Hey Paula by Paul & Paula

Album: The Best Of Paul & Paula (1962)

Charted: 8 1

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Songfacts®:

Paul and Paula were Ray Hildebrand and Jill Jackson, who were students at Howard Payne College in Brownwood, Texas. Hildebrand wrote the song.

When the duo sang this on a local radio show, it got a great response and led to a record deal. The first version of the song was credited to "Jill & Ray," but it became clear that for the sake of authenticity, the duo should be known as Paul & Paula. They had 2 more US Top 40 hits: "Young Lovers" and "First Quarrel." >>>
Suggestion credit:
Bertrand - Paris, France
This led to a slew of duets in the mid-'60s where the couple appeared to be professing their love for each other. The most famous of these was "I Got You Babe," but Motown Records also jumped on the trend by pairing Marvin Gaye with Tammi Terrell.
This is featured in the 1978 comedy Animal House. Boon and Katy (Peter Riegert and Karen Allen) sing it to each other after smoking pot at their professor's (Donald Sutherland) house.

Comments: 7

Malcolm from San FranciscoI went to the Limbo Party with my parents in 1963. I was only 11. I managed to sneak backstage and met Paul and Paula. They wore matching peach colored outfits. They seemed rather nervous. I also met Lou Christie and the Olympics.

On August 19, 1964 I saw the Beatles at the Cow Palace. Boy was the audience charged up. That was like being inside a nuclear explosion compared to the Limbo Party!
Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn March 2nd 1963, a rock 'n roll show titled 'Limbo Party' was held at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, CA...
One of the eight* acts appearing on the show was Paul and Paula; at the time the duo's "Hey Paula" was at #3 on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; the week before it was in its last of three weeks at #1 and spent 15 weeks on the Top 100 {See fourth post below}...
* the other acts were the Four Seasons, Marvin Gaye, the Crystals, Lou Christie, Dick & Dee Dee, Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, and Chubby Checker {who hosted the show}.
Babbling Babette from Tulsa OkOh I remember this #1 hit from 1963. It was sweet pop music & pretty tame. Surprisingly, my brother liked it enough that he & his football buddies went to a Paul & Paula concert that year. Not me. I preferred REAL rock & roll or the rockin' dance-craze & party hits of the times. At the time, I heard that Ray up and abandoned Jill in mid-tour. What a scumbag! Kids in school thought he wasn't much of a man for doing that. I realize the song was popular enough to hit #1 & Paul and Paula's only records were all in 1963. Then, as we know, the music scene changed forever in early 1964 with The Beatles.
Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn June 26th 1963, Paul and Paula performed "First Quarrel" on the ABC-TV program 'American Bandstand'...
One month earlier on May 26th, 1963 it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #90; and on June 30th, four days after their appearance on 'Bandstand', it peaked at #27 (for 1 week) and spent 8 weeks on the Top 100...
It was the duo's third charted record; it followed "Hey Paula" and "Young Lovers"...
They had two more records make the Top 100; "Something Old, Something New" (#77 in 1963) and "First Day Back At School" (#60 in 1963).
Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn February 10th 1963, the records at #2 and #3 on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart both had the word 'Walk' as the first word in the song's title...
At #2 was "Walk Right In" by the Rooftop Singers (it was in its 2nd week at #2)
And at #3 was "Walk Like A Man" by the Four Seasons (it was up from #6)...
The #1 record was "Hey! Paula" by Paul and Paula.
Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn January 18th 1963, Paul and Paula performed "Hey Paula" on the ABC-TV program 'American Bandstand'...
One month earlier on December 23rd, 1962 it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; and on February 3rd, 1963 it peaked at #1 (for 3 weeks) and spent 15 weeks on the Top 100 (and 9 of those 15 weeks was on the Top 10)...
And on February 17th, 1963 it also reached #1 (for 2 weeks) on Billboard's Hot R&B Singles chart...
On the Top 100 chart it had spent three weeks at #2 before moving into the top spot...
The duo had one other Top 10 record, "Young Lovers", it peaked at #6 (for 1 week) on April 14th, 1963...
Ray 'Paul' Hildebrand celebrated his 73nd birthday one month ago on December 21st (2013) and Jill 'Paula' Jackson will turn 72 years old in four months on May 20th (2014).
Coy from Palestine, TxOriginally recorded for a Cancer benefit, Major Smith, the famous record company owner and con man out of Fort Worth heard the song and got Hildebrand and Jackson to change their real names to stage names: Paul and Paula. Hildebrand hated the rock and roll lifestyle and quit the duo in the middle of a tour on the Dick Clark Caravan of Stars and left "Paula" high and dry. Another "Paul" was found to fill in and since the stars lip synced on these shows no one knew the difference. The record was a huge smash and sold over 2 million copies.

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