Floyd Cramer (October 27, 1933 – December 31, 1997) was an American Hall of Fame pianist who was one of the architects of the "Nashville sound". He was known for his "slip note" piano style, where an out-of-key note slides into the correct note.
Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, Cramer grew up in the small town of Huttig, Arkansas, teaching himself to play the piano. After finishing high school, he returned to Shreveport, where he worked as a pianist for the Louisiana Hayride radio show.
In 1953, he cut his first single, "Dancin' Diane", backed with "Little Brown Jug", for the local Abbott label. During 1955 he played dates with an emerging talent who would later figure significantly in his career, Elvis Presley.
Cramer moved to Nashville in 1955 where the use of piano accompanists in country music was growing in popularity. By the next year he was, in his words, "in day and night doing session". Before long, he was one of the busiest studio musicians in the industry, playing piano for stars such as Elvis Presley, Brenda Lee, Patsy Cline, the Browns, Jim Reeves, Eddy Arnold, Roy Orbison, Don Gibson, and the Everly Brothers, among others. It was Cramer's piano playing, for instance, on Presley's first RCA Victor single, "Heartbreak Hotel". However, Cramer remained strictly a session player, a virtual unknown to anyone outside the music industry.
"Hang On Sloopy" is a 1964 song by Wes Farrell and Bert Russell, originally titled "My Girl Sloopy".
It was first recorded by The Vibrations in 1964, for Atlantic Records (45-2222), reaching #10 on the R&B chart and #26 on the US pop chart. As recorded by the pop group The McCoys, "Hang On Sloopy" went to #1 in the United States in October 1965.
According to Rick Derringer, the original version of Sloopy was written by a "high school kid in St. Louis" and sold to Bert Berns. If true, the answer to the age old question "just who is Sloopy?" lies with him. In 1965, The Strangeloves, a rock band who purported to be from Australia, decided to make the song the follow-up to their hit single "I Want Candy", and began performing the song in concert. However, the Dave Clark Five, with whom they were touring, told the Strangeloves that they were going to record their own version of the song, copying the Strangeloves' arrangement. The Strangeloves realized that the Dave Clark Five's version would probably outsell their own, but they were still enjoying success with "I Want Candy" and did not want to release a new single yet. So the trio—who were, in reality, three successful writer/producers from Brooklyn, New York— recruited a group from Union City, Indiana, Rick and the Raiders, to record the song instead. The group's name was changed to The McCoys (to avoid confusion with another popular band of the era, Paul Revere and the Raiders), and their 16-year-old leader, Rick Zehringer, became known as Rick Derringer. The McCoys' backup track was then also used by the Strangeloves, and the single was released on Bang Records. It entered the chart on August 14, 1965, effectively beating the Dave Clark Five to the charts. The single went on to hit number one on October 2.
Hang On Sloopy is the debut album by The McCoys and was released in 1965. It reached #44 on the Billboard Top LPs chart.
The album featured two singles: "Hang On Sloopy", which reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and "Fever", which reached #7.
All songs written and composed by Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein, and Richard Gottehrer except where noted.
I bless the day I found you
I want to stay around you
And so I beg you, let it be me
Don't take this heaven from one
If you must cling to someone
Now and forever, let it be me
Each time we meet love
I find complete love
Without your sweet love what would life be
So never leave me lonely
Tell me you love me only
And that you'll always let it be me
Each time we meet love
I find complete love
Without your sweet love what would life be
So never leave me lonely
Tell me you love me only