The Jaynetts' otherworldly "Sally, Go Round the Roses" remains the great enigma of the girl group era; sensual and hypnotic, its cryptic lyrics, slinky rhythm, and atmospheric production combine to create one of the most potent and provocative experiences in the pop canon. The record's genesis is itself a web of rumor and misinformation: For starters, producer Abner Spector was not, as is often believed, Phil Spector in disguise but an unrelated representative of Chicago's Tuff Records who traveled to New York to collaborate with composer/producer Zell Sanders, owner of the J&S label. Sanders offered Spector her charges the Jaynetts -- a female R&B trio from the Bronx -- as well as "Sally, Go Round the Roses," an oddly metaphorical song she'd authored with Lona Stevens. Furthermore, the three teens captured in the Jaynetts' publicity stills may not even appear on the record itself -- at least five vocalists ( Johnnie Louise Richardson, Ethel Davis, Mary Sue Wells, Yvonne Bushnell, and Ada Ray) contributed to the session, which reportedly consumed over a week in the studio at a cost of over 60,000 dollars, an absolutely unprecedented sum for any recording at that time, let alone a three-minute pop single. The results are nevertheless stunning: At first muted and distant, "Sally" gradually gives way to an ominous chorus of multi-tracked voices warning its heroine not to go downtown, where "the saddest thing in the whole wide world" -- the sight of her lover with another girl -- awaits. Simple enough on the surface, but something about the song -- the nursery rhyme cadences of the lyrics, perhaps, or the foreboding insistence of the chorus -- defies easy understanding. Sanders' lyrics suggest a psychological turmoil far beyond the realm of conventional boy-girl drama, yielding instead various interpretations including closeted lesbianism, nervous breakdowns, religious epiphanies, and drug-induced dementia. The Jaynetts' lone hit, "Sally, Go Round the Roses" was subsequently covered by everyone from San Francisco psychedelic outfit the Great Society to British folkies Pentangle, a good barometer of the song's resistance to strict interpretation of any kind. No one has evoked the mysterious power of Spector's original production, however -- even all these decades on, the roses still won't tell their secrets.
by Jason Ankeny (All Music Guide)