Don't You Worry My Little Pet

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"Don't You Worry My Little Pet"
Single by The Teddy Bears
A-side"To Know Him Is to Love Him"
ReleasedSeptember 1958 (1958-09)
Recorded1958 (1958)
GenreRock and roll
Length2:01
LabelDoré
Songwriter(s)Phil Spector
The Teddy Bears singles chronology
"Don't You Worry My Little Pet"
(1958)
"I Don't Need You Anymore"
(1959)

"Don't You Worry My Little Pet" is a song written by

Hot 100.[1]

Background and recording

Spector wrote the upbeat rock and roll song based on his then-current favorite performers, Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers.[2] It was his first experience with studio recording; the production was achieved by taking a demo tape of the song and playing it back over the studio's speaker system in order to overdub another performance over it.[3] The end product was a cacophony, with stacked harmony vocals that could not be heard clearly. He would develop these methods further, culminating in what would later be dubbed the Wall of Sound.[4]

On May 20, 1958,[2] the song was recorded at Gold Star Studios, Hollywood in a single two-hour session.[5] According to biographer Mick Brown: "Nobody apart from Spector was really convinced the song was any good. [Studio owner] Stan Ross would later dismiss it as 'a piece of crap', and even Anette Kleinbart [sic] thought it was 'dreadful'."[2]

Personnel

The Teddy Bears

Art and Dotty Todd version

On November 17, 1958, another version recorded by Art and Dotty Todd was given a four-star rating in Billboard, indicating "very strong sales potential". The publication referred to it a "swingy rocker ... Side moves, and it could get some action."[6]

References