"Stupid Cupid" is a song written by Howard Greenfield and

Neil Sedaka Neil Sedaka (; born March 13, 1939) is an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Since his music career began in 1957, he has sold millions of records worldwide and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collabo ...

that became a hit for

Connie Francis Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero ( ; born December 12, 1937), known as Connie Francis, is a retired American Pop music, pop singer, actress, and top-charting female vocalist of the late 1950s and early 1960s. She is estimated to have sold more th ...

in 1958.

Recording history

After almost three years of failure, Connie Francis finally had a hit in the spring of 1958 with a rock ballad version of the standard " Who's Sorry Now?". Unfortunately, her next pair of singles were less successful. ''I'm Sorry I Made You Cry'' only reached #36 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and ''Heartaches'' failed to chart at all. Francis recalls: "I knew I had to come up with a hit on the third record. It was crucial. I listened to every publisher's song in New York, but nothing was hitting me." Eventually

Don Kirshner Donald Kirshner (April 17, 1934 – January 17, 2011) was an American music publisher, music consultant, rock music producer, talent manager, and songwriter. Dubbed "the Man with the Golden Ear" by ''Time'', he was best known for managin ...

of Aldon Music had Greenfield and Sedaka, who were staff writers for Aldon, visit Francis at her home to pitch their songs, but she and close friend

Bobby Darin Bobby Darin (born Walden Robert Cassotto; May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor who performed Pop music, pop, Swing music, swing, Folk music, folk, rock and roll, and country music. Darin started ...

argued that the slow, dense ballads they were offering didn't appeal to the teenager market. Francis asked if they had something faster and bouncier. Greenfield asked Sedaka to play "Stupid Cupid", an uptempo number intended for the Shepherd Sisters. Sedaka objected that Francis, a "classy lady," would be insulted to be pitched such a puerile song; but Greenfield dismissed Sedaka's objection, saying, "What have we got to lose, she hates everything we wrote, doesn't she? Play it already!" After hearing only a few lines Francis recalls: "I started jumping up and down and I said, 'That's it! You guys got my next record!'" Francis cut "Stupid Cupid" on 18 June 1958 at Metropolitan Studio (NYC); LeRoy Holmes conducted the orchestra while Morty Kraft produced the session. Noteworthy in the recording is the uncredited

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

work; a complex and energetic riff that has survived the decades and has proven to be one of early rock and roll's best recorded bass guitar sessions. A version of " Carolina Moon" recorded at Metropolitan Studio that 9 June with Kraft producing and Joe Lipman conducting was utilized as the B-side. "Stupid Cupid" provided a reasonably strong comeback vehicle for Francis reaching the Top 15 that August with a ''Billboard'' Hot 100 peak of #14. Francis would have to wait until 1959 to make her return to the Top 10 with " My Happiness". In the UK Singles Chart Francis had made more chart impact than in the US with both "Who's Sorry Now?" (No. 1) and "I'm Sorry I Made You Cry" (No. 11). This trend continued with "Stupid Cupid" which, as a double sided hit with " Carolina Moon", spent six weeks at No. 1. Francis would remain a potent UK chart force for the next four years with fifteen Top Twenty singles, eight of them Top Ten, but she would never again reach the top of the UK Singles Chart despite topping the US charts three times in the early 1960s.

, one of the song's co-writers, recorded his own version in 1959, and it saw a single release in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

on the RCA Italiana label.

Other versions

Patsy Cline Patsy Cline (born Virginia Patterson Hensley; September 8, 1932 – March 5, 1963) was an American singer. One of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century, she was known as one of the first country music artists to successfully Cross ...

sang the song on stage. The song is featured on her posthumous albums ''Live Volume 2'' and '' Live at the Cimarron Ballroom''. Maureen Evans made her first known recording with a 1958 cover of "Stupid Cupid"/ "Carolina Moon" cut for the

Embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a Sovereign state, state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase ...

label which produced soundalike versions of current hits for Woolworths to sell at lower price than the original hit.

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

included "Stupid Cupid" in the rock 'n' roll medleys in their live shows during the 1970s, including the concert released on '' Live at the Rainbow '74''.

Japanese idol An is a type of entertainer marketed for image, attractiveness, and personality in Japanese popular culture, Japanese pop culture. Idols are primarily singers with training in other performance skills such as acting, dancing, and modeling. Idol ...

trio Candies covered the song on their 1973 album '' Abunai Doyōbi: Candies no Sekai''. In 1982, Taiwanese singer Fong Fei-fei released a version of the song which she entitled "Another Kind of Confession" (另一種表白). "Stupid Cupid" has also been recorded by

Wanda Jackson Wanda LaVonne Jackson (born October 20, 1937) is an American retired singer and songwriter. Since the 1950s, she has recorded and released music in the genres of Rock music, rock, Country music, country and Gospel music, gospel. She was among th ...

, by Jo Wyatt (of Minipops) whose 1982 version reached #1 in France''Whatever Happened to the Minipops?'' Channel 4 and #45 in the Netherlands, and by

Mandy Moore Amanda Leigh "Mandy" Moore (born April 10, 1984) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She rose to fame with her 1999 debut single "Candy (Mandy Moore song), Candy", which peaked at number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot ...

for ''The Princess Diaries'' soundtrack, and in the motion picture, for her character Lana Thomas sings. Danny Mann ( de) recorded the German language rendering "Sexie Hexy" in 1958 while the Portuguese rendering: "Estúpido Cupido", recorded by Brazilian singer Celly Campello, was the #1 single in Brazil for the year 1959. Arja Koriseva featured a Finnish rendering of "Stupid Cupid": "Tuttu juttu", on her 1990 self-titled album. In 2003, Jordan McCoy performed the song on '' American Juniors''. The song was included in the Korean musical drama ''What's Up!'', released in 2011. Kim Ji-won's character Park Tae Yi performed the song as she told Lim Ju-hwan's character the story of how her parents met. The song recurs several times more throughout the remainder of the episodes. The Mandy Moore version of this song is also a part of North America's version of '' Donkey Konga'', released for the

Nintendo GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the su ...

in 2003-2004.

References

{{Authority control 1958 singles Disney songs UK singles chart number-one singles Connie Francis songs Neil Sedaka songs Mandy Moore songs Songs written by Neil Sedaka Songs with lyrics by Howard Greenfield 1958 songs RCA Records singles Brill Building songs Cupid in music MGM Records singles

Recording history

Other versions

See also

References