The Letter - Box Tops, The (cover-live by Bill Sharkey)

The Letter (Box Tops, The, 1967). Live cover performance by Bill Sharkey, Home Studio, Hawaii Kai, HI. 2024-06-28. "Keeping the Oldies & Classics Alive"

"The Letter," written by Wayne Carson Thompson, was the Box Tops first entry onto the Billboard Hot 100 chart and their only no. 1 hit, landing at the top position in August of 1967 (Whitburn, 2013). "The Letter" was nominated for Best Contemporary Group Performance (Vocal Or Instrumental) and Best Performance By A Vocal Group for the 10th Annual Grammy Awards in 1967 (grammy, 2024). "Thompson wrote the song after his father gave him the line, "Give me a ticket for an aeroplane" (songfacts, 2024). According to songfacts, "The Letter" was the last no. 1 hit to be shorter than two minutes in length, clocking in at 1:58 (2024). The Box Tops were from Memphis Tennessee and recorded at the American Recording Studio in Memphis and were the first artist to record there who produced a no. 1 hit (boxtops, 2024). Two other versions of the song made it onto the Billboard chart: The Arbors (1969, no. 20) and Joe Cocker w/ Leo Russell (1970, no. 7) (Whitburn, 2013).

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Lyrics:

Gimme a ticket for an aeroplane
Ain't got time to take a fast train
Lonely days are gone, I'm a-goin' home
My baby, just-a wrote me a letter

I don't care how much money I gotta spend
Got to get back to my baby again
Lonely days are gone, I'm a-goin' home
My baby, just-a wrote me a letter

Well, she wrote me a letter
Said she couldn't live without me no more
Listen mister, can't you see I got to get back
To my baby once-a more
Anyway, yeah!

Gimme a ticket for an aeroplane
Ain't got time to take a fast train
Lonely days are gone, I'm a-goin' home
My baby, just-a wrote me a letter

Well, she wrote me a letter
Said she couldn't live without me no more
Listen mister, can't you see I got to get back
To my baby once-a more
Anyway, yeah!

Gimme a ticket for an aeroplane
Ain't got time to take a fast train
Lonely days are gone, I'm a-goin' home
My baby, just-a wrote me a letter, my baby just-a wrote me a letter