'Sloopy' Hangs On: How a Latin-R&B Song Became a Pop-Rock Anthem

'HANG ON SLOOPY' is one of the dozen or so songs (along with 'Wild Thing,' 'Gloria,' 'Louie Louie,' 'Twist and Shout,' 'Hey Joe') that make up the essential rock canon, but it came awfully close to slipping away. Bert Berns and Wes Farrell wrote 'My Girl Sloopy,' a tale of love – or at least lust – triumphing over differences in economic status, in Berns's office at 1650 Broadway.