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By: The Tremeloes, formed in 1958 as Brian Poole and the Tremeloes.
They are known as the group signed by Decca Records over another group who had auditioned on the same day, January 1, 1962: The Beatles.
The group mainly had hits with cover songs, first with "Twist and Shout" (originally by the Isley Brothers, though owing much to the Beatles' version) and "Do You Love Me" (originally by the Contours) before Brian Poole split from The Tremeloes in 1966.
Rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Alan Blakely took over leadership of the group, and Chip Hawkes replaced bassist Alan Howard, and were even more successful, when they recorded an old Four Seasons song, "Silence is Golden".
Three years later, in 1970, the Tremeloes' popularity began to wane when an interview in Melody Maker quoted them insulting their fans who had bought their early singles. The album they released a few weeks later sold poorly, and they had no US or UK hits after 1971.
Chart position: #11 (US), #1 (UK).
It was #1 in the UK for 3 weeks in May and June 1967. It was preceded at #1 by "Puppet On A String" (Sandie Shaw) and succeeded by "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" (Procol Harum).
Written by: Bob Crewe (born November 12, 1931 in Newark, New Jersey) and Bob Gaudio (born November 17, 1942 in The Bronx, New York,) both best known for their work with The Four Seasons, of whom Gaudio was also a member.
Collectively, they also wrote such songs as "Big Girls Don't Cry", "Bye Bye Baby", "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You", "Cry Myself To Sleep", "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)", "Let's Hang On (To What We've Got)", "Rag Doll", "Ronnie", "Save It For Me", "Silhouettes", "Sherry", "Tallahassee Lassie", "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore", and "Walk Like A Man".
The song's title comes from the phrase, "speech is silver, silence is golden." It dates as far back as the early Egyptians: "Silence is more profitable than abundance of speech". The modern phrase appeared as far back as circa 600 A.D., from an early Judaic exegesis (or "midrash"): "If speech is silvern, then silence is golden.")
Originally by: The Four Seasons, with Frankie Valli on lead vocal. Their version was the B-side of "Rag Doll", which was a #1 US hit for them in 1964.
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