SUNDAY REVIEW / MOTOWN'S ROLLING SHIMMER OF SOUND

“Then He Kissed Me” – The Crystals It was 1963. Maybe you were heading home after a late summer shift, the AM radio humming from the dashboard speaker, windows down, and the air thick with youth and gasoline. 

Then it came on. 🎵 “Well, he walked up to me and he asked me if I wanted to dance…” 🎵 

The beat. 

The harmony. 

That rolling shimmer of sound. Then He Kissed Me by The Crystals wasn’t just a song—it became a metaphor for the breathless rush toward and through first loves. 

 Put it up there in a Hall of Fame all its own or perhaps alone along side "I'm a Believer" by the Monkees or "This Could be the Last Time" by the Rolling Stones. 

 Can you hear the rolling thunder that propels Jimmy McGriff's organ riffs? 

Then He Kissed Me--produced by Phil Spector, the teenage anthem was built inside his echoing temple of tape and reverb known as the Wall of Sound. Layer upon layer of instruments, from castanets to bass, strings to cymbals, came together in perfect symmetry. 

Spector’s sonic method turned a simple girl-meets-boy lyric into pop music architecture—a cathedral of longing and joy. Written by the Brill Building trio of Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, and Spector himself, Then He Kissed Me is a blueprint of early '60s pop perfection. 

The Crystals, already riding high with hits like Da Doo Ron Ron, gave voice to the wide-eyed dreams of a generation. And lead singer Dolores "LaLa" Brooks (left) delivered the vocals with a breathless, almost cinematic sweetness that made listeners believe in every note. 

It’s been covered by everyone from The Beach Boys to Rachel Sweet, and it famously scored the opening Steadicam sequence in Goodfellas—a testament to its cool, enduring pulse. 

Back then, it was a love story told in under three minutes. Today, it’s nostalgia in motion. Click YouTube and listen again. You already know all the words.