One of the more surprising number ones of the decade, 'Hey Girl, Don't Bother Me' was originally a minor US hit for The Tams in 1964, but it's sudden UK popularity some seven years later defies all reason. True, they'd hit the top 40 the previous year with 'Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy', but that was a tune popular with the fans of the then Northern Soul scene; you'd need to be popping some pretty powerfull uppers to cut a rug to 'Hey Girl'.Slow and grinding, there's a gritty feel to 'Hey Girl', the rawness of a live, one take recording that nobody bothered to tart up with studio trickery afterwards. Joe Pope's lead vocal could have been lifted directly off one of Alan Lomax's field recordings and a starker contrast with the previous number one you couldn't hope to find. But alas, what it gains in authenticity it loses in its subject matter.
'Hey Girl' gives more than a passing nod to Ben E King's 'Stand By Me' in style and structure, but instead of the lifetime of love and devotion King was advocating, Joe is being given the come on for a quickie by the local good time girl. He tries to convince us (and himself) that he wants no part of it, but any fule kno he's just dying to jump in the sack with her; the old dog goes from "Stay out of my arms, don't try to use your charms" to "You look so fine, and you're so hard to resist" in a heartbeat, while around him the rest of the band repeat the mantra of title refrain as if all five are lining up with their pants 'round their ankles, waiting for a go themselves.
Sex without love provides a curious subject matter for a number one, especially in a song where none of the characters comes out with much credit and the end product is a downbeat, slightly sleazy offering that makes you want to jump in the shower as soon as it's done. Telling too that their next (and only other) appearance in the UK charts was in 1987 with 'There Ain't Nothing Like Shaggin''. They just couldn't help themselves, could they?
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