"Foolish Little Girl" is a song written by Helen Miller and Howard Greenfield and performed by The Shirelles. The song reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, #9 on the R&B chart, and #38 on the UK Singles Chart in 1963.^[1] The song appeared on their 1963 album, Foolish Little Girl.^[2] The song was ranked #57 on Billboard magazine's Top Hot 100 songs of 1963.^[3]

Rival or cover versions of the original song were released by several groups that same year including Clara Wilson (aka Alpha Zoe Hall)^[4] and The Cleftones (April 1963), Don Mercedes (July 15, 1963), The Chiffons (September 1963), the father and four son Filipino group The Rocky Fellers (1963), and The Cookies (1963). Two additional covers were recorded decades later by Shirley "Lady Rose" Alston (1977) and Dionne Bromfield (October 12, 2009).^[5]

Background

Cash Box described it as "a most attractive, easy beat cha cha romancer."^[6] The song released as a single was a demo recorded at Associated Studios in NYC on 7th Avenue. The plan was to re record the song at the studios Scepter Records had access to at the time, but when their attempts at re recording the song at their studios proved to be unsatisfactory, Luther Dixon sent out The Shirelles to record their vocals on the demo version of the song at Associated, and that was the version that was released as a single and that was the version that became a hit.

Personnel

Other versions

• French-Vietnamese singer Tiny Yong released a French language cover of the song, Tais-toi petite folle, in 1963.^[7]

• Jin sampled the song on his song "Foolish Little Girls" from his 2005 album, The Emcee's Properganda.
• Dionne Bromfield released a version on her 2009 album, Introducing Dionne Bromfield.

In media

• The song was used in Act II in the 2009 jukebox musical, Baby It's You!.

References