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Mecca (song)

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"Mecca"
Single by Gene Pitney
from the album Gene Pitney Sings Just for You
B-side"Teardrop by Teardrop"
ReleasedMarch 1963
GenrePop
Length2:18
LabelMusicor
Songwriter(s)Neval Nader, John Gluck Jr.
Producer(s)Jerry Ragovoy
Gene Pitney singles chronology
"Half Heaven - Half Heartache"
(1962)
"Mecca"
(1963)
"True Love Never Runs Smooth"
(1963)

"Mecca" is a 1963 song which was a hit for Gene Pitney. It was the first release and greatest hit from his LP, Gene Pitney Sings Just for You.

Lyrics

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The song starts with "I live on the west side, she lives on the east side of the street."[1] "Mecca," a city that most of the world is forbidden to visit,[2][3] symbolizes her side of the street, as the girl's parents forbid the pair to become romantically involved because of their young age.

Charts

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In the U.S., "Mecca" peaked at #12 on the pop chart[4] and #4 Easy Listening.[5] It was a bigger hit in Australia, where it peaked at #7, and in Canada where it reached #2. The B-side, "Teardrop by Teardrop," charted at #130 on the Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart.

Chart history

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Chart (1963) Peak
position
Australia - Music Maker 7
Canada - CHUM 2
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[6] 12
U.S. Billboard - Middle-Road Singles[7] 4
U.S. Cash Box Top 100 13

References

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  1. ^ The New Yorker Volume 41, Part 1 - Page 78 "Then, a few years later (in a kind of pulsating weeper click with Casbah undertones), the urban East-West axis came under consideration, with Gene Pitney's “Mecca”: I live on the West side, She lives on the East side of the street."
  2. ^ Peters, Francis E. (1994). The Hajj: The Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca and the Holy Places. Princeton University Press. p. 206. ISBN 978-0-691-02619-0.
  3. ^ Esposito, John L. (2011). What everyone needs to know about Islam. Oxford University Press. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-19-979413-3. Mecca, like Medina, is closed to non-Muslims
  4. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition. Record Research. p. 493.
  5. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 189.
  6. ^ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  7. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 189.
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