I Go to Pieces
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "I Go to Pieces" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Peter & Gordon | ||||
| from the album I Go to Pieces (U.S.) | ||||
| B-side | "Love Me Baby" | |||
| Released | 20 November 1964 (UK) December 1964 (US) | |||
| Recorded | 1964 Abbey Road Studios | |||
| Genre | Merseybeat | |||
| Length | 2:25 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Del Shannon | |||
| Producer(s) | John Burgess | |||
| Peter & Gordon singles chronology | ||||
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"I Go to Pieces" is a song written by Del Shannon which became a top ten hit for Peter and Gordon on 20 February 1965. The duo's fourth single, it was their first not to be written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
Del Shannon had written "I Go to Pieces" for an R&B singer named Lloyd Brown whom Shannon discovered at a Michigan nightclub. Shannon arranged and produced Brown's recording but was unable to find a label interested in releasing the track. Shannon did attempt to record "I Go to Pieces" in the August 1964 session at Mira Sound Studios NYC, which yielded his single "Do You Wanna Dance" and its B-side "This Is All I Have to Give." However Shannon was unable to cut a satisfactory vocal of "I Go to Pieces" before the three hours booked for the session ran out.
Following the success of the Peter and Gordon version of "I Go to Pieces," Del Shannon recorded the song at Bell Sound Studios in New York City in March 1965. Basing his version on the arrangement utilized by Peter and Gordon, Shannon's version of his own composition was effectively one of a number of covers of recent hits which comprised his album 1,661 Seconds with Del Shannon. Shannon also sang on the remake of "I Go to Pieces" by Nils Lofgren on his 1981 album Night Fades Away. Del Shannon's final remake of "I Go To Pieces" appeared on his album Rock On!, which was posthumously released by Jeff Lynne in 1991. It features a leaner arrangement (with Del Shannon not harmonizing with himself), little or no reverb on the drums, strings replaced by a synthesizer, and a sound typical of recordings produced or recorded by Lynne at this time. While Lynne produced other numbers on the album, this track was produced by Mike Campbell. It also features Tom Petty on backing vocals.
Peter and Gordon
"I Go to Pieces" passed to Peter and Gordon when that duo and Del Shannon, along with the Searchers, shared the bill for a tour of Australia in the second half of 1964. At one of the tour's venues, Shannon pitched "I Go to Pieces" to the Searchers. singing it for the group in their dressing room. Peter and Gordon in the dressing room next door overheard Shannon singing "I Go to Pieces" to the Searchers, who weren't interested in it[1] and, recognizing the song's potential to become a Merseybeat-style hit, Peter and Gordon asked Shannon to let them record it. Peter and Gordon recorded "I Go to Pieces" at Abbey Road Studios with John Burgess producing and Geoff Love as arranger/conductor. As well as Peter and Gordon playing guitars, the session featured their guitar player, Eddie King, on twelve-string guitar.
Released in the UK on 20 November 1964, "I Go to Pieces" became the second consecutive Peter and Gordon single to miss the UK Top 50 but, as with their preceding release, "Nobody I Know," it became a hit in America, where the "British Invasion" craze was at its height. Released in the US in December 1964, "I Go to Pieces" entered the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100 on 20 February 1965. The title track of Peter and Gordon's third US album release, "I Go to Pieces" was cited in 1999 by Gordon Waller as his favorite of the duo's songs. Peter and Gordon's first three singles had all been Lennon–McCartney compositions, but "I Go to Pieces" began a series of four single releases by the duo which were covers of American songs.
"I Go to Pieces" afforded Peter and Gordon an international hit, reaching number 11 in Sweden while in Australia the track was a double A-side hit reaching number 26 in tandem with its flip "Love Me Baby."
"I Go to Pieces" was one of 150 songs which Clear Channel Communications requested its 1,170 stations not to play in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, drawing the comment from Peter Asher that: "I suppose a song about someone going to pieces could be upsetting if someone took it literally" (However, Asher did object to the inclusion of Peter & Gordon's "A World Without Love" on the list: "[Its] sentiment [is] as true in crisis as it is in normal times. It's a totally pro-love sentiment and could only be helpful right now.")[2]
Peter and Gordon came back together after a gap of 37 years to perform "I Go to Pieces" at the Mike Smith Tribute Concert at B.B. King's House of Blues in New York City on 2 August 2005. The song is also one of the Peter & Gordon hits performed in the multimedia live show "Peter Asher: A Musical Memoir of the '60s and Beyond," which Peter Asher has been mounting across the US since 2010, with Asher's keyboardist Jeff Alan Ross harmonizing with Asher.
