The McCoys – Hang On Sloopy

The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100 and #5 in the UK in 1965. The song was performed by the McCoys who came out of Union City, Indiana. The group featured guitarist Rick Derringer who would later release Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo. the McCoys were not one hit wonders. They had another top 10 hit named “Fever” and a top forty hit named Come On Let’s Go.

The song was written by Bert Berns and Wes Farrell. Bert Berns wrote many songs in the sixties and signed Van Morrison to his first solo contract.

From Songfacts.

The name “Sloopy” most likely came from Dorothy Sloop, who was a jazz singer from Steubenville, Ohio. Sloop, who died in 1998 at age 85, performed in the New Orleans area using the name “Sloopy.”

The McCoys began as the Rick Z Combo (named after lead guitarist Rick Zehringer, who later became Rick Derringer) in Union City, Indiana. They developed a following playing at Forest Park Plaza in Dayton, Ohio. They later became Rick And The Raiders, a group led by guitarist and lead singer Derringer. In 1965, Rick And The Raiders played a Dayton, Ohio concert as the backup band for The Strangeloves, who were a group of producers who wrote the song “I Want Candy” and made up a group for it. In a strange and brilliant marketing move, The Strangeloves claimed they were from Australia and said they were shepherds who got rich by crossbreeding sheep. The Strangeloves – Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein and Richard Gottehrer – arranged a recording session with Rick And The Raiders, who changed their name to The McCoys (after a Ventures song), and had them record a version of “My Girl Sloopy” as “Hang On Sloopy.”

Hang On Sloopy

Hang on Sloopy, Sloopy hang on
Hang on Sloopy, Sloopy hang on

Sloopy lives in a very bad part of town
And everybody there tries to put my Sloopy down
Sloopy I don’t care what your daddy do
‘Cause you know Sloopy girl I’m in love with you
And so I’m singing

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Sloopy let your hair down girl, let it run down on me
Sloopy let your hair down girl, let it run down on me

Come on Sloopy, come on, come on
Come on Sloopy, come on, come on
Well, come on Sloopy, come on, come on
Well, come on Sloopy, come on, come on

Well it feels so good, come on, come on
You know it feels so good, come on, come on

Well shake it, shake it, shake it Sloopy, come on, come on
Well shake it, shake it, shake it yeah
Yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

15 thoughts on “The McCoys – Hang On Sloopy”

      3. Oh cool thank you! I have time to prepare! I will not miss him. In the eighties I missed a chance seeing them.

        Another off topic… You mentioned about John Denver and Robbie Rist… I knew I saw it before…I found it… I had to share it with you. … start watching around 10 minutes in.

        Like

  4. This has always been one of my favourite songs. I had the single, but in the mid-1990s it, along with about eight of my other fave and most played singles, mysteriously went missing. Never did find it or them.

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    1. I really like it also. I found it when I was young from older cousins I beleive. I had the single as well…from them probably original.
      In my twenties I lost a lot of my singles and albums by moving from here to there.

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