Added: 4 years ago
From: Brent441
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  • Eeeeeeeeeeeeecum!!! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeecum!

  • from now on i'll listen to this excellent song on a different channel so i don't have to deal with all the bullshyte about islam......................

  • Great song from the 60s!

  • Love it !

  • extraordinaria voz de nuestro idolo de todos los tiempos

  • I don't like the song so I don't listen to it, but I don't care about it all that much. I don't think it should be ban because Muslims would not listen to it.

  • Comment removed

  • Gene Pitney as a rock and roll person and the Kingston Trio singing folk were my musical beginnings. I had actually forgotten he had done this song until I found it on YouTube. What is this about 1960?

  • Islam is a religion will not be properly understood

    Mecca and did not touch the bad and all your words a lie

  • NOTE; Click on (show more -bar-) to see the LYRICS to this great song...Please let me know of any omissions or errors...Thank You...

  • Mecca n the birthplace of Mohammed, a place of pilgrimage for Muslims; a place heavily visited by, or wiyh a special attraction foa, a particular person or group, eg St Andrew as a Mecca for golfers.

  • Serbien General

  • So sad that he's gone, Rockville Connecticut is now a "Town without Pitney"

    Unless you were around in this era, you can't know how hard it was to get the lyrics on ancient AM Radios...We argued for hours about this song and others, like "Moody River"...it was just too fuzzy to understand sometimes...

    Dale in Alabama

  • we used to swoone over him. oh he was so handsome. A lot of us would have had his baby if he would have smiled at us....Rebecca Anne

  • One of my fave's among many by Pitney. He was the first to use this mid eastern background music and it paid off.

  • Gene Pitney was in my time a sad song singer.It was either a heart break song or a pain can't have song.But I loved his stylr and voice...Rebecca Anne..

  • @rebbeccanne The 60s had a lot of great rock and roll stars that specialized in sad songs, another one I'm sure you remember is Del Shannon.

  • Only her true spirit of her heart could sing that way...  thank u for responding!

  • When I was in high school in the early 70's ,a friend and I went to a girls

    house after school . There were a few girls there and we were listening to records

    One of them put this record on and did a little Egyptian dance , I feel in love with her

    right then! She had dark hair and had it in a poney tail. Too bad I never saw her again. I never saw anything so sensual up until that time. Now every time I hear this song

    I think of her!

  • @chuc555 coooool

  • @chuc555 What a MISS! I've been there, and again!! How I wish I had know what to say and what to do! I share your disappointment , and your JOY, for the memory of that beautiful girl!

  • Sorry about the spelling Professor but I was typing fast, NO I am not muslim but yes I have read it, if you had you'd know that Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Ishmael, John the Baptist, Jesus, Joseph and Mary are mentioned in it You think Mohammed got that direct from God? Christianity and Judism were a big influence on him he expexted to be the final prophet and to be accepted Actually I don't believe any of it, it's all myth Did you read the Koran? I doubt it but I read Mein Kampf too and I'm no nazi

  • I'm just saying I don't like censorship no matter who's doing it, yes the Muslims are the guilty party now at least for the most and I mean most part, I was just mentioning that censorship based on religion, or anything else, has been used for centuries including by Christians I agree with you on the Muslim Jihad issue completey I was just putting it in a broader sense

  • Thank you, Brent. Are some saying that love can't live in Mecca?

  • and just how many separate beats are going on in here? I count at least five. Great post.

  • what a great piece of music....besides that, I usually don't leave comments on here but inkerbellamusic's tiny comment made me (to use that person's language) f..king mad - if we were as rude and small brained as you, Tinkerbell, we'd make a "stoopid" remark like the one you left on here, but we're not on your level. So we just pray that you're just a single case of a NAZI in this world. unfortunately it's known that this planet is still packed with dummies like you.

  • fuck the muslims

  • @tinkerbellamusic Fuck the bigots. (Yes, the irony is not lost on me.)

  • He had a fantastic voice!

  • love love love this song, and do not think it is insulting.

  • Mecca is a city in California. Zip code 92254.

  • @ffc313 Yeah, but brownstone houses make me think of Brooklyn NY!

  • I live on the West side, she lives on the East side of the stree-ee-eet

    And though they say that East is East and West is West

    And never the twain shall meet

    Each morning I face her window and pray that our love can be

    'cause that brownstone house where my baby lives

    Is Mecca (Mecca, Mecca, Mecca) Mecca (Mecca, Mecca) to me-e-e-e-e-e.

    Oh she's my dream goddess and her ruby lips are so div-i-ine

    And though her folks say we're too young to know of love

    I worship at her shrine

  • Comment removed

  • Thank you for the lyrics! I never had understood the fisrt line of the second verse.

  • My mom just told me about this song. She said when she was a kid she'd play it over and over again on her little record player. ;) ... hm.

  • Thanks for posting this song with lyrics. After 47 years I fully understand what he was saying. "Brownstone house", which still sounds distorted, were words I never understood before. Sad but true what people have said about what would happen if this song was released today, with the PC police and terrorists.

  • What a unique sound.

  • Gene Pitney never won a Grammy but his recording of Town Without Pity won an Oscar.

  • @WytZox1 Actually, Town Without Pity did not win the Oscar....the award went to Moon River

  • If Pitney had released this song in America today, the PC police would accuse him of insulting Islam. The self-righteous Muslims would - as always - play the victim card, feign outrage, and demand that his record label fire him. It's pathetic how far we've fallen as a society.

  • @Archangel101576 FUCK THE PC POLICE!!!

  • this song was so different for it's time and of course no one but Gene could pull it off with aplomb

  • went to high school in Connecticut with this guy...loved this song better than " Rock the Casbah" only one better was "Town without Pitney"

  • Why haven't the Muzzies declared JIHAD on Gene Pitney??

  • @Godzilla1985 Maybe because he is gone....

    that song was published in the early 60's

  • Wasn't it great to hear this song on the radio in 1963 and not have to worry about the Muslims protesting it?

  • The ONLY religion is love.

  • There was a British group that made the number 43 spot on radio Caroline's hitparade with this song in 1964. Can anyone tell?

  • Have always wondered who was the session singer with that great angelic, operatic voice?  Wonderful post!

  • Is your name Brent or are you involved in the oil business?

  • @jimbobubbadj Brent Oil and WTI Oil are 2 pricing mechanisms for oil.

  • Gene's been gone several years already. It doesn't seem possible.

  • God, this man had such a great voice. What range. Sad he died so suddenly of a heart attack.

    He was one of my rock idols growing up. Many don't know he was an excellent writer. He wrote Hello Mary Lou for Rick Nelson.

  • When I first heard this song, I was about seven years old and thought this had to be a really cute guy, and he was.

  • What a well crafted song, both writer and singer. Excellant.

  • its a town in cal.-featured in wild angels/ bruce dern

  • @Brent441 It sounds like my "teen" goddess not "dream".

  • Lol me, I love this song.

  • where are the lyrics?

  • @chucknchar try lyric directory.n e t I had to put spaces in so it would take it..dont put the spaces in they should have them..Rebecca Anne.

  • @chucknchar try lyric directory.n e t I had to put spaces in tthe word net so it would take it..dont put the spaces in they should have them..Rebecca Anne.

  • he did have a lot of realy good hit and my wife loves them all exspealey a town without pitty. she says she grew up in a small town whee every one knew every one elses bizness execpt ther own(Marienville)

  • Oh, no! Gene was in love with an Islamofascist!!!!

  • Love this song by Gene Pitney... what a

    talented guy! Bravo, Gene!

  • This was a hot song on CKLW In Detroit

    in 1963 a very big request,Gene had many

    good songs,bring back many good memories.

  • I picture Mecca with camels, oil, woman in veils, palm trees, mosques and dunes.

  • Although the song refers to a symbolic Mecca, I had the same reaction when I heard it a few minutes ago, after a couple of decades.

  • The best song from Gene Pity. Brings back many a fond memory.

  • To NolifeRob, it would have been a fatwa, like the one issued on Salman Rushdie.  GP never would have been able to travel outside the USA.

  • @njva17420 BWAAhaha... Salman... that Salman, he was in a real rush to die.

  • Huh???

  • It's a good thing Gene didn't release this song today. Muslims would accuse him of blasphmy and make threats at him. Even 1963 had muslim americans who at least found the song sacreligious and tried to have stations ban it.

  • @NolifeRob Do you have any foundation for that statement? You're a liar, is what you are. There were no Muslims objecting to Pitney's music at all. Get stuffed.

  • @NolifeRob

    You're quit right!

    Fuck them muslims!!!

    Gene was a great singer, may he rest in peace.

    And may all them muslims follow him in peace.

    If not, then in pieces.

  • @NolifeRob I agree, but screw the moslems they are sick ,there koran talks of peace,but their kind of peace- being you become a moslem or you are a infidel and we have the right and obligation to KILL you. read it yourself.

  • @JJMFB1 yes I have read it myself, the whole book, it can be twisted just as the Bible can be twisted particularly the old testement which the Koran is based on You have heard ot the Crusades? the Spanish Conquistafors, and the Spanish Inquisition? haven't you? While at this time Islam is the most violent of the prosylitizing religions Christianity has been repeonsible for having infidels burned at the stake A few centuries ago the Western World had no separation of church and state either

  • @elamite66 Your moslem to say what you say,next try to write in english your spelling is so bad. Since you claim to have read the koran,then you would see it tells moslems to kill infidels,how can the koran be based on old testament, Moh.got the koran he claims direct from God,odd God picked a warlord who could not read or right,and on his death bed his aunt asked if she will meet him in Heaven,he replied he wasn't sure where he was going.Catholics did all that pope asked and they were wrong.

  • @JJMFB1 If you had read the Koran you would know that Mohammed never claimed to have communicated directly with God, it was the arch angel Gabriel who recited God's words to him, not that I believe any of that mytholigy, so it's obbious you have not read the book, the Old Testement was pretty bloody too, the Jews under Joshua attacked Jericho with no provocation and God supposedly told them to kill every living thing from babies to dogs and they did with no reservations except for the whore

  • @JJMFB1 Mohammad was not a warlord but a trader married to an older widow when he supposedly recieved the message in the cave, maybe later he could be called a warlord, but was not Joshua a warlord? the old testement is full of war and violence and that may be why it's such a major influence on the Koran the new testement is mentioned only as regards Jesus etc. the message of Christ is barely mentioned and the apostles are not mentioned at all

  • @JJMFB1 I just read my channel which i had never payed any attention to and saw your rantings I won't get personal about your family not knowing them for all I know they're great people and as I said before maybe you yourself are a hard working family man and as I also said before what's with Arizona and California? I never mentioned them I got a family too which you don't have the decency to respect My Dad was on Iwo Jima and I was in Vietnam and my son was in Desert Storm you should read it

  • @NolifeRob yes you're right I remember back in the 1970s Anthony Quin made a film "the Prophet" it was about the prophet Mohamed It opened in New York and Muslims protestested and to my disgust the movie was pulled At that time Islam did not have the influence it has now People protested films about Christ but they were not pulled It's bad enough that some Muslim countries have oligarghic dictatorships but now we in the West have to put up with this shit!!!!! It's a disgrace

  • @elamite66 How can you take both sides in this argument,you talk censorship in the 70's because a movie was about moh. the killer,and even more today you can show Jesus in a glass of piss or shit thrown all over him and we Christians hate it but turn the other cheek,but in Sweden and most of the world these moslem crazies kill and riot all the time,they live in the dark ages,if I had my way screw PC,I would put a pig in every moslem terrorists grave then they would not see allah or the virgins

  • @JJMFB1 I DON'T LIKE CENSORSHIP IS THAT SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND i'M FROM NEW YORK AND ON 9-11 i WOULD HAVE LIKED NOTHING BETTER THAN TO HIT MECCA WITH TOMOHAWK MISSLES YOU DON'T SOUND TO ME LIKE YOU READ THE KORAN JUST READ ABOUT IT YOU'LL NEVER GET THE WHOLE TRUTH WITHOUT PRIMARY RESEARCH NOT SOME RABBLE ROUSING POLITICAL MORONS ON FOX NEWS OR THE LIKE I'M ALSO SICK OF HEARING ABOUT PC HOW ABOUT FACTS? PARAPHRASING SOME QUOTES FROM THE KORAN DOESN'T MEAN YOU READ IT NOW DOE'S IT? KNOW YOUR ENEMY

  • @NolifeRob

    Thats because at that time the US wasn't dropping bombs on the heads of muslims. They were already busy doing that in vietnam.

  • BJR's "Down In the Boondocks"

  • Hard to believe that some folks didn't know what/where Mecca is and its context in this song. Gene had it right about the girl across the street. I am reminded of another song by Billy Joe Royal I believe along the same line.

  • I loved this song as a kid and I knew what Mecca was and what the lyrics meant .. Pitney could write a lyric ...

    Check out 24 hours from Tulsa...

  • @itchycoopark2 myself also I was 12 when the record came out and I loved it and understood the conotation of Mecca I guess because I was always interested in history, in any case great song, great song writer and great vocalist and probably great musician, producer etc.

  • Back in 1963, I heard this song only once and then it just disappeared from radio - back in Taiwan, I was only 11. But I knew the song title has to do with something like "Mecca". More than 40 years later, I found the song for sell under Gene Pitney and bought it, so glad that so many people here knew and liked this song. Good song to sing along in the car when you are in the Oldies mood. Brought back all the fond memories.

  • actually some of us who were teens in the 60s not only knew what Mecca was, we also knew that the line in this song "East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet" comes from the Rudyard Kipling poem The Ballad of East and West.

  • herinnering aan een fijne jeugd memory off a great time in the 60

  • All I can think about is oil, palm trees, sand dunes, woman covered in veils and great exotic and unusual sound as mentioned in this post.

  • Cool,unique song. Very different for 1963.

  • Comment removed

  • Is this about a girl or Mecca? :)

  • Dear RMS Braves,

    Why not google the lyrics?

    Just Imagine. In 1963, in my first year at high school i loved this s0ng.

  • A favourite of mine, thank you

  • This is one of my favorites from the early 60s. Gene Pitney also wrote He's a Rebel, another great hit from the 60s.

  • Such an exotic and unusual sound for the time in which it was recorded. Very beautiful. Thanks for posting it.

  • I bet most kids who bought this when it was popular didn't even know where or what Mecca was or it's significance in the song. At first I thought he meant that, like Mecca is to non-Muslims, his girlfriend's house was forbidden to him, then I realized what he meant was that he worshipped it, like Muslims do Mecca.

  • kind of both

  • Deep

  • In 1963, I knew where Mecca was but thought the same that his girl's house was forbidden to him. Now you explain it better here, thanks

  • @vinylsingleman .. WTF 0_0 .. I'm sorry , but this was the most idiotic comment I have ever seen in my whole life ..

    We don't worship mecca you dumb fuck .. we worship god , who the fuck worship a city ? you maybe i don't know !

    and btw I like the song , and I'm a muslim .. so stfu

  • @Stormy868 Muslims do face Mecca when they pray. Pitney (or, I should say to be so utterly precise, the character singing in "Mecca") faces his girl friend's house when he prays. That is what the reference to Mecca in the song was about. I should have stated it more carefully. Muslims worship God, not Mecca, but they do regard Mecca as a sacred city, do they not? If not, please correct me and elaborate on this.

    And by the way, what does the Koran say about the use of profanity?

  • @vinylsingleman .. that's more like it , and for profanity using .. then I'm a badass muslim babyyyyyy LOL

  • @Stormy868

    I am a Muslim too. But I do respect how the other people think about us, even if they have had a wrong informations about Islam. Because people do not have a clear picture yet. So, we most make it clear to them. But what I saw by your replay will never make a sense. If you really Muslim, do not tarnish the image of Islam by using dirty words. And you most know that you only represent yourself if you say bad words or bad things.

  • Yes, I liked Gene as well. One of the great ones...

  • Wolfsky - I could not agree more. One reason I don't mind NOT being a young person today - they have nothing worth listeining to.

  • Of course they have, if they just don't listen to todays shit. One can always listen to music from the past.

  • @motowngirl65 I know how you feel but I heard the same thing when I was a kid, there's always good music and there's always bad music no generation has a lock on what's good or bad music

  • This tune goes deep down to my soul and shines.

    Such a touch...humm...Still gives me a strong heartbeat. Tks. :)

  • Spring, '63, I was 16 y/o, and lost in another world every time I heard this masterpiece by one of the Best voices of the 60's. What drama, what production, what a vocal. Young people of today : hear what you're missing! Wolfsky9

  • I was 16 in '63 too! I feel the same way. I remember going to a dance and the boy I liked didn't like me. I would dance a slow dance close with someone else and look over their shoulder to see him... ah, wax poetic. it's one reasons I became a lyricist... when I couldn't express my feelings to another, I put them down on paper, still do... I guess it kind of eases things; keeps things in perspective; I can feel the balance and drama. much love to you in your future. Toronto.

  • @Babyluvstheblues That's a beautiful story!

  • Visiting back, and still wonderful from your post!

    May we have more from you?

  • I was 7 Years Old when I first fell in love with this song.

  • He had many unforgetable songs, but clearly this had to one of them, GEART song and even GREATER SINGER, R.I.P Mr. Pitney

  • A big favorite of mine. Gene Pitney was great. I still play his Greatest hits CD and remember the lyrics to every song.

  • Awesome,

  • All of Gene's songs were unique (unlike those of the Bobby Vees's, Rydell's etc)

  • This is one of the best songs ever done by Pitney. He was great.

  • Who was the girl with the beautiful, high voice?

  • @VinDcator Probably just a session singer, but she sure could hit that high "C" couldn't she?

  • this song always amuses me -if you want to read into it the flute is the unattainable girl while the duane eddy-esque guitar is the pining american(pronounced mair-cun)

  • I'm sure he recorded it simply for your amusement....

  • ...snicker....

  • I had many issues with my wife, for years prior to getting married. Now on our 33rd year. I often said that, if I had it to do over again, I would have just been more honest with myself and my feelings. The lesson is not to make the same mistake twice.

  • There is no Gene Pitney song that isn't first rate and sung with sincerity and skill. How we miss him - heaven must be a tuneful place with him there

  • Always loved this! How many girls and boys have wanted someone whom they thought were unattainable? I hope some of you wound up getting your wishes!

  • As Neil Sedaka one of those voices that stood out like a hood emblem on a classic American car.

  • have you ever noticed that Neil Sedaka sounds like Anne Murray?

  • sedaka IS anne murray

  • Great Job, Brent441!!

  • this song is my name...mecca COOL

  • Clever lyrics + great singer/arrangement=HIT!! Thanks for posting--loved this tune since it was released.

  • I've loved this song since I was a kid. Thanks for posting the lyrics as there were a couple of lines that I could never quite work out.

    "Oh she's my dream goddess" and "I worship at her shrine."

  • Well, this is a great song, i dont blame bin laden.lOl.

  • hmmmmmm , me too , liked it

  • The instrument at the opening I don't believe is a true "fakir's flute" - an instrument that's almost unlistenable to western ears. I think that it's actually a schwam - a wide double reed ancestor of the modern oboe which came to Europe via the Middle East. Today, the schwam is commonly found either in early music groups or in oriental band units in the Shriners fraternity. The major drawback of the schawm was that it is virtually impossible to play it softly. Best if played outdoors!

  • VinDcator - the soprano MIGHT have been Cissy Houston, mother of the [in]famous Whitney. She was known to have been on some of GP's records along with many others during this time period.

  • Thank you Brent441 for posting my favorite Gene Pitney song with lyrics. Now I understand it. On my record (Album) I always thought he sings "my baby lives IN mecca" instead of "IS" mecca, meaning forbidden territory. Now they have the same situation in Bosnia f. i. in Mostar.

  • Who was that person behind that beautiful soprano voice?

  • this was Bin Ladens favorite pop tune as a kid, weird but true.

  • Where did you hear this?

  • The Bush family played this for the Bin Laden clan during there visits to the Bush family estate. The two families have a long and close history and have gotten incredibly wealthy together. Also weird but true. Bush and Bin Laden Sr were at a Carlyle Group meeting together on 9/11. What are the odds?

  • really? i was pretty sure bush was reading a childrens book to a bunch of schoolkids on september 11th.

  • I should have said that Bush SR was with Bin Laden Sr on that day. Yes George Jr was holding a book upside down and sitting with children.

    But Osama loved this song, in fact he bacame a big Pitney fan. The only shred of humanity and intelligence the rotten bastard ever displayed.

  • LazloLorenzo,

    Don't spread lies especially on such a touchy subject, if don't know facts.

    Bush SR was onboard private yacht loaned by Greek tycoon in Sep. '01 cruising the Mediterranean and Bin Laden, with whom the Bush family had severed ties 3-4 years prior in '97 or '98, nowhere in sight.

    Based on above, not sure if your last sentence holds merit either, Osama absolutely hates anything that's American, FYI.

  • Incidentally, Osama is highly intelligent and Oxford educated.

  • Ignorant child. Bush Sr was in Washington D.C. at a Carlyle Investor Group Meeting along with Shafig bin Ladin, the brother of Osama. Case closed, this is a fact, you are foolish and wrong. Ask your boss at the fast food joint, she might be able to tell you this.

  • I will cite as a reference the Washington Post

    Greg Schneider Washington Post Staff Writer

    March 16, 2003; check it out. The attendance of both Bush Sr and Bin Ladens brother is explicitly mentioned in his article entitled Connections And Then Some , page F1. What is the reference for your utter fantasy?

  • sonorousmass,

    You're full of crap

  • i heard something like that before

  • This was a big hit for him. One of my favorites!

  • my absolute favorite!

  • I was just a kid when this tune hot the top 10 chart, Back in those days all muisic from folk country rocknroll were all played side by side, early man learned to communicate,

  • never even heard of this song before.  wow.

  • This is my fave Gene Pitney song!! It has such a rhythmic element to it. Cissy Houston's haunting operatic wail is beautiful placed within the song!

    *Dee Dee Wawrick, Sylvia Shemwell, & Estelle Brown also sing background on this!

  • Although nearly every Gene Pitney song is perfection, I've always felt Mecca to be his very best, along with Half Heaven Half Heartache - his songs are UNIFORMLY heads & tails above what his contemporaries were doing at the time, and he never gave less than his all into a recording, whether it was an A or B side (check out Donna Means Heartbreak), For a white guy from Connecticut, he had amazing elasticity to his voice!

  • dude your so awesome for this thanks brent441

  • Thank you for going to the extreme time and trouble to post the video AND lyrics.

    Totally fabulous. You're a star Brent!

  • I've always loved that instrumental break with that guitar solo that sounds like something that would not be out of place on a typical soundtrack to a Roger Corman film.

  • Thanks for the great post. This is my all time favorite Gene Pitney song. And you very seldom hear it.

  • This song would not be a hit today, I can hear the cries of dirty infidels ringing from abroad.

  • Brent, Roy Orbison also had a song with a Middle Eastern sound to it - "Shahdaroba." Do you have it? It is quite good too.

  • Draadnagel has posted Shahdaroba.

  • WHAT A VOICE. I MISS HIM

  • as a kid at my aunties christmas parties, this song was a strong favourite, funny how haunting a song like this can be for the rest of your life.. fabulous..

  • This is one of my favourite songs. Gene Pitney is great. The lyrics seem to be right. :)

  • Fabulous singer ,great talent...

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