(Just Like) Romeo And Juliet

Album

(Just Like) Romeo And Juliet

Label

Golden World Records

Genre

Doo-Wop

Composer(s)

Bob Hamilton;Freddy Gorman

Entered Chart

Apr 11, 1964

Peak Date

May 30, 1964

Released

February 1964[

Recorded

1963 Studio United Sound Systems, Detroit (instrumental track) RCA Studios, Chicago (vocal track)

Catalog #

Golden World 9

B-Side

Can't You Tell By The Look In My Eyes

"(Just Like) Romeo and Juliet" is the title of a 1964 hit single by The Reflections, their recording of a composition by Bob Hamilton and Freddie Gorman. Ed Wingate, owner of the newly formed Detroit-based Golden World Records, had signed the Reflections on the basis of the group's regional success with the single "You Said Goodbye" on the local Kay-Ko label. Songwriter Freddie Gorman, who had been recruited by Golden World from Motown, would recall that he considered his recent composition "(Just Like) Romeo and Juliet" as "tailor made" for the doo-wop-styled Reflections "because it had a pop feel, as opposed to the R&B thing they were doing. " However Reflections' lead singer Tony Micale recalls that none of the group responded positively to the song when Gorman first sang it for them: "It just didn't sound like much with [Gorman] just playing a little piano backup". The Reflections recorded the vocal for the track several weeks later at the RCA recording studio in Chicago. According to Micale, the group's members still regarded the song as somewhat of a joke. While running through the song prior to the recording session they ad-libbed a falsetto "doo-doo-doot" hook line as irreverent mimicry of Gorman's vocal style when he'd pitched them the song. The group was surprised when Gorman added that line to the song's vocal arrangement. The instrumental track for "(Just Like) Romeo and Juliet" had been recorded at United Sound Systems in Detroit. Micale would recall that when the group's members first heard that instrumental track through the [RCA] studio monitors "we were just blown away... Some of the Motown [session musicians] were playing on it, and the sound was just amazing. Besides our vocals, the only thing added at that point were [the] 'doo-doo-doot's that we had come up with, and hand claps"

Finding a job tomorrow morning,
Got a little something I want to do.
Gonna buy something I can ride in
Take my girl dating at the drive-in,
Our love's gonna be written down in history
Just like Romeo and Juliet
 
I'm gonna buy her pretty presents,
Just like the ones in the catalog.
Gonna show her how much I lover her 
Let her know that one way or the other,
Our love's gonna be written down in history 
Just like Romeo and Juliet
 
Right now I'm speculating,
Wonder what to morrow's gonna really bring.
If I don't find work tomorrow
It's gonna be heartaches and sorrow,
Our love's gonna be destroyed by a tragedy
Just like Romeo and Juliet
 
Talk about love and romance,
Just wait till I get myself straight.
I'm gonna put Romeo's fame right smack dab outta date.
 
Finding a job tomorrow morning,
Got a little something I want to do.
Gonna buy something I can ride in
Take my girl dating at the drive-in,
Our love's gonna be written down in history
Just like Romeo and Juliet