Sea Of Love by levipatrick

levipatrick - Sea Of Love

levipatrick

Jun 20, 2025 10:23pm

A One Hit Wonder: <img src="https://www.songfacts.com/img-artalbums-145-59bfef85db4a47cbd416907462469a0b.png"> Album: Sea of Love (1959) Charted: 2 Phil Phillips was born John Phillip Baptiste in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and in 1958 he was working there as a bellhop. There was a girl named Verdie Mae Thomas who he was trying to impress, and since he was good with a guitar, he decided to do it with a song. In the Billboard Book of One Hit Wonders, Phillips is quoted as saying: "I had my guitar, so I went and wrote this song, 'Sea of Love.' You see, she really didn't believe in me. But I felt if I could sing about it - a sea of love where it's quiet and peaceful - I could really show her how much I loved her and cared for her." A gas meter reader heard Baptiste practicing the song and told him to see a record producer named George Khoury, who had him record the song and convinced him to take the stage name "Phil Phillips." The song was released on Khoury's independent record label, and did so well in Louisiana that Mercury Records picked up the song to distribute nationally, where it became a big hit. Phillips claims he earned just $6,800 from the song, and he didn't even get the girl, which is OK by him. Said Phillips, "I married the right one though. It's a good thing I didn't marry that Verdie." The famous harmony vocals on this song were performed by a group of friends Phillips brought to the studio. He had to teach them how to sing it. Phillips goes down in history as a one hit wonder, although he did release 4 more singles. He later became a DJ at KJEF in Jennings, Louisiana. Two other versions of this song entered the US Top-40. First, Del Shannon hit No33 in 1984, then The Honeydrippers took it to No2 in 1984. The Honeydrippers were a pet side project of Robert Plant's, scratching his itch to have an R&B band. They were made up of Led Zeppelin alumni Plant and Jimmy Page, Yardbirds alumnus Jeff Beck, Nile Rodgers from the band Chic (Yowza, yowza, yowza!), and Paul Shaffer. Yes, that would be Late Night with David Letterman, look-alike for Curb Your Enthusiasm's Larry David, that Paul Shaffer. He's on keyboards. Please allow us this tangent while we're on David Letterman and 1984: Letterman was a guest star in the Marvel comic series The Avengers in that year. Story here, with cover shot. The story even had Paul Shaffer wearing a Captain America shirt. Robert Plant was actually quite horrified with this song's success for The Honeydrippers. The A-side was "Rockin' At Midnight," a cover of Elvis' "Good Rockin' Tonight," with "Sea of Love" as the B-side. But the single got flipped. Plant feared that this would destroy his reputation and he would be typecast as a crooner, so he deliberately cut off the career of the Honeydrippers. He was toying with the idea of bringing them back in the 21st century with Ahmet Ertegün, but at the latter's passing Plant put the idea on permanent hold. Sea of Love was the name of a 1989 movie starring Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin. Phillips' version of the song was used in the film.