composed by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, and George Morton
If the Shangri-Las were just a Svengali-driven pop act, then so were the Sex Pistols. Johnny Rotten did more actual songwriting than Mary Weiss, but copped no more attitude. He certainly understood their commonality and spent many years (and quid) beating Malcolm McLaren over the head with it. Also difficult for some to accept is that “Leader of the Pack” itself is as great a punk record as “I Wanna Be Your Dog” is. Shadow Morton supposedly dreamed up this ode to a biker boyfriend on the spot in the Red Bird offices when Barry and Greenwich were dubiously pressing him for new material. Morton got the green light only when he assured them that the biker dies. Which he does, but he is memorialized by a looped tire screech that extends all the way through the fade-out. Leading to that blaze of glory is Weiss' ur-teen narrative broken up by wickedly pointed commentary from the backing S-Las hitting in rapid-fire unison: “By the way, where’d ya meet him?” and What’d he mean when he said he comes from ‘the wrong side of town’?” Could poor Jimmy lead any pack if he had survived? Not likely.
Note: 25 secular essays (each one exactly 200 words long) about 25 songs, to appear one per day during Advent (or so) from Nov. 27 through Dec. 21.
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