens
(later known as Shirley Alston-Reeves) did not want to record it,
because she thought it was "too country." She relented after a string
arrangement was added. In 1961, the song went to number one on the
Billboard Hot 100. However, Owens recalled on Jim Parsons' syndicated
oldies radio program, Shake Rattle Showtime, that some radio stations
had banned the record because they had felt the lyrics were too sexually
charged.
"I Love How You Love Me" was written by Barry Mann and Larry Kolber (aka Kolberg) when both were staffwriters at Don Kirschner's
Aldon Music near the famed Brill Building. Kolber had written the
lyrics on a restaurant napkin within five minutes. The song was intended
for Tony Orlando to be arranged in the same upbeat style as Orlando's precedent hits "Bless You" and "Halfway to Paradise". However, Phil Spector
discovered the song on a visit to Kirshner's Aldon offices and
persuaded Kirshner that the song would have more potential if rendered
by a female act. Spector then recorded "I Love How You Love Me" with The
Paris Sisters.
Spector's interest in the song was occasioned by its structural similarity to "To Know Him Is To Love Him", the No. 1 hit that Spector's group, The Teddy Bears, had scored in 1958. Annette Kleinbard
who'd been the Teddy Bears' vocalist, would weep upon hearing The Paris
Sisters' "I Love How You Love Me" on her car radio: "Before [Priscilla
Paris] sung five words I knew it was Phil's record...it was just the
most beautiful record, but I loved it and I hated it at the same time;
it felt like Phil had taken my voice and passed it on to someone else".
However Priscilla Paris would opine: "My sound was not like Annette's
- she had a very thin type of little girl voice. I have a heavy roque -
that's a French word meaning very heavy, husky - voice. I think Phil
fell into something he wanted to do, added extra ingredients, and ended
up with something different".
Spector recorded the Paris Sisters' "I Love How You Love Me" at Gold Star Studios
in the autumn of 1961. The group vocalized repeatedly to a piano
accompaniment until Spector was satisfied with the balance between the
voices, after which a string arrangement which Spector worked on over
several days with Hank Levine was added.
According to Lester Sill,
with whom Spector was then staying, Spector would bring the tapes for
"I Love How You Love Me" from Gold Star Studios every evening to review
in his room: "he would wake me up at three or four in the morning,
listening to [the song] over and over again at a very low level." Sill
says Spector "must have remixed the strings on that song thirty times;
then listened to it for another four or five days before he was sure it
was right. Then finally when the record was pressed he listened to the
pressing for another two or three days before he gave it an approval."
The song featured a spoken recitation by one of the sisters, speaking the first half of the repeated first verse.
Entering the Top 40 in October 1961, "I Love How You Love Me" reached #5 that November.
