Today in Music (1960): The Drifters “Save the Last Dance for Me” hit #1

Save the Last Dance for Me The Drifters

Writer(s): Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman (see lyrics here) First Charted: August 26, 1960 Peak: 13 BB, 16 CB, 2 GR, 15 HR, 11 RB, 2 UK, 11 CN, 14 AU, 11 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.2 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 7.0 radio, 41.10 video, 83.23 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The Drifters have been one of the longest-lasting and most successful R&B groups of all time, forming originally in 1953 and going through multiple incarnations into present day. The group landed eleven top-ten R&B hits in their first couple of years, but were disbanded by manager George Treadwell in 1958. He replaced them with the group the Five Crowns. The new lineup featured Ben E. King (later of “Stand by Me” success) as the lead singer. The new version of the Drifters reached #2 on the pop charts in 1959 with “There Goes My Baby.” They found even greater success a year later with “Save the Last Dance for Me,” the only #1 pop hit in the group’s long history. The song was written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, who’d had success a year earlier with Dion & the Belmonts’ “A Teenager in Love” (#5 BB) as well as top-ten hits by Fabian. The went on to write several top-five hits for Elvis Presley, including the #1 song “Surrender” in 1961. Pomus explained that he and Shuman wrote many of their hits after Shuman would return from periodic vacations to Mexico. Shuman would provide fragments of Latin beats and melodies and Shuman would write lyrics that sounded like they were translated into English. DM Pomus wrote the lyrics for “Dance” about remembering his wedding and, because he was in a wheelchair due to polio, watching his wife dance with other people. However, in the song he reminds her who will be going home with her. RC Pomus said, “We knew we wrote a good one, but we had no reason to think that this was much better than ten other songs.” SJ Originally Jimmy Clanton, a New Orleans singer, wanted to record the song. When Atlantic Records called to say they wanted the song for the Drifters, Pomus said they talked Clanton out of the song by adapting a song they’d written as “Go, Bobby, Go” into “Go, Jimmy, Go” and telling Clanton they’d written it for him. SJ It was a top-five hit for him. Even then, the Drifters’ version of “Save the Last Dance for Me” was relegated to the B-side of a song called “Nobody But Me.” It was Dick Clark, the host of American Bandstand, who suggesting pushing the other song instead. Resources: RC Rod Couch (2015). The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era: 1955-2015. Pages 280-1. DM Dave Marsh (1989). The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New American Library: New York, NY. Page 300. SJ Bob Shannon and John Javna (1986). Behind the Hits: Inside Stories of Classic Pop and Rock and Roll. Warner Brothers, Inc.: New York, NY. Page 172. SF Songfacts Related Links: First posted 1/18/2024.