# Songwriter Ellie Greenwich Dead **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 27, 2009, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-ellie-greenwich-dead/507852 "2009-08-27T00:38:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-ellie-greenwich-dead/507852/1 "2009-08-27T00:38:15Z")
[http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/08/26/be-my-baby-songwriter-ellie-greenwich-dead-at-68/](http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/08/26/be-my-baby-songwriter-ellie-greenwich-dead-at-68/) I’m not sure what she died of. Just found out. She wrote some of my favorite songs of all time–“Be My Baby,” “Da Doo Run Run,” “River Deep, Mountain High,” and many others. Bad year for those associated with the Wall of Sound, with Estelle Bennett dying earlier this year and Phil Spector being convicted of murder and all. RIP Ellie. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-ellie-greenwich-dead/507852/2 "2009-08-27T00:48:18Z")
Great music, great songs. RIP. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-ellie-greenwich-dead/507852/3 "2009-08-27T01:15:12Z")
Yeah, heard this on NPR radio on the way home. My generation. > **[Legendary '60s Songwriter Ellie Greenwich Dies](https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112264404)** > > Together with then-husband Jeff Barry, Greenwich wrote some of the biggest hits of the 1960s. "Be My Baby," "Then He Kissed Me" and "Da Do Ron Ron" were among their chart-toppers. Greenwich, who died Wednesday, worked with record producer Phil... I think you can click on live links to hear snippets of the songs. Holy crap! You can watch youtube links of entire performances! Crystals! Shangri Las! ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-ellie-greenwich-dead/507852/4 "2009-08-27T01:27:23Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Bad year for those associated with the Wall of Sound, with Estelle Bennett dying earlier this year and Phil Spector being convicted of murder and all. No shit; don’t forget [Larry Knechtel](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=529316). Rest in peace, Ellie. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-ellie-greenwich-dead/507852/5 "2009-08-27T01:56:59Z")
Her true talent was alliteration _Doo Wha Diddy Diddy Da Doo Ron Ron Hanky Panky Sugar Sugar Jingle Jangle Chip Chip Bang Shang A Lang Sha Na Boom Boom Skooby Do_ ---
**Author:** ![ministryman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-ellie-greenwich-dead/507852/6 "2009-08-27T13:40:11Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > [http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/08/26/be-my-baby-songwriter-ellie-greenwich-dead-at-68/](http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/08/26/be-my-baby-songwriter-ellie-greenwich-dead-at-68/) > > I’m not sure what she died of. Just found out. She wrote some of my favorite songs of all time–“Be My Baby,” “Da Doo Run Run,” “River Deep, Mountain High,” and many others. > > Bad year for those associated with the Wall of Sound, with Estelle Bennett dying earlier this year and Phil Spector being convicted of murder and all. > > RIP Ellie. ☹ You forgot\* “Chapel of Love”\*. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-ellie-greenwich-dead/507852/7 "2009-08-27T14:54:22Z")
I confess to having never heard of her until hearing the obituary story on NPR last night. But, heck yeah, I know her music. Truly a very talented person. ---
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-ellie-greenwich-dead/507852/8 "2009-08-27T15:42:38Z")
Very sad, a tremendous songwriter. And a pretty good singer - her 1965 recording of “[You Don’t Know](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnjwcKm83Ic)” is terrific. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-ellie-greenwich-dead/507852/9 "2009-08-28T21:14:26Z")
> [@ministryman](#): > > ☹ > > You forgot\* “Chapel of Love”\*. It was the processional at my wife’s and my wedding sung by a full chorus. It was beautiful. So many of her songs meant a lot to my generation, but that one - my wife and I still stop and sing and dance along whenever we hear it. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-ellie-greenwich-dead/507852/10 "2009-08-29T19:56:25Z")
I was rewatching [some of this documentary](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACrvEs-GbmA&feature=PlayList&p=2B257ADCCC253DC2&index=2) on youtube about the girl group sound of the sixties that features interviews with Ellie Greenwich along with others. (Well, half of the documentary is up, anyway.) Apparently a lot of her songs were turned into a show off Broadway about her life called Leader of the Pack, too, but it was before my time so I never got to see it. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriter-ellie-greenwich-dead/507852/11 "2009-08-29T23:39:33Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I was rewatching [some of this documentary](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACrvEs-GbmA&feature=PlayList&p=2B257ADCCC253DC2&index=2) on youtube about the girl group sound of the sixties that features interviews with Ellie Greenwich along with others. (Well, half of the documentary is up, anyway.) > > Apparently a lot of her songs were turned into a show off Broadway about her life called Leader of the Pack, too, but it was before my time so I never got to see it. Thanks for sharing and finding that. I missed it the first time around. Fascinating.