A little Hanky Panky - The story behind the single

'The Hanky Panky" - Tommy James and The Shondells:

Still a staple of classic oldies stations, 'The Hanky Panky' almost didn't make it. Originally written in twenty minutes in the hallway of the recording studio by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwhich (The Raindrops) as a quick B-side for their song 'That Boy John' in 1963, the song barely made anyone take notice. The record was released in late November, 1963 (the same week that saw President John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas) and the record never made a blip on anyones radar.

Almost anyones radar anyway. A young Tommy Jackson (later Tommy James), a high school student at the time, used to slip across the border from his then hometown, Niles, Michigan to South Bend, Indiana and visit the clubs near Notre Dame University to catch live bands. One of the bands he saw were The Spinners who apparently had heard 'The Hanky Panky' and were pounding out a live version in the clubs.

Back home in Niles, Tommy James and The Tornadoes (later rechristened The Shondells) were one of a few acts to be asked to record a song for Snap Records. Snap was the project of local radio DJ Jack Douglas. They recorded 'Long Pony Tail' for the fledgling label and when asked for one more for a record, the band recorded 'Hanky Panky'. Given that he had only heard the song once in a club, he didn't know all the lyrics so James made up lyrics on the fly.

The record caught some local Michigan, Indiana and Illinois airplay but towards the end of 1965, the record faded into obscurity. Tommy James and The Shondells had all graduated from high school and that was that.

Not quite.

In December of that year, Tommy received a call from a disc jockey, Mad Mike Metro' in Pittsburgh, PA who informed him that 'Hanky Panky' was a number one hit in the local Pittsburgh market place. Apparently a jock named Bob Livorio had found a copy of 'Hanky Panky' in a bargain bin and began playing it on his show. The song became so popular in Pittsburgh that an unidentified enterprising sort managed to bootleg and sell over 80,000 copies of the record before James and Douglas could get the master to Roulette Records and arrange for a national release.

The rest of the Shondells had no interest in re-grouping to support the record so James went to Pittsburgh, lip synched a few promotional gigs and then hired a local Pittsburgh band called the Raconteurs to become the new Shondells.

The band had a few more national hits before disappearing from the music business although they have reunited on occasion for oldies tours.