Leader of the Pack

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Written by: George "Shadow" Morton, Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich
Produced by: Morton, Barry, Greenwich
Released: Oct. '64 on Red Bird
Charts: 12 weeks
Top spot: No. 1

Morton found the inspiration for this song in a gang at a diner in Hicksville, New York. "Bikers, hot rodders, gum-smacking ladies," Morton said. "Not careful at all about their language and what they had to say." The Shangri-Las were the perfect girl group for Morton's song -- drama queens in leather jackets, fitting for a story of a teenage girl who falls for a motorcycle dude. The other ingredients: pretty harmonies, spoken interludes, motorcycle sounds (recorded from a bike in the studio) and horrified shouts of "Look out!"

Appears on: Myrmidons of Melodrama: Definitive

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