100 Greatest Songs of the 60’s #61 Ben E. King – Spanish Harlem

Released: 1961

There is no rule that says pop is something you can like but your parents, aunts and uncles can’t; natural selection normally however does the trick. Exceptions to the rule come along more frequently than you think too, hence the longevity through generations of Ben E. King’s most famous hit Stand By Me, brought back to life in conjunction with a nostalgia-soaked film in 1987 but also at the time a bona fide hit in Britain.

Benjamin Earl Nelson was born in North Carolina but moved to New York when he was nine, eventually joining the Doo-Wop group the Five Crowns in 1958 and after their frustrated manager George Treadwell sacked every previous member, The Drifters a few months later.

After being part of The Drifters resurrection – including co-writing There Goes My Baby, a song produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller – Nelson demanded a fairer share from Treadwell, who refused. Nelson quit and then immediately rebranded himself Ben E. King, before wasting no time in recording Spanish Harlem, a composition Leiber had originally written with Phil Spector.

Tame sounding now, Spanish Harlem then was a sweetly romantic ode set in the neighbourhood of his youth, featuring a magical introduction written by an uncredited Stoller, plus strings, marimba and backing vocals by The Gospelaires, who featured none other than a young Dionne Warwick. With the youthquake of rock n’ roll still gathering itself, this was a record your momma could hum and daddy might tap his feet to. And for the time being that was still just fine by you.