Him or Me – What's It Gonna Be?

"Him Or Me – What's It Gonna Be?"
Columbia sleeve for the single
Single by Paul Revere & the Raiders
from the album Revolution!
B-side"Legend of Paul Revere"
ReleasedApril 1967
Genre
Length2:52
LabelColumbia
Songwriters
ProducerTerry Melcher
Paul Revere & the Raiders singles chronology
"Ups and Downs"
(1967) 		"Him Or Me – What's It Gonna Be?"
(1967) 		"I Had A Dream"
(1967)

"Him or Me – What's It Gonna Be?" is a song written by Mark Lindsay and Terry Melcher, recorded by American rock band Paul Revere & the Raiders for their seventh studio album Revolution! It can be distinguished from other previous Raiders garage rock hits like "Kicks" and "Hungry" because of its more pop-flavored sound.[3]

Released in 1967, the single, with the biographical "Legend of Paul Revere" as the B-side, became a hit after peaking at No. 5 on June 10.[4] It would prove to be their fourth and last Top 10 hit, until "Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)".[a]

Composition and recording

Like their previous Top 10 hit, "Good Thing", the song was written by Raiders lead singer Mark Lindsay and producer Terry Melcher like all the other Revolution! tracks. They used to write album cuts in their shared home in 10050 Cielo Drive, famous for the Tate-LaBianca murders. Melcher wrote the chorus and Lindsay developed the rest.[5]

Initially, the latter thought that the writing credits were unfair, because he wrote most of the song, but later he concluded that "Him or Me" was Melcher's idea, and wouldn't write the song without him.[6]

At the time, the band's tight schedule of television appearances made Melcher use the Wrecking Crew session musicians (specifically Hal Blaine, Ry Cooder, Jerry Cole and Glen Campbell) to do the instrumental backing of the song.[7] Melcher also added backing vocals in addition of Lindsay's lead.[8] The song is one of the two songs of Paul Revere & the Raiders, along with "Indian Reservation", to be included in the Kent Hartman's list of songs played by the Wrecking Crew in the book The Wrecking Crew: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Best-Kept Secret.[9]

Chart performance

Notes

References

  1. ^ Visconti, John (2020-05-14). "Paul Revere and the Raiders: 6 of Their Best". Culturesonar.com. Retrieved 2021-05-03.
  2. ^ Ch, V.; ler (2020-04-19). "Top 10 Paul Revere & The Raiders Songs". ClassicRockHistory.com. Retrieved 2021-04-22.
  3. ^ "Remembering Paul Revere and the Raiders in 5 Great Songs". LiveAbout.com. Retrieved 2021-05-03.
  4. ^ a b Anon. (June 10, 1967). "Hot 100" (PDF). Billboard. p. 20. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 28, 2025. Retrieved January 10, 2026 – via WorldRadioHistory.
  5. ^ Roberts, Jeremy (2020-10-29). "Uncovering Mark Lindsay's musical odyssey to the Rebel Raiders and beyond". Medium. Retrieved 2021-05-03. Terry and I might come up with a hook together, like "Him or Me, What's It Gonna Be?. I would write the rest of the song.
  6. ^ Ciccone, Don (2010-02-06). ""We were more the American Stones than the American Beatles...": An Interview With Paul Revere and the Raiders' Mark Lindsay". Stereo Embers Magazine. Retrieved 2021-03-18. So we started writing singles and at the time I thought I was getting screwed because I remember on "Him or Me" Terry came up with, "him or me, him or me, him or me…what's it gonna be?" And that's all we had. I was there too — I contributed but that was kinda his line. The rest of it… he'd get really bored fast. He'd come up with a line or a verse or a chorus and then leave and I'd finish the whole tune. And I thought "I'm writing 90 percent of this, how come I'm not getting more credit?" But the thing is if it hadn't been for that catalyst, I would never have written the tune. So I think it's totally fair the way it worked out.
  7. ^ Prince, Patrick (25 December 2020). "The musical revolution of Paul Revere & The Raiders". Goldmine Magazine: Record Collector & Music Memorabilia. Retrieved 2021-03-18.
  8. ^ Plasketes, George (2015-08-08). "Paul Revere's Last(ing) Ride (1938–2014)". Popular Music and Society. 38 (4): 522–525. doi:10.1080/03007766.2015.1047640. ISSN 0300-7766.
  9. ^ Hartman, Kent (2012). The Wrecking Crew : the inside story of rock and roll's best-kept secret. Internet Archive. New York : St. Martin's Press. pp. 261, 262. ISBN 978-0-312-61974-9.
  10. ^ Anon. (June 10, 1967). "RPM 100" (PDF). RPM. p. 5. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 31, 2024. Retrieved January 10, 2026 – via WorldRadioHistory.
  11. ^ Hallberg, Eric (1993). Eric Hallberg presenterar Kvällstoppen i P3 [Eric Hallberg Presents Kvällstoppen on P3] (in Swedish) (1st ed.). Sweden: Drift. p. 80. ISBN 9-789-16-302-14-04. OCLC 186244613.
  12. ^ Hallberg, Eric; Henningsson, Ulf (2012). Tio i Topp - med de utslagna "på försök" 1961–74 [Tio I Topp With The Eliminated On Try 1961–1974] (in Swedish) (2nd ed.). Sweden: Premium. p. 456. ISBN 978-91-89136-89-2. OCLC 939611828.
  13. ^ Anon. (June 10, 1967). "Cash Box Top 100" (PDF). Cash Box. p. 4. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 28, 2025. Retrieved January 10, 2026 – via WorldRadioHistory.
  14. ^ Anon. (June 3, 1967). "100 Top Pops" (PDF). Record World. p. 29. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2025. Retrieved January 10, 2026 – via WorldRadioHistory.
  15. ^ Anon. (December 23, 1967). "Top 100 Chart Hits of 1967" (PDF). Cash Box. p. 18. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 3, 2025. Retrieved January 11, 2026 – via WorldRadioHistory.
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