"Quick Joey Small (Run Joey Run)," is a

bubblegum pop Bubblegum (also called bubblegum pop) is pop music in a catchy and upbeat style that is marketed for children and adolescents. The term also refers to a more specific rock and pop subgenre, originating in the United States in the late 1960s, th ...

ballad, written by Joey Levine and Artie Resnick and performed by the Kasenetz-Katz Singing Orchestral Circus. A

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

by Irish group The Real McCoy was a success in Ireland.

Lyrics

The lyrics describe a prisoner who escapes over a wall while weighed down with a ball and chain. He is pursued by a

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

with hounds. Joey Small's lover, Mary Jane, had sent him a file baked inside a cake; the song ends with the sheriff going to Mary Jane's house — what happens next is left ambiguous.

Song history

The version reached #25 in the US charts. A

by Irish

showband The Irish showband () was a dance band format popular in Ireland from the 1950s to the 1980s, with its peak in the 1960s. These bands typically had seven to ten members, including a rhythm section and a brass section with various combinations o ...

group Real McCoy was number one on the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are ...

for two weeks in January 1969. The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

was "Happiness Is Love" by Sons & Lovers.

References

External links

* * {{authority control Songs written by Joey Levine Songs written by Artie Resnick 1968 singles Bubblegum pop songs Buddah Records singles Irish Singles Chart number-one singles