Ben King had gone solo, and Rudy Lewis took over lead vocal duties. Over the decades, nearly 60 singers came and went from the Drifters as they migrated from hard R&B to pop at Ahmet Ertegun’s Atlantic Records.
The song was written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, who were on a roll at this time, and it was produced by Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller, whom Ertegun had originally brought in to produce the Coasters.