Remember (Walking in the Sand)

Infobox Single
Name = Remember (Walking in the Sand)


Artist = The Shangri-Las
from Album =
B-side = "It's Easier to Cry"
Released = 1964
Format = 7" single
Recorded =
Genre =
Length = 2:17
Label = Red Bird
Writer = Shadow Morton
Producer =
Certification =
Chart position =

#5 (U.S.)

#14 (UK)

Last single =
This single = "Remember (Walking in the Sand)"
(1964)
Next single = "Leader of the Pack"
(1964)Infobox Single
Name = Remember (Walking in the Sand)
Artist = Aerosmith featuring Mary Weiss of The Shangri-Las
from Album = Night in the Ruts
B-side = "Bone to Bone"
Released = 1980
Format = 7" single
Recorded = 1979
Length = 4:04
Label = Columbia
Producer = Jack Douglas
Chart position = * #67 (US Billboard Hot 100)
Last single = "Chip Away the Stone"
(1978)
This single = "Remember (Walking in the Sand)"
(1980)
Next single = "Lightning Strikes"
(1982)"Remember (Walking in the Sand)" is a song written by George "Shadow" Morton and originally recorded in 1964 by The Shangri-Las.

Original recording by The Shangri-Las

Morton was looking to break into the music business, and went to the Brill Building in New York City to see an old girlfriend, Ellie Greenwich, who had become a successful pop songwriter. Morton and Greenwich's writing partner, Jeff Barry, took a dislike to one another. Asked what he did for a living, Morton replied "I write songs", although he had never written one. When Barry asked him what kind, Morton retorted, "Hit songs!" Barry said he would love to hear one of Morton's tunes, and invited him to come back the following week with something.

Morton immediately wrote "Remember (Walking in the Sand)". He hired a teenage group from Queens, the Shangri-Las, to sing on the demo, which Morton produced himself. Barry was impressed and Red Bird Records picked up the song for release and signed Morton and the Shangri-Las to contracts. According to some accounts, the original version was nearly seven minutes long. In order to fit the AM radio format of the time, the song had to be cut in length, but rather than edit it, Morton simply faded it out after 2:10.

The song was released as the debut single on Red Bird Records by The Shangri-Las and became a #5 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also a #14 hit on the UK Singles Chart, and became more successful in the UK when reissued on several occasions in the 1970s. Billy Joel, an unknown working as a session musician at the time, played piano on the original demo recording of the song and has playfully claimed that Morton failed to pay him his $67 union scale fee for the performance.

The Shangri-Las' recording placed #396 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list in 2004.

Cover versions

In 1979, Louise Goffin remade the song. This version also became popular, charting in the top 50 of the Hot 100.

Aerosmith released a more rock version featuring uncredited backing by Mary Weiss of the Shangri-Las as a single in 1980. This charted on the Hot 100 at 67 .

Other artists to release versions include Mouth & MacNeal on the 1972 album "How Do You Do?", The Nylons, and The Beach Boys on the 1992 album "Summer in Paradise". The Go-Go's performed the song in their early days and a live version from 1981 is included on their 1994 album "Return to the Valley of the Go-go's".