Barry McGuire’s ‘Eve of Destruction‘ returned to the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of September 21, 1965. At #2 was The McCoys’ recording of ‘Hang On Sloopy,’ a song that would reach the top spot the following week.
This song was originally released a year earlier as ‘My Girl Sloopy’ by the R&B group The Vibrations. It was written by Bert Berns and Wes Farrell. Berns is also a co-writer of ‘Twist and Shout,’ and you can hear echoes of that song in this one.
In 1965, rock bands The Strangeloves and The Dave Clark Five both expressed interest in recording the track. The Strangeloves were still enjoying the success of their single ‘I Want Candy’ and wanted to wait before releasing another one. So to beat The Dave Clark Five to the punch, they recruited young singer Rick Zehringer, leader of a band called Rick and the Raiders, to record vocals over their backing track.
The resulting tune was released by The McCoys (a renamed Rick and the Raiders, afraid of confusion with Paul Revere & The Raiders) and became the band’s first and only #1 hit.
The titular Sloopy is believed to be Dorothy Sloop, a jazz singer and Ohio University student. The song became a staple of the Ohio University marching band and is considered the state’s official rock song.
Hang on, Sloopy
Sloopy, hang on
Hang on, Sloopy
Sloopy, hang on
[Verse 1]
Sloopy lives in a very bad part of town
And everybody, yeah, tries to put my Sloopy down
Sloopy, I don’t care what your daddy do
‘Cause you know, Sloopy, girl, I’m in love with you
[Chorus]
And so I say now, hang on, Sloopy
Sloopy, hang on
Hang on, Sloopy
Sloopy, hang on
[Interlude]
Yeah (Yeah), yeah (yeah)
Give it to ’em, right now!
[Verse 2]
Sloopy, let your hair down, girl (Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Let it hang down on me
Sloopy, let your hair down, girl (Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Let it hang down on me, yeah, yeah
[Bridge]
Come on, Sloopy (Come on, come on)
Well, come on, Sloopy (Come on, come on)
Well, come on, Sloopy (Come on, come on)
Well, come on, Sloopy (Come on, come on)
Well, it feels so good (Come on, come on)
You know it feels so good (Come on, come on)
Uh, shake it, shake it, shake it, Sloopy (Come on, come on)
Uh, shake it, shake it, shake it, yeah (Come on, come on)
[Chorus]
Hang on, Sloopy
Sloopy, hang on (Yeah yeah, yeah yeah, yeah yeah)
Hang on, Sloopy
Sloopy, hang on (Yeah yeah, yeah yeah, yeah yeah)
[Refrain]
Hang on, Sloopy
Sloopy, hang on
Meet Me In Montauk 
Nice for Sloopy to live on in infamy.😉
The singer you referenced in the blog as Rick Zehringer (which was indeed his given name, according to Wikipedia) changed his name to Rick Derringer and achieved a reasonable amount of success working with both Johnny and Edgar Winter, where he wrote the immortal “Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo”, a staple of jukeboxes in bars in the 70’s and 80’s – or so I’m told…..also worked with a number of other interesting musicians, including Steely Dan, Meat Loaf, Cyndi Lauper. He passed away in May of this year.