452 PART 4 | SINCE WORLD WAR II
of their song “Hound Dog” would inspire Elvis Presley’s cover
version. In addition to their songwriting skills, Leiber and Stoller
understood the impact of the studio production techniques of
Mitch Miller and other mainstream record producers, and by the
late 1950s they were as involved with the recording of their songs
as with the writing of them. A series of hit records, especially
those for the Coasters and the Drifters, two R&B vocal groups,
featured the team’s catchy tunes, clever lyrics, and masterful use
of the resources of the recording studio, whether the Latin per-
cussion in “Spanish Harlem” (Ben E. King, 1963) or the nuanced
balance and tasteful reverb of “On Broadway” (Drifters, 1960).
“On Broadway” included a studio guitar player, Phil Spector,
who made the most of his time with Leiber and Stoller, treating
it as a sort of apprenticeship for his own writing and producing
career. A year later, at age twenty-one, Spector founded his own
record company, Philles Records. Whether producing his own songs or those of
other writers, Spector invested great care in building up complex instrumental
textures in the studio, creating an orchestral wash of timbres known as the Wall
of Sound. The result was a series of hit records that Spector dubbed his “teenage
symphonies.”
“Be My Baby,” a pop hit in 1963, features the songwriting of Spector, Ellie
Greenwich, and Jeff Barry; the naïve but impassioned singing of the Ronettes,
one of the many girl groups of the time; and the highly skilled playing of a group
of L.A. studio musicians nicknamed the Wrecking Crew, most notably the tight,
energetic drumming of Hal Blaine. But it is the distinctive Wall of Sound produc-
tion that makes “Be My Baby” remembered today as a Phil Spector record. Build-
ing on the legacy of Les Paul, Mitch Miller, and Leiber and Stoller, Spector raised
the role of the record producer to new creative heights.
Greenwich and Barry, like other songwriters associated with Phil Spector,
worked in the Brill Building, a New York offi ce building that resembled a latter-
day Tin Pan Alley, transported uptown from West 28th Street to 1619 Broad-
way, near 50th Street. There, in tiny cubicles furnished with a piano and not
much else, songwriting teams like Carole King and Gerry Goffi n, Neil Sedaka
and Howard Greenfi eld, and Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman churned out songs
for the teenage market. The tight quarters and poor soundproofi ng fostered a
spirit of competition, and the Brill Building songwriters vied for the attentions
of record producers and singing stars. Although much of their work was dispos-
able teen fodder, the best of it displays a high level of craftsmanship and talent.
“Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” a 1960 song by King and Goffi n, follows the
aaba format of classic popular songs going back to the 1920s, and the hit record
includes an interlude for string orchestra, a nod to the sophisticated accompani-
ments heard on mainstream pop records. But added to the mix are an insistent
drum track, giving the record more of a rock and roll feeling, and the youthful
v oic e s of t he S h i r e l le s , a g i rl g r oup. L i ke m a ny t e e n- or ie nt e d s on g s , it add r e s s e s t he
concerns of high-schoolers, but here with a new seriousness: the song’s persona is
a teenage girl questioning her boyfriend’s sincerity in asking her for greater sex-
ual intimacy. “Tonight the look of love is in your eyes,” she tells him, “but will you
love me tomorrow?” A record pitched to teenagers yet tackling a romantic issue
with seriousness, “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” straddles the carefree ethos of
1950s rock and roll and the more mature sensibility of 1960s rock.K Three Brill Building
songwriters in the early
1960s: Carole King and
then-husband Gerry Goffi n
fl ank Paul Simon, who,
like King, would later have
a memorable career as a
singer-songwriter.Phil Spectorthe Brill Building“Will You Love Me
Tomorrow”172028_18_440-467_r3_sd.indd 452 23/01/13 11:02 AM