Single:
Gloria entered the Australian singles chart* on 8 January 1966 and peaked at #22.
Songwriter:
Van Morrison
Producer:
Dick Rowe
Record label of Australian release:
Decca
*Kent Music Report / Australian Chart Book. See About.
Songfacts:
Them was a garage band from Belfast. Gloria was written by Van Morrison, who was their lead singer. The song is about a girl who comes by for (presumably) sexual encounters.
The recorded version is a tidy two and a half minutes with nothing explicit, but when Them (and later The Doors) would perform the song live, it often became an extended jam with Morrison going into more graphic, spoken-word detail about the encounter. Anyone who wondered just what happened when a groupie came by to see a willing rock star was given a first-hand account.
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/them/gloria
Lyrics:
Like to tell you ’bout my baby
You know she comes around
She about five feet four
From her head to the ground
Click for full lyrics
This song is also on our Spotify playlist Bang a Gong – the 60s
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