Because the Dave Clark Five is the soft, organ-led ballad that broke the band's run of stomping beat hits.
Epic Records twice refused to release it in America.
It then climbed to number three on the Billboard Hot 100.
Table of Contents
- The Ballad the Label Rejected
- How the Ballad Broke the Mould
- Where the Single Landed on the Charts
- The Song's Afterlife
- FAQ
The Ballad the Label Rejected
The Dave Clark Five built its name on volume.
Glad All Over and Bits and Pieces were stamped beat, shouted hooks, and Mike Smith's roar.
This song was the opposite.
It was quiet, warm, and carried by organ instead of saxophone.
Dave Clark heard it as the band's fifth American single.
Epic Records did not agree.
The Telegram War
Epic thought the ballad strayed too far from the formula that was selling.
The label passed on it twice.
Clark pushed back and said the group would deliver no more records until it came out.
- The president of Epic cabled Clark that he had 48 hours to change his mind or the release would ruin his career.
- Clark cabled back two words, release it.
- After the single sold, the same executive wired again to admit he had been wrong.
How Because the Dave Clark Five Broke the Mould
The song opens on Mike Smith's voice and a slow organ figure.
There is no saxophone, no pounding floor tom, no gang vocal.
Richie Unterberger of AllMusic pointed to its beautiful, unusual, and irresistible chord changes.
Billboard called it a warmly romantic ballad.
Smith sings it straight, with no showbiz push.
Who Actually Wrote It
The single was credited to Dave Clark and Mike Smith.
Ron Ryan, a songwriter who worked close to the band, has long said the song is his.
He was never paid or listed at the time.
Many current references now name Ryan as the writer, and the two accounts have never been settled.
Clark produced the track himself under the studio credit Adrian Clark.
Where the Single Landed on the Charts
Epic released Because in the United States in August 1964, backed with Theme Without a Name.
It reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 that autumn.
That was the band's best showing on the American chart to that point.
In Britain the song was never an A-side.
The Chart Record
Here is where the ballad peaked in 1964.
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 3 |
| US Cash Box Top 100 | 7 |
| Canada (RPM) | 3 |
| New Zealand (Lever) | 3 |
In the United Kingdom the track came out in May 1964 as the B-side of Can't You See That She's Mine.
That A-side reached number ten at home and number four in America.
The Song's Afterlife
The ballad found other voices fast.
The Supremes recorded it for their 1964 album A Bit of Liverpool.
Julian Lennon released a version in 1985 that reached number 40 on the UK singles chart.
The original still turns up on British Invasion collections sixty years on.
A Band at Full Speed
The single arrived while the group was at its commercial peak in America.
The band went on to play The Ed Sullivan Show 18 times, more than any other British Invasion act.
The ballad proved the group could do more than stomp.
FAQ
Why did Epic Records not want to release Because?
Epic thought the ballad was too soft and too far from the beat-group sound that had been selling.
The label turned it down twice before Dave Clark forced the release.
How high did Because by the Dave Clark Five chart?
It reached number three on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1964.
It also hit number three in Canada and New Zealand and number seven on the US Cash Box chart.
Who wrote Because?
The single was credited to Dave Clark and Mike Smith.
The songwriter Ron Ryan has long claimed he wrote it, and many modern sources now list him as the author.
Who sang lead on Because?
Mike Smith, the band's keyboard player and main singer.
He carries the whole track with almost no backing from the rest of the group.
Was Because released in the UK?
Not as an A-side.
It came out in May 1964 as the B-side of Can't You See That She's Mine, which reached number ten in Britain.
The ballad remains the clearest proof that the band had range, and that its drummer trusted his own ear over his label's.
The wider story sits in the Dave Clark Five profile.
It reads well next to Glad All Over, Bits and Pieces, and the wider British Invasion that followed the Beatles across the Atlantic.
More than sixty years on, Because the Dave Clark Five still sounds like the moment a beat group decided to whisper.