There are two vaguely irksome problems with “And Then He Kissed Me“, the 1963 doo-wop song that became legendary when Martin Scorsese used it to score the famous Copacabana tracking shot in Goodfellas.
The naive and drippy lyrics (written by Phil Spector, Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry) comprise irksome problem #1. Irksome problem #2 is the lead vocal track by the proficient Dolores “LaLa” Brooks, whose nasal singing style serves to underline the banality of the fairy tale that the song is selling.
But the arrangement by the legendary Jack Nitzche is rhapsodic and transportational — so much so that the song works better without the vocals. Not to mention the engineering by Larry “Wall of Sound” Levine. The song was recorded at Gold Star Studios (6252 Santa Monica Blvd., near Vine Street) in April 1963.
