Yes, those girls were twins and the lead singer was around 15 at the time this came out in 1964. The group was born in Queens, NYC. This was their #1 hit, but another popular one was "Remember (Walking in the Sand)," a part of which recently became a popular Tik-Tok audio clip.
The backup singer were twins Mary Ann and Marguerite Ganser. The lead singer was Mary Weiss, who was 15 when she recorded this, and retired by age 18 over being ripped off by the record label. She didn't put out another record until she was 56. She passed earlier this year. They had a string of hits, including (Remember) Walking In The Sand, I Can Never Go Home Anymore, Give Us Your Blessings(another splatter platter), Give Him A Great Big Kiss, and "Past, Present, and Future" I have been reliably informed by men a generation older than me that every teenage boy was madly in love with Mary Weiss during their short career!😀😀
It was banned in the UK because of the subject ...But the young people like me ignored our out of date elders and changed society. those were the days ... i was 17yo then.... old mans memories.
This was a Teenage Tragedy Song, a popular genre. You better have your tissues ready. "Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots" 1955, The Cheers "Endless Sleep" 1958, Jody Reynolds "Teen Angel" 1959, Mark Dining "Running Bear" 1959, Johnny Preston "Tell Laura I Love Her" 1960, Ray Peterson "Ebony Eyes" 1961, The Everly Brothers "Moody River" 1961, Pat Boone "Last Kiss" 1964, J. Frank Wilson "Deadman's Curve" 1964, Jan and Dean "Billy Don't be a Hero" 1974, Paper Lace "7-11" 1981 The Ramones,
That's a pretty good list. Back in the late 70's at sci-fi conventions we would sit in the con suite after midnight on Saturday nights, a little drunk or stoned, and sing teenage death songs for hours.
The 2 girls probably weren't wearing wigs. That's how we wore our hair back then. We used to Tease our hair ( styling technique} The guy on the bike wasn't the leader of the Pack. That was TV host Mike Douglas goofing around.
There were a number of “dead teenager” songs that charted in the early 1960s. 😂 Some of the others are: “Last Kiss” by J Frank Wilson & the Cavaliers “Teen Angel” by Mark Dinning, & “Laurie (Strange Things Happen)” by Dickey Lee 😂
Notable examples of teenage tragedy songs include "Teen Angel" by Mark Dinning (1959), "Tell Laura I Love Her" by Ray Peterson (1960), "Ebony Eyes" by the Everly Brothers (1961), "Last Kiss" by Wayne Cochran (1961), "Dead Man's Curve" by Jan and Dean (1964), and "Leader of the Pack" by the Shangri-Las (1964).
LOL you got to remember James Dean was the big motorcycle bad boy of the time, and this gag me with a spoon song was pretty much about him and his ilk.
Phil Spector was the producer of this massive girl group sound hype in the 1960's - Leader of the Pack is still an anthem in cycling gangs (mostly accompagnied with loud a loud bunch of Harley Davidson motorcycles). I remember even in the 1970 - when you where in an car accident it was a 50% chance to die (less advanced medicine & people have accepted dying - 25 years after the big war). They made great movies about finding Shangri-la - the garden Eden of Asians - even Nazi Leaders ordered for expeditions to find it & superior humans the last survivors of Atlantis.
Earkt 60's I'm pretty sure. Pre-British invasion, and girl groups were pretty dominant on the radio. Which was probably better than most of the rest. Thank God for the Beatles, and the return of RnR which led to R&B making solid ground into the mainstream.
Shane gree lahs Shangrila is a fictional paradise in Tibet. They asked if he was going to pick her up today. She said, No.... Now you know why she knew he wasn't coming. He was already dead.
When they recorded the song, they brought a motorcycle up the elevator to the recording studio to get the real sound. The exhaust fumes must 9have been overpowering. Speaking of angst, I once saw Leslie Gore (of "It's My Party and I'll Cry If I Want To" fame) recording a Bandstand spinoff of outdoor performances; it was in the Quad at UCLA mid-1960s.
Shangri-La is a fictional place in Tibet's Kunlun Mountains, described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by English author James Hilton.. It usually refers to a remote beautiful imaginary place where life approaches perfection or a remote usually idyllic hideaway. To pronounce, let the "Shang" rhyme with "hang" + gree + lahs.
Twisted Sister covered their "Leader of the Pack" with Dee Snider's unique voice growling out these lyrics to his own Harley Davidson's rumbling roars! (& like Judas Priest's Rob Halford rode on stage;)
This was a TV appearance and they didn't take girls seriously. They made this performance sort of hokie with the motorcycle. It was actually a Noir goth type song. Very street cool and tragic.
The group was a originally a quartet, two sets of identical twins, and they were cousins. The lead singer's sister quit the group early on. The Dead Teenager theme was a popular one in the early sixties.
SHANG gri LAS. This was one of many "dead teenager" songs from the sixtjes thru the eighties- Like teen angel, dead man's curve, Running Bear, and a few other less popular songs. In the 70's, Meat Loaf added Bat Out of Hell. Finally the wave crested with Downtown Julie Brown's The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun, which suprisingly is a novelty song, but gets almost no airplay because it might trigger the ladies of the View.
Back in the 50’s that was a normal size bike especially in smaller town not big cities. We don’t actually know how long they were together. As a little girl back then this was a real heart breaker.
Shang as in dang. gri as in the letter i in ick. La as in the musical note, or putting your fingers in your ear and saying La-La-La-La ... to ignore someone.
3 minutes for a single, it has to move fast, otherwsie the story doesn't happen, meet, flirt, bond and die, all in 180 seconds! . And you pronounced it right, 'Shangri-la' was (is?) a timeless Utopia in the Himalayas in Hilton's 'Lost Horizon'. became a hit film I believe.
Check out "Shout" and "Give him a great big Kiss." I remember I was 9 years old when this song came out. I thought it was a really cool song. There were a lot of good girl groups in the 60s, the Ronettes AND THE Crystals just to name a few.
If you want to set a movie in the 50s or early 60s, this is a good song to set the scene. Shangri-la (like Sangria, but with a "sh" and an l at the end) is a mythical wonderland in Asia. This was from a time when a lot of entertainment for young people was pushing safe messages - the studios were pushing kids to be wholesome, and ignore the whole Hippie vibe.
You do know that songs didn't come with video plans back then? But when a song was hot the group might get invited to lip-sync it on a variety show. And they would put together whatever kind of material and extras they had on hand. Shanghai-La is a name for paradise in some eastern tongue, and people knew it because it was used as a place name in "Lost Horizon", a well known 1933 novel.
This was another one of those iconic girl groups from the early 60's. "Leader Of The Pack" was one of their biggest hits along with "Remember (Walking In The Sand)", "Give Him A Great Big Kiss", "I Can Never Go Home Anymore" etc. These were the simpler days of music.
Brit, if you want a fun song, check out the Mel Cooleys..."Little Skipper". It always brightens my day and they're a good group.It's an odd song, but they are a good group.
It escalated so quickly , because back in the day , a record had to be no more than 2- 3 mins long to get plugged between the adds on the radio stations . The reason the bike was small , was probably because an adult sized motorcycle would have been too much of a handful for the silly dweeb in the hat riding the moped .
Actually, this took place on a game show called "I've Got A Secret", and comedian Steve Allen was the host. Robert Goulet, an actor, was one of the panelists on the show that night and he was the one on the motorcycle when they sang their song.
“I’ve Got A Secret” was a long-running panel game show on CBS. Garry Moore was the host of the show from 1952 to 1964. When Moore left the show, Steve Allen became the host, and was there from 1964 until the show’s cancellation in 1967.
A Great Big Kiss is another one of their greats, by the way it seems like you haven't reacted to Elvis's Bossa Nova Baby-I think you should, you'll be glad you did.
Shouldn't you understand how life "escalates quickly" for people in your life that you love, and fate takes them? There are other songs similar in message, Tell Laura I Love Her, Last Kiss being 2 beautiful ones. Randy Travis's 3 Wooden Crosses comes down the same road from a different place, but touches all the same feels. The message is complete love and devastating loss. Is there a more universal message to create music about?
The main singer, Mary Weiss, died this year. Great voice. The guy on the motorcyle is Robert Goulet...who is making fun of the girls and their pop song because he was a torch singer. Not funny.
ruclips.net/video/mvLQ8nL0mxo/видео.htmlsi=sFfsleR5rPjaYNmL This is my new favorite song. You my dear will need some tissue just like me. Leanne at her best.
The guy on the motorcycle is the great singer/actor, Robert Goulet.
Yes, those girls were twins and the lead singer was around 15 at the time this came out in 1964. The group was born in Queens, NYC. This was their #1 hit, but another popular one was "Remember (Walking in the Sand)," a part of which recently became a popular Tik-Tok audio clip.
Thank you!
Shangri-La is a fictional place in Tibet's Kunlun Mountains, described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by English author James Hilton.
Aka paradise
pronounced SHANG - GRIH - LAS
The backup singer were twins Mary Ann and Marguerite Ganser. The lead singer was Mary Weiss, who was 15 when she recorded this, and retired by age 18 over being ripped off by the record label. She didn't put out another record until she was 56. She passed earlier this year.
They had a string of hits, including (Remember) Walking In The Sand, I Can Never Go Home Anymore, Give Us Your Blessings(another splatter platter), Give Him A Great Big Kiss, and "Past, Present, and Future"
I have been reliably informed by men a generation older than me that every teenage boy was madly in love with Mary Weiss during their short career!😀😀
❤ This is great info, never knew about her hits!!! 👍
It was banned in the UK because of the subject ...But the young people like me ignored our out of date elders and changed society. those were the days ... i was 17yo then.... old mans memories.
This was a Teenage Tragedy Song, a popular genre. You better have your tissues ready.
"Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots" 1955, The Cheers
"Endless Sleep" 1958, Jody Reynolds
"Teen Angel" 1959, Mark Dining
"Running Bear" 1959, Johnny Preston
"Tell Laura I Love Her" 1960, Ray Peterson
"Ebony Eyes" 1961, The Everly Brothers
"Moody River" 1961, Pat Boone
"Last Kiss" 1964, J. Frank Wilson
"Deadman's Curve" 1964, Jan and Dean
"Billy Don't be a Hero" 1974, Paper Lace
"7-11" 1981 The Ramones,
That's a pretty good list. Back in the late 70's at sci-fi conventions we would sit in the con suite after midnight on Saturday nights, a little drunk or stoned, and sing teenage death songs for hours.
Great list - yeah, this was a thing!
Ode to Billie Joe 1967 by Bobbie Gentry
One of the best teenage girl angst mid sixties groups.
Check out " Remember (Walking in the Sand)" and "I Can Never Go Home Anymore".
there were a lot of songs like this back then love and death, leader of the pack, tell Laura i love her, last kiss, ect
Splatter Platters they were called
My favorite is Jimmy Cross's-I Want My Baby Back-after you hear it-you'll never forget it.
That was just an added comedic bit with Robert Goulet on the tiny motorcycle lol
The 2 girls probably weren't wearing wigs. That's how we wore our hair back then. We used to Tease our hair ( styling technique} The guy on the bike wasn't the leader of the Pack. That was TV host Mike Douglas goofing around.
This song made number 1 and brought us "Leader of the Laundromat" by the Detergents (No. 19).
There were a number of “dead teenager” songs that charted in the early 1960s. 😂 Some of the others are:
“Last Kiss” by J Frank Wilson & the Cavaliers
“Teen Angel” by Mark Dinning, &
“Laurie (Strange Things Happen)” by Dickey Lee
😂
Notable examples of teenage tragedy songs include "Teen Angel" by Mark Dinning (1959), "Tell Laura I Love Her" by Ray Peterson (1960), "Ebony Eyes" by the Everly Brothers (1961), "Last Kiss" by Wayne Cochran (1961), "Dead Man's Curve" by Jan and Dean (1964), and "Leader of the Pack" by the Shangri-Las (1964).
Tell Laura I love her is another one.
@@robertgraves4527 Yes, it's in the list in the "Teenage Tragedy Genre".
@@robertgraves4527 Yes, it's already in the list of the "Teenage Tragedy Genre".
this came out in 1964. in 1960 another song called Running Bear came out that used largely the same formula of story telling
Great reaction to a great song :) This is just one of the so called "Teen Tragedy" songs that were popular in the late 1950's-mid 60's.
LOL you got to remember James Dean was the big motorcycle bad boy of the time, and this gag me with a spoon song was pretty much about him and his ilk.
But Marlon Brando did it first in The Wild One, 1953.
Its so funny that Robert Goulet comes in the bike! These girls were in high school together in Queens!
Phil Spector was the producer of this massive girl group sound hype in the 1960's - Leader of the Pack is still an anthem in cycling gangs (mostly accompagnied with loud a loud bunch of Harley Davidson motorcycles). I remember even in the 1970 - when you where in an car accident it was a 50% chance to die (less advanced medicine & people have accepted dying - 25 years after the big war). They made great movies about finding Shangri-la - the garden Eden of Asians - even Nazi Leaders ordered for expeditions to find it & superior humans the last survivors of Atlantis.
Earkt 60's I'm pretty sure. Pre-British invasion, and girl groups were pretty dominant on the radio. Which was probably better than most of the rest. Thank God for the Beatles, and the return of RnR which led to R&B making solid ground into the mainstream.
The funny thing about it was that the guy looked about as badassed as my grandmother and he came out on a Honda motorcycle.
Shane gree lahs
Shangrila is a fictional paradise in Tibet.
They asked if he was going to pick her up today.
She said, No.... Now you know why she knew he wasn't coming. He was already dead.
When they recorded the song, they brought a motorcycle up the elevator to the recording studio to get the real sound. The exhaust fumes must 9have been overpowering. Speaking of angst, I once saw Leslie Gore (of "It's My Party and I'll Cry If I Want To" fame) recording a Bandstand spinoff of outdoor performances; it was in the Quad at UCLA mid-1960s.
The ultimate girl group and the ultimate girl group song of the early to mid 1960's.
Shangri-La is a fictional place in Tibet's Kunlun Mountains, described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by English author James Hilton.. It usually refers to a remote beautiful imaginary place where life approaches perfection or a remote usually idyllic hideaway. To pronounce, let the "Shang" rhyme with "hang" + gree + lahs.
There was also a wonderful movie made about the idea.
Twisted Sister covered their "Leader of the Pack" with Dee Snider's unique voice growling out these lyrics to his own Harley Davidson's rumbling roars! (& like Judas Priest's Rob Halford rode on stage;)
The Shangri-Las weren't around long, but had a big impact on later singers such as Amy Winehouse.
Omg best song ever!!! Those were the days. My high school days. Class of 69
I used to listen to this on my little AM Zenith transistor radio lol. 😂
When I was a kid, we had a 45 that was a spoof of this song, called Leader of the Laundromat. Does anyone else remember that?
This was a TV appearance and they didn't take girls seriously. They made this performance sort of hokie with the motorcycle. It was actually a Noir goth type song. Very street cool and tragic.
The group was a originally a quartet, two sets of identical twins, and they were cousins. The lead singer's sister quit the group early on. The Dead Teenager theme was a popular one in the early sixties.
❤yes, that's right!! I always also remember the song "Last Kiss"!! It was one of those! 😢 from the Dead Teenager theme! Played it over and over! ❤❤
SHANG gri LAS. This was one of many "dead teenager" songs from the sixtjes thru the eighties- Like teen angel, dead man's curve, Running Bear, and a few other less popular songs. In the 70's, Meat Loaf added Bat Out of Hell. Finally the wave crested with Downtown Julie Brown's The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun, which suprisingly is a novelty song, but gets almost no airplay because it might trigger the ladies of the View.
Loved those 60's girl groups!!! Ck out the Shirelles!! ❤❤❤❤❤
Back in the 50’s that was a normal size bike especially in smaller town not big cities. We don’t actually know how long they were together. As a little girl back then this was a real heart breaker.
Shang as in dang. gri as in the letter i in ick. La as in the musical note, or putting your fingers in your ear and saying La-La-La-La ... to ignore someone.
Britt in the 60s there were many songs that delt with death, from motorcycles and hot rods. One even delt with a ghost from and accident.
Have you never heard of Shangri-la? I feel old.
those hairstyles were everything
3 minutes for a single, it has to move fast, otherwsie the story doesn't happen, meet, flirt, bond and die, all in 180 seconds! . And you pronounced it right, 'Shangri-la' was (is?) a timeless Utopia in the Himalayas in Hilton's 'Lost Horizon'. became a hit film I believe.
Check out "Shout" and "Give him a great big Kiss." I remember I was 9 years old when this song came out. I thought it was a really cool song. There were a lot of good girl groups in the 60s, the Ronettes AND THE Crystals just to name a few.
If you want to set a movie in the 50s or early 60s, this is a good song to set the scene. Shangri-la (like Sangria, but with a "sh" and an l at the end) is a mythical wonderland in Asia. This was from a time when a lot of entertainment for young people was pushing safe messages - the studios were pushing kids to be wholesome, and ignore the whole Hippie vibe.
You do know that songs didn't come with video plans back then? But when a song was hot the group might get invited to lip-sync it on a variety show. And they would put together whatever kind of material and extras they had on hand. Shanghai-La is a name for paradise in some eastern tongue, and people knew it because it was used as a place name in "Lost Horizon", a well known 1933 novel.
Bette Midler did a great cover of this on her first album, The Divine Miss M.
This was another one of those iconic girl groups from the early 60's. "Leader Of The Pack" was one of their biggest hits along with "Remember (Walking In The Sand)", "Give Him A Great Big Kiss", "I Can Never Go Home Anymore" etc. These were the simpler days of music.
I can't listen to this without it reminding me of a scene in the Amy Winehouse movie.
Brit, if you want a fun song, check out the Mel Cooleys..."Little Skipper". It always brightens my day and they're a good group.It's an odd song, but they are a good group.
Kind suggestion:
Tell Laura I Love Her
Riding With Private Malone
To help you out with the pronunciation listen to Shangri la by The Lettermen
Back In the day, we called these type songs “Splatter Platters”
Pronounced Shawn-gra-la, a fictional paradise on earth
The guy on the bike was the show's host, and yup small bike to fit on the stage/
It escalated so quickly , because back in the day , a record had to be no more than 2- 3 mins long to get plugged between the adds on the radio stations . The reason the bike was small , was probably because an adult sized motorcycle would have been too much of a handful for the silly dweeb in the hat riding the moped .
I didn't know they had 'remember walking in the sand.' I liked mouth and macneals verson of that.
shangra la
You should do RAYEs Brit award medley!!! It’s soooooo goooood!
Now you have to do Weird Al and ,"The leader and his yak"
Shang-ri Las
☝️I agree with both comments above
Britt, you should check out Bette Midler's version of this song. She takes it to another level!
You should hear Teen Angel, it was another full of teenage angst from the 1950s.
First time I heard this was the cover by Twisted Sister :)
Try this Mark Dining teen angel, its my party and the answer back it’s Judys turn to cry by Leslie Gore.
Please react to Susan Tedeschi - It hurt so bad. She is really worth a listening to.
There's also the chi lites from the 70's have you seen her
Couldn't get a big bike on stage, the guy on the bike was the Host of the show.
Actually, this took place on a game show called "I've Got A Secret", and comedian Steve Allen was the host. Robert Goulet, an actor, was one of the panelists on the show that night and he was the one on the motorcycle when they sang their song.
“I’ve Got A Secret” was a long-running panel game show on CBS. Garry Moore was the host of the show from 1952 to 1964. When Moore left the show, Steve Allen became the host, and was there from 1964 until the show’s cancellation in 1967.
@@Joe_Okey Thank you for correcting me, I don't like putting out the wrong information.
“We sing the heart of our TRUE friend, Mumble!!!, you are a nation of tiny weeny pifling pickle leeny piddly diddly poof” -Ramon iykyk 😢😢😢
Listen to John Mellencamp's song R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A. He mentions the Shangri-la. And you'll know how to pronounce it.
❤ Britt, Shang ri lah, don't pronounce the s!!
We did this as a skit in grade 8, with tricycles,! This song was SO popular back in the day!!😢❤
A Great Big Kiss is another one of their greats, by the way it seems like you haven't reacted to Elvis's Bossa Nova Baby-I think you should, you'll be glad you did.
This was a tv show and the studio thought it was a good idea to do comedy skecth out of this😢
check out Jimmy Cross-I Want My Baby Back-you'll either die laughing or be revolted or maybe both!
Yep Mom had that on 🎉... LoL dont read too much into it ... its a song 😂😂😂
They're just poking fun at this teenage tragedy song on TV. Crooner Robert Goulet is clowning around here on his show.
Let me t ry to spell it phonetically - Sh - A ( long A) n - Gri (short i) - 'Lah (short a), ShAn-gri - la (silent s)
now you need to watch the version twisted sister did 😉
❤
Shang-Ra-Laws
Shouldn't you understand how life "escalates quickly" for people in your life that you love, and fate takes them? There are other songs similar in message, Tell Laura I Love Her, Last Kiss being 2 beautiful ones. Randy Travis's 3 Wooden Crosses comes down the same road from a different place, but touches all the same feels. The message is complete love and devastating loss. Is there a more universal message to create music about?
Pronounced:
“Shang -Gree- Lahs”,
but I believe many people say the middle part like this:
“Shang -Gra -Lahs”
You have to say Shangri-Las, as though it were one word; don't try to break it down, you'll only get tongue-tied.
I think you would have liked the song better than watching the video and hearing it. The video is cheesy.
Hi … you must to react to LUIS MIGUEL “La Incondicional” live, the best latino singer in all time
its a place shang ra la
Shang ra Las
You gitta catch up on your litterature. 😅 Shung, Shin, Shang gorillaz? ...
Surprised you never heard of Shangri-la (not the band)
Please react to sassa dagdag if i were a boy (Wish 107.5)
funny and also very rare for a band to be made up of 2 twins and 2 sisters
Please 🙏 rap sudan cypher 🇸🇩🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥❤️🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Welcome to the weird sub genre of Teen Tragity Songs
The main singer, Mary Weiss, died this year. Great voice. The guy on the motorcyle is Robert Goulet...who is making fun of the girls and their pop song because he was a torch singer. Not funny.
Cheesy :)
ruclips.net/video/mvLQ8nL0mxo/видео.htmlsi=sFfsleR5rPjaYNmL
This is my new favorite song. You my dear will need some tissue just like me. Leanne at her best.
Gettin more and more annoying with the hystrionics 😂😂
Shang like fang ri like bee las like laws
This song is hilariously dated.
I know this is a classic, but listening to it tonight has me really questioning the music quality of the time.