And you’re also right about the vocal. This song is about sexual anxiety, about being seduced and being quite unsure of the consequences. (We should remember, too, that there was no surefire means of birth control when this song was written, and the consequences could be quite disastrous for a girl.) A vulnerable voice is apt–a powerful female voice would have killed this dynamic altogether. Neither Darlene Love nor Ronnie Spector came across as particularly innocent (albeit perhaps naive at times) on record. Although Dusty Springfield rarely hit the wrong emotional levels when she sang, her cover version (on A Girl Called Dusty) shows what a powerful voice would do to this song.

Girls rarely get much respect in pop/rock music criticism, particularly girls from the early 60s period. I won’t go into all the issues involved in that here. Just let me say that I appreciate this piece, Martin, just as I was happily amazed when the Shirelles were inducted into that great big boys club called the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Just for the record, at some late date (1980s? 1990s?) the still-living Shirelles made a “reunion” cover version with Dionne Warwick taking the lead. It came nowhere near the original. This is no song for worldly women.