"Remember Then" is a

pop song Pop music is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the ...

written by Tony Powers and

Beverly Ross Beverly Ross (September 5, 1934 – January 15, 2022) was an American songwriter and musician who co-wrote several successful pop songs in the 1950s and 1960s, including "Dim, Dim The Lights", " Lollipop" (which she also recorded as one half of ...

, and first recorded in 1962 by

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

vocal group

The Earls ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in En ...

. Original copies of The Earls' version, on the

Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins after thorough renovations. There are ma ...

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed d ...

, show only Powers as the writer, while some later versions give a writing or co-writing credit to

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

Stan Vincent. BMI lists all three as co-writers. In late 1962 and early 1963, the song spent nine weeks on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Hot 100, reaching No. 24, while reaching No. 29 on ''Billboard''s

Hot R&B Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart. The song has since become widely used by

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...

revival acts and remains well known for its chorus of "Re-meh-meh, re-meh-meh-mem-ber (oop-shoop) / Re-meh-meh, re-meh-meh-mem-ber (oop-shoop)...." Tony Powers later remembered the song being written with Ross (who also co-wrote the song "

Lollipop A lollipop is a type of sugar candy usually consisting of hard candy mounted on a stick and intended for sucking or licking. Different informal terms are used in different places, including lolly, sucker, sticky-pop, etc. Lollipops are av ...

"):Interview with Tony Powers, Rare Rockin' Records, 19 February 2011
Retrieved 14 March 2013

"Beverly and I made a plan to try and write something at her apartment between Broadway and 8th Avenue.... I remember sitting with her at the piano and just riffing on stuff... and somewhere in that process of tossing out ideas one of us must have hit on "Remember When" (its original title....). I'm sure the second we hit on the title we had the riff: "Re-meh-meh, Re-meh-meh-mem-ber, Re-meh-meh, Re-meh-meh-mem-ber, Re-meh-meh, Re-meh-meh-mem-ber, When, When, Remember when..." Either she started the music lick, or I started the lyric lick, or vice-versa...and off we went...once we had that the song just basically wrote itself. Beverly was doing business with
Aaron Schroeder Aaron Harold Schroeder (September 7, 1926 – December 2, 2009) was an American songwriter and music publisher. Early years Born in Brooklyn, Schroeder graduated from the school now known as the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art ...
at his January Music, so we brought the song there, he loved it, got it to
Hy Weiss Hyman Y. "Hy" Weiss (February 12, 1923 – March 20, 2007) was an American record producer of pop and rhythm and blues music in the 1950s and 1960s, and the founder of Old Town Records. Biography Born to a Jewish family in Cuca, Argeș County ...
, and that was that. What I do remember vividly though was walking in Central Park after it hit the charts and passing someone with a radio... and "Remember When" was playing...that was the very first time I ever heard a song of mine being played over the air...wow!"

A commercially unsuccessful British

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 relea ...

was released in 1963 by Jimmy Powell. The song was also recorded by American rock and roll group

Sha Na Na Sha Na Na was an American rock and roll doo-wop group. Formed in 1969, but performing a song-and-dance repertoire based on 1950s hit songs, it simultaneously revived and parodied the music and the New York street culture of the 1950s. After ga ...

in 1969, and by British group

Showaddywaddy Showaddywaddy are a rock and roll group from Leicester, England. They specialise in revivals of hit songs from the 1950s and early 1960s, while also issuing original material. Showaddywaddy spent 209 weeks on the UK Singles Chart, and had 10 ...

in 1979."Remember Then" at SecondhandSongs.com
Retrieved 14 March 2013 Showaddywaddy's version reached no. 17 on the

UK singles chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. The Wizards, a shortlived doo-wop group featuring Joel Katz, recorded a cover version around 1981/1982. This song was featured in the 1993 film ''

Bronx Tale ''A Bronx Tale'' is a 1993 American coming-of-age crime film directed by and starring Robert De Niro in his directorial debut and produced by Jane Rosenthal, adapted from Chazz Palminteri's 1989 play of the same name. It tells the coming of age ...

''.

References

{{Reflist 1962 singles Showaddywaddy songs Songs written by Tony Powers Songs written by Beverly Ross 1962 songs Torch songs