| abstract
| - %22Stupid Cupid%22 is a song written by Howard Greenfield and Neil Sedaka which became a hit for Connie Francis in 1958. In the spring of 1958 Francis had hit No. 4 with her breakout hit, a rock ballad version of the standard %22Who's Sorry Now?%22. The similarly-styled follow-up %22I'm Sorry I Made You Cry%22 had barely reached the Top 40 and Francis recalls: %22I 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.%22 Eventually Don Kirshner of Aldon Music had Greenfield and Sedaka, who were staff writers for Aldon, visit Francis at her home to pitch their songs; after listening to a number of ballads — which both Francis and her visitor Bobby Darin felt were too sophisticated to appeal to the teen market — Francis asked if the songwriters had %22something a little more lively%22 and Greenfield asked Sedaka to play %22Stupid Cupid%22, an uptempo number intended for the Shepherd Sisters. Sedaka objected that Francis, a %22classy lady%22, would be insulted to be pitched such a puerile song; but Greenfield dismissed Sedaka's objection, saying, %22What have we got to lose, she hates everything we wrote, doesn't she? Play it already!%22 After hearing only a few lines Francis recalls: %22I started jumping up and down and I said, 'That's it! You guys got my next record!'%22Francis cut %22Stupid Cupid%22 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 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 %22Carolina Moon%22 recorded at Metropolitan Studio that 9 June with Kraft producing and Joe Lipman conducting was utilized as the B-side. %22Stupid Cupid%22 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 via %22My Happiness%22.In the UK Singles Chart Francis had made more chart impact than in the US with both %22Who's Sorry Now?%22 (No. 1) and %22I'm Sorry I Made You Cry%22 (No. 11). This trend continued with %22Stupid Cupid%22 which, as a double sided hit with %22Carolina Moon%22, 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.Neil Sedaka, the original writer of the song, recorded his own version in 1959, and it saw a single release in Italy on the RCA Italiana label.
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