He's So Fine

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"He's So Fine"
Phil Margo, Mitch Margo, Jay Siegal, and Hank Medress
The Chiffons singles chronology
"He's So Fine"
(1963)
"Lucky Me"
(1963)

"He's So Fine" is a song written by

golden oldies with its doo-lang doo-lang doo-lang background vocal, "He's So Fine" is also renowned as the plaintiff song in the famous plagiarism case against George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord
".

Country music singer Jody Miller scored a top-ten hit of her own in 1971 with her cover of "He's So Fine".

The Chiffons version

Background

"He's So Fine" was written by Ronald Mack, an acquaintance of the Chiffons' members who set himself up as their manager after overhearing them harmonise in their high school's lunch room. Mack elicited the interest of Bright Tunes Corporation, a production company run by the Tokens, who produced the Chiffons singing "He's So Fine", and two other Mack compositions at Capitol Recording Studios (New York, 165 W. 46th St.).

The Tokens themselves – who had never previously played on a recording session – provided the instrumentation, with the services of drummer Gary Chester.[3]

Originally one of the two other songs: "Oh, My Lover", was considered the potential hit. But the completed track for "He's So Fine" with its now-classic 'Doo-lang doo-lang doo-lang' background vocal – the suggestion of the session's sound engineer Johnny Cue – seemed an obvious smash. However Capitol Records (for whom the Tokens were house producers) rejected the track: Jay Siegal of the Tokens recalled Capitol's president Voyle Gilmore dismissing the track as "too trite...too simple". The Tokens shopped "He's So Fine" to ten labels before placing it with Laurie Records. According to Siegal, "We played it, and they locked the doors and said 'You're not getting out of here. We want that record.'...Of course we'd already been turned down by ten companies. Give us eighty cents and we'd have given you the record."[4][5]

The Chiffons' two later Top 10 hits both contain echoes of "He's So Fine", although neither song was written by Ronald Mack, who died soon after the Chiffons had recorded his song. "One Fine Day" was written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin, and "Sweet Talking Guy" – in which the background vocalists sing "he's so fine" – was co-written by the co-founder of Laurie Records, Eliot Greenberg.

"He's So Fine" by The Chiffons is also featured on the

soundtrack album to the 1979 film Quadrophenia by the English band The Who
.

Reception

Released in early 1963, "He's So Fine" entered the national charts in February 1963 attaining the No. 1 position on March 30 and remaining No. 1 for a four-week period and also made it to number one on the soul singles chart.

the UK. Billboard named the song No. 73 on their list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time.[7]

Chart performance

Chart (1963) Peak
position
Canada (CHUM)[8] 1
New Zealand (Lever Hit Parade)[9] 1
UK Singles (
The Official Charts Company)[10]
16
US Billboard Hot 100 1
US Hot R&B Singles (Billboard) 1

All-time charts

Chart (1958–2018) Position
US Billboard Hot 100[11] 429

"My Sweet Lord" lawsuit

On February 10, 1971, Bright Tunes Music Corporation filed suit alleging the then current George Harrison hit, "My Sweet Lord", was a plagiarism of "He's So Fine". The case did not go to trial until February 1976 when the judge ruled on the liability portion of the suit in favor of Bright Tunes, determining that Harrison had committed "subconscious" plagiarism.[12] The suit to determine damages was scheduled for November 1976 but delayed until February 1981, by which time Allen Klein, Harrison's onetime manager who had been his legal adviser in the first phase of the suit, had become the plaintiff by virtue of purchasing Bright Tunes. The final decision was that Harrison himself would purchase Bright Tunes from Klein for $587,000—the amount Klein had paid for the corporation—and although litigation continued for at least ten more years that decision was upheld.[13] In 1975 the Chiffons would record a version of "My Sweet Lord", attempting to capitalize on the publicity generated by the lawsuit. Harrison's "This Song" was written in reaction to the plagiarism suit.

Jody Miller version

"He's So Fine"
Countrypolitan
Length2:35
LabelEpic Records
Songwriter(s)Ronald Mack
Producer(s)Billy Sherrill
Jody Miller singles chronology
"If You Think I Love You Now (I've Just Started)"
(1970)
"He's So Fine"
(1971)
"Baby I'm Yours"
(1971)

Background

To Know Him is to Love Him
".

Impressed by the 1968 Tammy Wynette hit "Stand by Your Man", Miller had contacted that track's producer Billy Sherrill in the hopes of reviving her own flagging recording career and after Look at Mine, Miller's first album in Sherrill's charge, generated two Top Twenty C&W hits in 1970, Sherrill opted for a new musical direction for Miller who recalls: "He said I didn't phrase my words like a country singer, so we took some old, sexy pop songs and put in a little boppy steel guitar".[14]

Reception

Miller's cover version of "He's So Fine" peaked at No. 5 C&W in July 1971, and

Easy Listening charts with July 1971 peaks of No. 53 Pop and No. 2 Easy Listening, the latter stat representing Miller's alltime best chart showing. The song also peaked at number 28 in Australia.[15]
"He's So Fine" also afforded Miller a Top Ten C&W hit in Canada with a No. 3 peak, with the track reaching No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart for Canada and crossing over to No. 46 on the Canadian Pop chart.

1978: Jane Olivor / Kristy McNichol remakes

In the spring of 1978 two disparate remakes of "He's So Fine" were released as singles with both singles eventually ranking on the Billboard Hot 100.

Easy Listening chart where its peak would be No. 21, also ranking in the Canadian singles chart with a No. 71 peak and rising as high as No. 3 on the Canadian Easy Listening chart.[17]

May 1978 saw the release of an attempted replication of the original "He's So Fine" credited to

Cash Box Top 100 the McNichol "He's So Fine" made its debut on the chart dated 30 July 1978. The McNichol "He's So Fine" peaked at No. 70 on the Hot 100. (The chart fortunes of both the Olivor and McNichol takes on "He's So Fine" varied widely, according to which of the three music trade periodicals is cited: Record World affords a peak of No. 87 to both the Oliver and McNichol versions, while according to Cash Box, the Olivor take peaked at No. 67, McNicol's at No. 83.)[citation needed
]

References

  1. ^ Breihan, Tom (May 17, 2018). "The Number Ones: The Chiffons' "He's So Fine"". Stereogum. Retrieved June 10, 2023. In the end, I don't think "He's So Fine" was a masterpiece of girl-group pop. It's sturdy and efficient pop music...
  2. ^ "HE S SO FINE". ACE Title Search. American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Retrieved 2011-06-03.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ "The Official Gary Chester Website – Discography". Angelfire.com. Retrieved 2016-09-27.
  4. ^ "Bob Shannon's Behind The Hits: Stories: He's So Fine". 11 August 2007. Archived from the original on 11 August 2007. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
  5. ^ Artie Wayne. "Hangin' in: Spectropop presents Hank Medress," Spectropop.com, 2006. Retrieved 2012-01-20.
  6. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–2004. Record Research. p. 116.
  7. ^ "100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time: Critics' Picks". Billboard. 10 July 2017. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  8. ^ "CHUM Hit Parade". The chum Tribute Site. March 25, 1963.
  9. ^ "Lever hit parades: 23-May-1963". Flavour of New Zealand.
  10. ^ "He's So Fine". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
  11. ^ "Billboard Hot 100 60th Anniversary Interactive Chart". Billboard. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  12. ^ "Bright Tunes Music v. Harrisongs Music". Columbia Law School Arthur W. Diamond Law Library Music Plagiarism Project. 2002. Retrieved 2007-09-05.
  13. ^ "The "My Sweet Lord"/"He's So Fine" Plagiarism Suit". Archived from the original on 2008-12-21. Retrieved 2008-11-23.
  14. ^ "Blanchard's Jody Miller Prepares to Hit the Road With Daughter". News.OK.com. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
  15. .
  16. ^ Wendy Fraser. ""You just knew she had heartbreak in her veins" - Jason Darrow recalls his musical partnership with Jane Olivor" (PDF). Janeolivortribute.com. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
  17. ^ "Results: RPM Weekly". Bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved March 10, 2022.

External links