#1 for weeks of January 12 and 19th, 1963.
Looking through the list of Billboard #1's for 1963, there are quite a few songs I've never heard of before. This could mean one of two things: One being that these are good songs that time forgot, or they are songs that deserve to stay buried beneath more well-known tunes from that year. Steve Lawrence's "Go Away Little Girl" falls somewhere in both of those categories.
First the good, this song was composed by famed Brill Building songwriting duo Gerry Goffin and Carole King, and this shows in the arrangement and music. Steve Lawrence sings the song in a double tracked vocal (two vocals sung together to give the song a reverb effect), and occasionally there are some nice harmonies that come out of that vocal trick.
Also, as the song progresses it changes key several times. I found the final part of the song to be the most enjoyable as Steve belted out the notes with more energy than before. Musically the song is very much a soft-pop orchestrated ballad although there's a nice piano undertone throughout the song. The whistling in the midsection is a bit too much, although I'm at least glad he didn't do a spoken word soliloquy instead!
However, a nice vocal and decent arrangement can't help this song escape from the fact that it is extremely dated. There is no way in today's society that a man pushing 30 years old would be able to release a song with these lyrics and not have people accuse him of being a creep.
It was only in these benign times that lyrics like this could be taken for what they were actually worth - A young man telling a girl his age that he doesn't want to see her anymore - and people would actually understand his intentions. Regardless, the song is a more low-key entry and although I found it to be a bit sleepy, the song gets better as it goes on.
Final Verdict - This song is somewhat uncomfortably dated lyrically and musically it's a bit too gentle. However, unless you have an aversion to softer music, I'm sure you'll find it to be a decent song.
Coming Up Next - "Walk Right In" by The Rooftop Singers.
Until Next Time, Don't go away, I'm Dr. Rock -
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