Mecca (song)

"Mecca"
Single by Gene Pitney
from the album Gene Pitney Sings Just for You
B-side"Teardrop by Teardrop"
ReleasedMarch 1963
GenrePop
Length2:18
LabelMusicor
Songwriter(s)Neval Nader, John Gluck Jr.
Producer(s)Jerry Ragovoy
Gene Pitney singles chronology
"Half Heaven - Half Heartache"
(1962) 		"Mecca"
(1963) 		"True Love Never Runs Smooth"
(1963)

"Mecca" is a 1963 song which was a hit for Gene Pitney. It was the first release and greatest hit from his LP, Gene Pitney Sings Just for You.

Lyrics

The song starts with "I live on the west side, she lives on the east side of the street."[1] "Mecca," a city that most of the world is forbidden to visit,[2][3] symbolizes her side of the street, as the girl's parents forbid the pair to become romantically involved because of their young age.

Charts

In the U.S., "Mecca" peaked at #12 on the pop chart[4] and #4 Easy Listening.[5] It was a bigger hit in Australia, where it peaked at #7, and in Canada where it reached #2. The B-side, "Teardrop by Teardrop," charted at #130 on the Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart.

Chart history

Chart (1963) Peak
position
Australia - Music Maker 7
Canada - CHUM 2
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[6] 12
U.S. Billboard - Middle-Road Singles[7] 4
U.S. Cash Box Top 100 13

References

  1. ^ The New Yorker Volume 41, Part 1 - Page 78 "Then, a few years later (in a kind of pulsating weeper click with Casbah undertones), the urban East-West axis came under consideration, with Gene Pitney's “Mecca”: I live on the West side, She lives on the East side of the street."
  2. ^ Peters, Francis E. (1994). The Hajj: The Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca and the Holy Places. Princeton University Press. p. 206. ISBN 978-0-691-02619-0.
  3. ^ Esposito, John L. (2011). What everyone needs to know about Islam. Oxford University Press. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-19-979413-3. Mecca, like Medina, is closed to non-Muslims
  4. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition. Record Research. p. 493.
  5. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 189.
  6. ^ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  7. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 189.
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