"Not Me" tells the story of a guy and his strange relationships. The song was released in 1963 after the huge hit "South Street" on Cameo Records. The Orlons appeared many times on Dick Clark's American Bandstand and gave their releases a lot of publicity. "Not Me" peaked at #11 and just missed being in the Billboard Hot 100's Top Ten. But it was a big seller anyway and nearly sold a million copies. The Orlons specialized in a combination of party songs and good-time songs that appealed to many teens. When Cameo released "Not Me" they were riding high, after having earned three Gold Record Awards from the riaa (The Wah-Watusi, Don't Hang Up!, and South Street). A new version of The Orlons still performs their hits on the present-day "golden oldies circuit", but a few of the original members have passed on. This song is heavy on the beat with funny lyrics and a killer of a saxophone break. You'll want to get up and dance to this one!

Mercy! What a song! This hit big for The Ronettes in 1963 & was produced by famed producer Phil Spector and utilized his 'Wall of Sound" techniques. I've heard that Spector used 2 or 3 drum sets to achieve the thundering beats. The echo-effects were just right. I've heard some stereo versions of this song by The Ronettes and it is jaw-dropping to hear "The Wall of Sound" in stereo. The original was monaural sound because in '63 stereo systems, especially in vehicles hadn't yet come into popular production. The lyrics were by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, & Phil Spector telling a story of young love and attraction. It certainly clicked with the teens of the Sixties. The Ronettes were sisters Veronica (Ronnie) and Estelle Bennett with cousin Nedra Talley. This song has been covered by many artists and bands using a variety of arrangements. The song was included on a recently remastered compilation of Ronettes hits by the famous Legacy Project as "The Very Best of The Ronettes" with all original recordings. The enclosed booklet is a valuable resource for rock historians on The Ronettes and Phil Spector. A few years ago, The Ronettes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, Estelle Bennett passed away a few years ago, but Nedra and Ronnie are still with us. Rock on, Ronettes!

This song was one of the biggest hits of 1962. I loved this song & am still a Deedee Sharp fan. I was also a fan of most of the releases of Cameo-Parkway Records out of Philadelphia. This was a huge dance song from the huge dance-craze of that year. It was popular in the spring of '62 and it stayed on the charts a heck of a long time which accounts for its huge annual sales. I love the info in the above post too from "Unregistered" in 2012. In 1962 and '63 I saw Deedee Sharp on American Bandstand many times hawking her latest releases. To do the mashed potato dance, you had to wist your feet and hips then stomp your feet. Kind of awkward, but we learned to do it back in '62. The song sounded a little similar to "Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes (Tamla Records) that was also a #1 record that came out near the ed of 1961 (about 4 months earlier than Deedee's record), but if you listen carefully you'll realize they're not really too similar. Just using a minor key arrangement. Deedee Sharp got a Gold Record for this song selling nearly 4 million copies. She had one other hit that was a Gold Record million-seller: Ride! Which came out in the fall of '62. Most of her early releases on Cameo were Top ten hits so that made her a red hot teen star that sort of put the older female stars like Connie Francis & Brenda Lee, in the shade. But alas, it wasn't to last too long for any of them. The British Invasion came in early '64. Oh well, 1962 was a huge year for dance craze hits, hot-rods, surfing, and instrumentals. What memories!