Hang On Sloopy - History

History

In 1965, The Strangeloves, a rock band who purported to be from Australia, decided to make the song the follow-up to their hit single "I Want Candy", and began performing the song in concert. However, the Dave Clark Five, with whom they were touring, told the Strangeloves that they were going to record their own version of the song, copying the Strangeloves' arrangement. The Strangeloves realized that the Dave Clark Five's version would probably outsell their own, but they were still enjoying success with "I Want Candy" and did not want to release a new single yet. So the trio—who were, in reality, three successful writer/producers from Brooklyn, New York— recruited a group from Union City, Indiana, Rick and the Raiders, to record the song instead. The group's name was changed to The McCoys (to avoid confusion with another popular band of the era, Paul Revere and the Raiders), and their 16-year-old leader, Rick Zehringer, became known as Rick Derringer. The group added vocals and a guitar solo to the already-completed Strangeloves backing track, and the single was released on Bang Records. It entered the chart on August 14, 1965, effectively beating the Dave Clark Five to the charts. The single went on to hit number one on October 2.

Originally written and recorded with three verses, "Hang on Sloopy" was edited down to two verses for the single and original Hang on Sloopy album. The unedited three-verse version first appeared on the 1970 Bang various artists compilation Bang & Shout Super Hits (BLPS-220), then again in 1995 on the Sony Legacy compilation Hang on Sloopy: The Best Of The McCoys

The song gained an association with The Ohio State University after its marching band began playing it at football games; it first played it October 9, 1965 after a band member, John Tatgenhorst, begged the director to try playing it. After finally convincing the director, Tatgenhorst arranged the song and the band played. After the crowd reaction, the band began to play it at every game and now it is a Saturday tradition to play the song before the start of the fourth quarter of every Buckeye game. Since then, "Sloopy" has been appearing on the band's CDs and is available as a free download on its website.

A possible reason that John Tatgenhorst brought the song to the band was that he heard it played, over and over and over again at the CharBar, one of the most popular bars at OSU, just across the street from the main entrance to the campus at 17th and High St. A group of bar regulars led by Paul Svec (who lived behind the CharBar at the time) took advantage of the house rule that gave whoever placed a coin next to the juke box the right to play the next song. Paul organized hundreds of coins placed in a line on table tops all around the main floor of the bar so that "Hang on Sloopy" was played all day long. The song quickly became the most popular song on the CharBar juke box and at OSU.

The song has also become a feature at the home games of professional sports teams throughout Ohio where, as is the case at Ohio State, fans usually chant the letters "O, H, I, O" during the pauses in the chorus while mimicking the shape of the letters with their arms.

At least one source includes a possible connection between the song and Charles J. Givens.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band also covered this song live in concert on May 2, 2009 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Rick Derringer was still playing the song live with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band in November, 2011.