DESCRIPTION:
"Hanky Panky" is a song written in 1963 by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich for their group, The Raindrops. It was written in about 20 minutes as a B-side to a single, "That Boy John". They didn't really like the song and quickly forgot about it. It was later famously remade by rock group Tommy James and the Shondells, who took it to No. 1 in the United States in 1966, after modifying the lyrics.

Actually, there is quite the 'cinderella story' here. The meteoric rise of Tommy James & the Shondells that summer of '66 was surely one of the greatest "Cinderella Stories" in rock history. Hanky Panky, was an obscure single recorded two and a half years earlier by Tommy and his high school rock group THE SHONDELLS, in his hometown (Niles, Michigan) - suddenly out of nowhere became a #1 record in Pittsburgh, PA as it was being played on regional radio shows and dances. At the behest of several local DJ's and promo people, Tommy was tracked down and urged to come to Pittsburgh to perform and do interviews. Unable to put the original band back together, Tommy went alone and chose a Pittsburgh group playing clubs as "The Raconteurs" to be the Shondells. Two weeks later, Tommy and the new group signed a recording contract in New York with Roulette Records... and the rest is history! Hanky Panky became the #1 record of the summer and the dream of a lifetime came true for Tommy and the Shondells!
Roulette needed a "HANKY PANKY" album fast, so the group quickly headed for the studio with A&R man Henry Glover at the production helm.
The album was finished in a break-neck two weeks with a combination of quickly thrown together group originals and cover material including a re-do of "The Fireballs" "Say I Am", which became their second million-selling single - the album itself going gold a mere four weeks after its release in July of '66.

The song is simple, easy-to-sing, and has a great hook - the popular dance-craze of the early '60's. My version is a combination of the two different versions. I liked the last line of the Raindrops' first verse, "Sooo you know, my baby's fine", but I much prefer Tommy James' second verse, so I kept the line from the original.

Recorded with my SWS1000N2 Rainsong through both the pre-amp and mic'd with MXL 770 and vocals through AKG D-5. All through the Audiogram6.