Movie Music Monday – Fast Times at Ridgemont High

It was on this day in 1963 that the Tymes took So Much In Love to the top of the charts. While their version is not heard in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, a cover by Timothy B. Schmit of the Eagles is, and it is on the soundtrack.

Songfacts.com tells the story of the song and the group:

The Tymes were a vocal group from Philadelphia comprised of George Williams, George Hilliard, Al “Ceasar” Berry, Norman Burnett and Donald Banks. “So Much In Love” was the first song they ever recorded.

The group was called The Latineers in 1963 when they entered a talent show that earned them an audition with Billy Jackson at Cameo-Parkway Records. Jackson liked what he heard and brought the group in to record a single. The Latineers had been working on a song they called “As We Strolled Along” – Jackson reworked it a bit and changed the title to “So Much In Love,” and that was the song they recorded.

Cameo founder Bernie Lowe suggested they become The Tymes, and in short order they went from singing “As We Strolled Along” on street corners as The Latineers to touring with Dick Clark’s Cavalcade of Stars as The Tymes with their hit single “So Much In Love.”

This was not only the first hit for the Tymes but also the first hit for the R&B vocal group All-4-One, who released it in late 1993. Billy Joel said this tune was the inspiration for his 1984 hit “The Longest Time.”

Timothy Schmit’s version didn’t do much on the chart – His version reached #59. A version by Art Garfunkel reached #11 on the US Adult Contemporary chart in 1988.

The best version, in my opinion, is the original:

For comparison … Here’s Timothy:

Here is Art:

Here is All 4 One