Songs You Might Not Know Were Covers (Round 8): Hang On Sloopy (#7)

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Remember those great songs? Remember thinking they were the original? It’s not my intention to bust anyone’s bubble. Honestly, the fact that well-known versions of songs turned out to be covers occasionally surprises me as well. There’s a big shock for me coming up later. Meanwhile, this was a little surprising, too. #7: Hang On Sloopy Rock and roll hootchie koo!!!! Rick Derringer, the guy who gave us that song, started his popularity in 1965 as a member of a band called the McCoys. Aside from being named the all-time worst band by every person named Hatfield they had a massive #1 smash in 1965 called “Hang On Sloopy.” The song has become legendary in Ohio: it’s a fight song for Ohio State. It’s the “official rock and roll song” for the state (what, no “Cleveland Rocks”??). And, as the legend goes, it was named in honor of a jazz singer from Ohio named Dorothy Sloop. And that big hit by the McCoys wasn’t the first version. In 1964, a year before the McCoys told Sloopy to hang on, an L.A.-based R&B group who recorded under a number of different names, recorded “My Girl Sloopy” as the Vibrations. Their version was a top 30 hit, but when Derringer and his band redid the song the Vibrations’ rendition was pushed into the back pages of history. Hang On Sloopy Written by Wes Ferrell and Bert Berns Originally recorded by the Vibrations, 1964 Famously covered by the McCoys, 1965 The original by the Vibrations: