My favourite record from the Sixties ... without doubt I GO TO PIECES by Peter & Gordon
Del Shannon was a wonderful songwriter
I Go to Pieces ... Peter & Gordon
I Go to Pieces
| "I Go to Pieces" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Peter & Gordon | ||||
| from the album I Go to Pieces (U.S.) | ||||
| B-side | "Love Me Baby" | |||
| Released | November 1964 (UK) December 1964 (US) | |||
| Recorded | 1964 Abbey Road Studios | |||
| Genre | Merseybeat | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Writer(s) | Del Shannon | |||
| Producer | John Burgess | |||
| Peter & Gordon singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
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[edit] Background and writing
Del Shannon had written "I Go to Pieces" for an R&B singer named Lloyd Brown whom Shannon discovered at a Michigan nightclub: Shannon arranged and produced Brown's recording but was unable to find a label interested in releasing the track. Shannon did attempt to himself record "I Go to Pieces" in the August 1964 session at Mira Sound Studios NYC which yielded Shannon's single "Do You Wanna Dance" and its B-side: "This is All I Have to Give"; however Shannon was unable to cut a satisfactory vocal of "I Go to Pieces" before the three hours booked for the session ran out."I Go to Pieces" passed to Peter and Gordon when that duo and Del Shannon shared the bill for a tour of Australia in the second half of 1964. Shannon played the Lloyd Brown recording of "I Go to Pieces" for the Searchers who were also on the tour and who Shannon hoped would want to record the song themselves. The Searchers were not interested in "I Go to Pieces" but Peter and Gordon heard the record and recognizing the song's potential to become a Merseybeat-style hit asked Shannon to let them record it. Peter and Gordon recorded "I Go to Pieces" at Abbey Road Studios with John Burgess producing; as well as Peter and Gordon themselves playing guitars the session featured Vic Flick on twelve string guitar.
[edit] Peter & Gordon
Released in the UK on 20 November 1964, "I Go to Pieces" became the second consecutive Peter and Gordon single to miss the UK Top 50 but like the preceding "Nobody I Know", despite missing the UK charts it became a hit in the US where the "British Invasion" craze was at its height in 1964-65. Released in the US in December 1964, "I Go to Pieces" entered the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100 that February. The title track of Peter and Gordon's third US album release, "I Go to Pieces" was cited in 1999 by Gordon Waller as his favorite of the duo's songs. Peter and Gordon's first three singles had all been Lennon–McCartney compositions; "I Go to Pieces" began a series of four single releases by the duo which were covers of American songs."I Go to Pieces" also gave Peter and Gordon a hit in Australia where as a double A-side with "Love Me Baby" the single reached #26.
Del Shannon did himself record "I Go to Pieces" at Bell Sound Studio NYC in March 1965; basing his version on the arrangement utilized by Peter and Gordon, Shannon's version of his own composition was effectively one of a number of covers of recent hits which comprised his album One Thousand Six Hundred Sixty One Seconds with Del Shannon. Shannon also sang on the remake of "I Go to Pieces" on the 1981 album Night Fades Away by Nils Lofgren.
Peter and Gordon reformed after a gap of 37 years to perform "I Go to Pieces" at the Mike Smith Tribute Concert at BB King's House of Blues in New York City on August 2, 2005.
[edit] Covers
"I Go to Pieces" was recorded in 1975 by Cotton Lloyd and Christian; this version - produced by group member Michael Lloyd with Mike Curb - reached #66 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was hit in the Netherlands at #17. In Australia this version reached #62.In 1979 Rachel Sweet recorded "I Go to Pieces", that track and "Sad Song" being recorded to augment Sweet's 1978 UK album release Fool Around for its US release. The new tracks were both produced by David Mackay and Barrie Guard; Sweet had wanted to work with Mackay on the basis of his work with Bonnie Tyler. "I Go to Pieces" was issued as the lead single for the US release of Fool Around in August 1979: the track did not chart in the US but did reach #39 in Australia.
In 1988, Nashville hit songwriter Dean Dillon had a #39 Billboard Country chart hit with "I Go To Pieces". That same year, Bobby Vinton released another Country version of the song on his "Bobby Vinton" album on Curb Records.
An a cappella version of "I Go to Pieces" was a C&W chart hit (#31) in 1990 for Southern Pacific.
"I Go to Pieces" has also been recorded by Guys Next Door and Colleen Peterson. A rendering in Italian as "Il mare non racconta mai" was a 1967 single release by
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