Remember (Walking in the Sand)“, also known as “Remember“, is a song written by George ‘Shadow’ Morton. It originally was recorded by the Shangri-Las, who had a top five hit with it in 1964. Morton was looking to break into the music business, and went to the Brill Building in New York City to see an old girlfriend, Ellie Greenwich, who had become a successful pop songwriter. Morton and Greenwich’s writing partner Jeff Barry took a dislike to one another. Asked what he did for a living, Morton replied “I write songs”, although he had never written one. When Barry asked him what kind, Morton retorted, “Hit songs!” Barry said he would love to hear one of Morton’s tunes, and invited him to come back the following week with something.
Morton hired the Shangri-Las, a teenage group from Queens, New York to sing. Realizing that he did not have a song yet, he immediately wrote “Remember (Walking in the Sand)”. There are several stories as to how it was written. One is that immediately upon his realization of not having a song, he parked next to a beach on Long Island and there wrote the song. The song contains recurring seagulls-and-surf sound effects. He used the Shangri-Las on the demo, which he produced. (A not-yet-famous Billy Joel is said by Morton to have played the piano chords that open the song.)
Jeff Barry was impressed and Red Bird Records picked up the song for release and signed Morton and the Shangri-Las to contracts. According to some accounts, the original version was nearly seven minutes long. In order to fit the AM radio format of the time, the song had to be cut in length, but rather than edit it, Morton simply faded it out after 2:10. In another version Morton presents the demo to various Red Bird staffers, Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, Artie Butler and others and they and some session musicians took the demo into the studio where it became, “a whole other record.”
The song was released as the third single by the Shangri-Las, their first on Red Bird Records, and became a number five hit on the Billboard, and number nine on the Cashbox R&B chart. It hit number 14 on the UK Singles Chart and became more successful in the UK when reissued on several occasions in the 1970s. Cash Box described it as “a hauntingly plaintive pop-r&b romancer with an off-beat rapidly-changing, hard-shufflin’ beat.” The Shangri-Las’ recording placed #395 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list in 2004. Billboard named the song No. 26 on its list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time.
In the early 1970s, Buddah Records released a “Radio Active Gold” oldies 45 containing an undubbed version of the demo (no echo or sound effects). This version is timed at 2:17, and the intro is the “Remember…” chorus without Mary Weiss’ lead vocal. This version (the technical term for it is an underdub) first appeared on a 1969 Buddah compilation album titled Incense and Oldies, along with an alternate version of “Give Him a Great Big Kiss”.
Aerosmith released a rock-oriented version of the song, featuring uncredited backing vocals by Mary Weiss of the Shangri-Las as a single in 1979. Released on Columbia Records it was taken from the group’s sixth studio album Night in the Ruts and was also included on their Greatest Hits album. Aerosmith’s cover was co-produced by Gary Lyons. It charted on the Billboard at number 67. It also peaked at number 29 on the Canadian RPM singles chart in March 1980. In 1979, Louise Goffin released a remake of the song on her debut album Kid Blue. That version reached No. 43 on the Billboard. The Beach Boys covered the song in their 1992 poorly received album Summer in Paradise. Amy Winehouse covered part of the pre-chorus when singing “Back to Black” during live shows.
