The Shirelles: Will You Love Me Tomorrow

Square

The quintessential one-night stand song, and one of my very favourites. (Although the title is a question it never has a question mark, and many versions give it as ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow’ as per the lyrics.) It was written by husband and wife team Gerry Goffin and Carole King and recorded in 1960 by the Shirelles. It topped the charts in the US, the first song by a black all-girl group to do so. In Britain it got to No 4 in early 1961.

Here is a live performance from 1964. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO1Jq-LtdSY

In 1971 Carole King recorded a different tempo version for her album Tapestry, with Joni Mitchell and James Taylor performing background vocals.

This is a live performance.

There are loads of other cover versions, most of which, unlike King, add little or nothing to the original, with the possible exception of the tragic Amy Winehouse in 2004.

Comment

One Reply to “The Shirelles: Will You Love Me Tomorrow”

  1. Great song.

    Carole King was on “Later” a few years back, playing live. It was a superb episode of the show, I think she performed this song.

    In my estimation Amy Winehouse was one of the great female voices of recent years, and her music is of a genre I call “Sixties music not made in the ’60s”. I saw her in concert and can vouch for her greatness. It’s a tragedy that she was born into this horrible dope and tattoo culture. If the drug laws were properly enforced she would be still alive. She may not have died directly from a drug overdose, but years of drug taking had destroyed her mind, her habits and behaviour, and her outlook. Same thing happened to Nick Drake.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *