I'm on the Outside (Looking In)

"I'm on the Outside (Looking In)" is a 1964 hit song by Little Anthony and the Imperials, issued on DCP Records. It was a Billboard top 20 pop hit, peaking at number 15,^[1] and number 12 in Canada.^[2]

Background

"I'm on the Outside (Looking In)" was written by Teddy Randazzo and Bobby Weinstein, and was the group's comeback single, ending a long period of inactivity. After the group's first hit-making period, with such hits as "Tears on My Pillow", "Two People In The World", and "Shimmy Shimmy Ko-Ko Bop", lead singer "Little Anthony" Gourdine left the group for a solo career. Both he and the group released records separately, but none of them were hits. By 1963, both entities had faded from the charts. In the interim, The Imperials had gone through some membership changes as well. While original members Ernest Wright and group founder Clarence Collins had remained with the group, the other original members, Tracy Lord and Nathanial Rogers, left the group, and Sammy Strain joined the group.

In late 1963, writer and producer Teddy Randazzo, a childhood friend of some of the group members and now a songwriter for

Gourdine, Wright, Collins, and Strain reunited in 2003 and performed the song 39 years after they originally recorded it on the PBS special: Soul Spectacular: 40 Years of R&B.

Credits: The Imperials

• "Little Anthony" Gourdine
• Clarence "Wah-hoo" Collins
• Sammy Strain
• Ernest Wright
• Producers: Teddy Randazzo and Don Costa

Cover versions

Among the cover versions that were recorded:

• The Miracles, on 1967's Make It Happen.^[3]
• Johnny Mathis, on 1988"s Once in a While.^[4]
• Baby Washington, on 1968's "With You in Mind" LP.
• The Moments

Sources

• When Rock Was Young, pgs 178-181

References