After working together for a bit, Mary Weiss ended up singing lead. In April of 1964, since the girls were still minors, their parents signed for them with Red Bird Records, with their name coming from the title of a mythical place of wonder. Mary was 15, Betty was 17, and the Ganser twins were 16. That same year, they had their first hit with "Remember (Walking in the Sand)". The song, a U.S. #5 and a U.K. #14, was created after producer George "Shadow" Morton hired the band.
Their songs with "Shadow" Morton featured lavish production with heavy orchestration and sound effects. Their biggest hit, the renowned death disc "Leader of the Pack", climaxes with the sounds of roaring motorcycles and breaking glass. A U.S. #1 and U.K. #11 hit, the tune still gets serious airplay to this day.
According to a Biography episode on various 60s 'Brill Building' songwriters, including retrospective interviews with Greenwich, Barry and Morton among others, Barry said that at the time he was suspicious of Morton's overt attention to Greenwich. Disbelieving Morton was really the songwriter he claimed to be, Barry challenged Morton to prove his legitimacy and bring in samples of his recent work (expecting never to hear again from an embarrassed Morton). Morton stated in his interview that, with an empty song portfolio at the time, he felt sufficiently challenged by Barry, whereupon he left the Brill Building and drove his automobile to a Long Island Beach.
Full of both inspiration and desperation, Morton spent the evening writing his first song, while sitting in the dark in his parked car. Entitled "Remember (Walking In The Sand)", Morton then 'rolled the dice' and recorded a demo of his song with a long-shot, unknown girl-group local club act that he admired, The Shangri-Las (according to Morton, with the then-unknown Billy Joel on piano in the demo recording), and offered the demo recording to Jerry Leiber, who was then setting up Red Bird Records. The recording "Remember (Walking In The Sand)" by the Shangri-Las reached #3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1964. Considering the scope of this accomplishment, Morton was transformed overnight from a credential-less industry 'wannabe' into a teen recording songwriter and recording producer. According to Steve Kurutz at Allmusic, "Morton's production work, which included brilliant sound effects and inventive percussion, carried the Shangri-Las to girl-group history."
The band continued to have a string of American hit records, mainly on depressing themes such as death, loneliness, and abandonment. Songs included "Past, Present and Future", "Give Him a Great Big Kiss" and "Long Live Our Love".
In 1966, the Shangri-Las' subsequent two releases on Red Bird failed to make the top 50. That same year the band left Red Bird and Morton after the label folded. At the beginning of 1967, Marge decided to leave the group. Despite signing to Mercury Records that year, the group had no further hits. In 1968, they disbanded.
Mary Ann died of a drug overdose in 1970. Marge succumbed to breast cancer on July 28, 1996 at age 48.
The group experienced a small revival in the UK when "Leader Of The Pack" was re-issued twice, reaching #3 in 1972 and #7 in 1976.
The Shangri-La's 1966 hit "Past, Present & Future" was effectively covered in 2004 by ex ABBA singer Agnetha Fältskog on her 2004 album, "My Colouring Book".
Since the 1980's, the group has had to deal with a group calling themselves The Shangri Las, but having nothing to do with the original group. The group was put together by Dick Fox.
Discography
Standard albums
* 1964: Leader of the Pack (US #109)
* 1965: Shangri-Las-65!
Compilations
* 1966: Golden Hits of the Shangri-Las
* 1975: The Shangri-Las Sing
* 1996: The Best of the Shangri-Las
Singles
* 1964: "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" (US #5, UK #14)
* 1964: "Leader of the Pack" (US #1, UK #11)
* 1965: "Give Him a Great Big Kiss" (US #18)
* 1965: "Give Us Your Blessings" (US #29)
* 1965: "I Can Never Go Home Anymore" (US #6)
* 1965: "Maybe" (US #91)
* 1965: "Out in the Streets" (US #53)
* 1965: "Right Now and Not Later" (US #99)
* 1966: "He Cried" (US #65)
* 1966: "Long Live Our Love" (US #33)
* 1966: "Past, Present and Future" (US #59)
* 1966: "Take the Time"
* 1967: "Sweet Sounds of Summer"
References
* "Shangri-Las 77!", footnote 4, by Phil X Milstein, Spectropop
Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shangri-Las
What Is Love
The Shangri-Las Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
'Til you've learned the meaning of the blues
Until you've loved a love you've had to lose,
You don't know what love is.
You don't know how lips hurt
Until you've kissed and had to pay the cost,
Until you've flipped your heart and you have lost,
Do you know how a lost heart fears
At the thought of reminiscing,
And how lips that taste of tears
Lose their taste for kissing?
You don't know how hearts burn
For love that can, not live yet never dies.
Until you've faced each dawn with sleepless eyes,
You don't know what love is.
The Shangri-Las's song "What Is Love" is a poignant and reflective ballad about the true nature of love which, according to the lyrics, must be experienced in all its various forms- the pain and hurt, joy and sorrow- to be truly understood. The first verse declares that you cannot know love until you have experienced the crushing disappointment of losing someone you truly love. The blues here symbolize the melancholic feeling that comes when one is bereft of their love, and only then can one truly appreciate the depth of love.
The second verse continues in the same vein and points out that the pain and hurt of love manifest in physical ways too. The cost of loving someone and then losing them can feel like a physical wound, which means the hurt that love can cause is sometimes physical too. The third and the final verse contemplates the lost love and emphasizes the reminiscing and nostalgic feeling that comes with it. It highlights the irony that the same lips that were once kissed with joy can also taste of tears when one is heartbroken. And finally, it emphasizes the idea that love is an all-consuming passion that burns deep down in one's heart and can never truly die.
Overall, "What Is Love" is a beautiful composition that stresses that love is not just a fleeting emotion, but rather a complex and powerful force that shapes and defines us in ways we can never truly understand.
Line by Line Meaning
You don't know what love is
You cannot fully understand or appreciate the concept of love until certain experiences have shaped your perception of its depth and complexity.
'Til you've learned the meaning of the blues
You need to have gone through heartbreak and emotional pain in order to truly understand what love entails.
Until you've loved a love you've had to lose,
You must have experienced the gut-wrenching loss of someone you love to fully grasp the gravity of love and its impact on your life.
You don't know how lips hurt
You haven't experienced the pain of the consequences of a kiss.
Until you've kissed and had to pay the cost,
You haven't had to bear the burden of the aftermath of a kiss that caused either personal or relationship damage.
Until you've flipped your heart and you have lost,
You haven't risked vulnerability and had your heart broken in the process.
Do you know how a lost heart fears
Have you ever felt the crippling fear and anxiety associated with the possibility of losing a loved one?
At the thought of reminiscing,
When the thought of memories of a past relationship or experience that once brought happiness returns to mind.
And how lips that taste of tears
Have you ever kissed someone whose lips taste salty from crying?
Lose their taste for kissing?
Have you ever experienced the feeling of losing interest in physical affection after a traumatic experience?
You don't know how hearts burn
You haven't experienced the painful yearning and desire for someone you love who is out of reach.
For love that can, not live yet never dies.
For love that may be impossible to have, but still remains a driving force in your heart.
Until you've faced each dawn with sleepless eyes,
Until you've experienced the inability to sleep due to the immense emotional turmoil that love can bring.
You don't know what love is.
The true essence of love is multifaceted, complex, and cannot be fully comprehended unless one has gone through a range of experiences to give meaning to the word.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: DON RAYE, GENE DE PAUL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@koalabearsongs3797
Betty was an amazing lead singer in her own right....there is no one to compare to The Shangri-Las....they are vocally so much more complex and powerful than other female based groups...it's....simply.......amazing.
@claudaopilha
oh yeah. the ramones and the new york dolls were fans, and so am i.
@delsongalasinao706
Old song like this is gold in this very toxic competitive world of today with lots of negativity around.
@tonysantiago255
Thanks for this one and especially the comments. I just discovered what an amazing group these girls were, beyond Leader of the Pack. I knew this wasn't Mary on the lead vocal, but my CD doesn't say who sang this one. Betty had a more typical vocal quality of the girl singers on this type of teen pop song, but she holds her phrasing maybe longer and better than Mary here. She was awesome and just right for this song! All I can say is : "Aw, gee."
@clareons
Thank you and you're very welcome.
@normanbommarito6029
All of the girls were very good singers in there own right .
@josephmazzotta8813
Love is loving these ladies,❤
@alices.b867
Love the Shangri-las I'm very grateful!
@verdict4me
Cool music,brings back memories.
@TheSmashingDoc1
never in one million years i would have thought, theres a picture of her with a cigarette