This is an edited transcript of a radio program broadcast over the ABC Radio Networks.  It originally aired on April 27, 1996.

[Dick Bartley:] How're you doin'?  Thanks for staying tuned and welcome to the second half of American Gold.  I'm Dick Bartley about to count down ten great oldies for you by Tommy James and the Shondells in chronological order beginning with their surprise number one hit, my baby does the Hanky Panky.

Hanky Panky

[DB:] That record sat around for more than two years before it suddenly took off and went on to become a national number one hit record in 1966.  Hanky Panky.  Tommy James and the Shondells on American Gold....I'm Dick Bartley paying tribute to Tommy James with a chronological countdown of his ten greatest hits.  Tommy remembers taking an early interest in rock and roll while growing up in Ohio, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

[Tommy James:] It's interesting.  As far back as I can remember, I've always wanted records.  Before I played the guitar, I was playing the ukulele when I was four or five years old.  So, it was pretty clear where I was going with it.  When I was nine years old, I bought my first guitar.

Say I Am (What I Am)

[DB:] First recorded by Jimmy Gilmour and the Fireballs, Say I Am (What I Am) by Tommy James and the Shondells, our number two countdown record on American Gold....Tommy liked I Think We're Alone Now the minute Bo Gentry and Ritchie Cordell played it for him at his office in New York.  But, Tommy felt the song needed a little tweaking.

[TJ:] They came to me with the song and I really didn't like the arrangement.  I could hear that it was a hit, but I hated the arrangement.  So, we went and did a demo.  That's when we started with the galloping guitar and the eighth note.  It sounded so good that we just kept doin' it.

I Think We're Alone Now

[DB:] And that is the third of ten great oldies by Tommy James and the Shondells....  Tommy learned to be a musician and a songwriter by studying the guys who invented rock and roll:  Chuck Berry, Little Richard, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, and all the rest.

[TJ:] As I listened to the songs from the fifties; it's amazing how little, from a writing standpoint, songs have changed.  They basically have stayed the same:  verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, and fade.  The formula basically has stayed the same and these guys invented it.

Mirage

[DB:] Mirage is the fourth of ten in our Tommy James and the Shondells countdown....  In our chronology so far, we've heard Hanky Panky, Say I Am , I Think We're Alone Now, and Mirage, and here's countdown record number five.

Gettin' Together

[DB:] Tommy James and the Shondells.  Gettin' Together, the number five record in our top ten chronological countdown.... I'm Dick Bartley paying tribute to top forty stars Tommy James and the Shondells.  Let's get right back to the countdown with a song that took its name from the Mutual of New York building, the big sign on Broadway in New York City, here's Mony Mony.

Mony Mony

[DB:] Everybody's favorite there.  Mony Mony.  Tommy James and the Shondells on American Gold.  That's six down and four to go in the countdown....  Tommy says Crimson And Clover was a real change of direction for the group and their sound.

[TJ:] Crimson And Clover was the first record that I produced by myself.  From a career standpoint, it was a very important record for me. Not only because it was the first record I produced, but because it was a drastic style change for Tommy James and the Shondells.  We had just come off of Mony Mony, which was party rock and very, very different from Crimson And Clover.  It was clear that if Crimson made it, we had opened up a new door on our career and on our music.

Crimson And Clover

[DB:] Crimson And Clover.  Over and over.  That makes it seven down and three to go.  It's the best of Tommy James and the Shondells on American Gold, the official oldies countdown show....  Even though Sweet Cherry Wine had an anti-war message to it, Tommy says the Shondells deliberately stayed away from the politics of protest.

[TJ:] My philosophy was that rock and roll was supposed to make you move, not make you think.  I always had a problem with people who got too serious with rock and roll.  If you want to get serious, fine, but don't call it rock and roll because it isn't.  It becomes something else.  I also thought there was enough ugliness over the TV every night at six o'clock, watching the war, so, that was hard.  I really felt that music should hit you in your stomach, not your brain.

Sweet Cherry Wine

[DB:] Pass that bottle over here.  Tommy's gonna play the flute, here, in a moment, for us.  Sweet Cherry Wine is the eighth of ten in our Tommy James and the Shondells countdown on American Gold....  Tommy's music has aged well and he's delighted to know that his old records continue to entertain people today.

[TJ:] As I look at all of our music, I'm amazed, frankly, that it stood up as well as it has and survived.  I'm very grateful for it, but, I sometimes wonder why our music survived and somebody else's didn't.

Crystal Blue Persuasion

[DB:] Crystal Blue Persuasion makes it nine down and one more to go as we celebrate the greatest hits of Tommy James and the Shondells on American Gold....  After a hit-filled career, the Shondells disbanded in 1970.  Tommy took a little time off, then returned a year later to begin his solo career with our number ten countdown record.  Tommy James, without the Shondells this time, here's Draggin' The Line on American Gold.

Draggin' The Line

[DB:] The tenth of ten.  Draggin' The Line.  Thanks to our special guest, Tommy James, for the exclusive interview.  That's it for the oldies countdown.