Red Rubber Ball
"Red Rubber Ball" is a pop song that became a hit (going to #2 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and hitting #1 in Canadian RPM 100 national singles chart) in the 1966 version recorded by The Cyrkle.
The song is sung from the perspective of a man who has recently exited an unfulfilling relationship in which his significant other never gave him much attention or affection. He now looks forward to the future with a positive attitude.
It was co-written by Paul Simon (of Simon and Garfunkel) and Bruce Woodley (of The Seekers). According to Cyrkle guitarist Tom Dawes, Simon offered it to The Cyrkle when they were opening for Simon and Garfunkel on tour. The song's tracks were recorded in stereo, with the bass, lead guitar, and percussion on the right track, acoustic guitar and electric organ on left, and the vocals on both.
The Seekers also recorded "Red Rubber Ball" for their 1966 album Come the Day (US-title: Georgy Girl). It also appears on 'Disc Three – 1966 – 1967' of the CD box set The Seekers Complete.
At "Music Notes", the sheet music for "Red Rubber Ball", for the album Simon and Garfunkel – Old Friends, also credits the songwriters as Paul Simon and Bruce Woodley
In an interview on The Colbert Report, Paul Simon said he wrote "Red Rubber Ball" while living in England to get a £100 advance from The Seekers. This came in response to Colbert's request for a song that was "on the cusp" and barely made it into his songbook Lyrics 1964–2008.
Read more about Red Rubber Ball: Cover Versions
Famous quotes containing the words red, rubber and/or ball:
“What blazed ahead of you? A faked road block?
The red lamp swung, the sudden brakes and stalling
Engine, voices, heads hooded and the cold-nosed gun?”
—Seamus Heaney (b. 1939)
“The idea that information can be stored in a changing world without an overwhelming depreciation of its value is false. It is scarcely less false than the more plausible claim that after a war we may take our existing weapons, fill their barrels with cylinder oil, and coat their outsides with sprayed rubber film, and let them statically await the next emergency.”
—Norbert Wiener (1894–1964)
“‘Throw down the ball, ye Jew’s daughter,
Throw down the ball to me!’
‘Never a bit,’ says the Jew’s daughter,
‘Till up to me come ye.’”
—Unknown. Hugh of Lincoln (l. 13–16)