Gene Pitney - Town Without Pity - Words & Music by Dimitri Tiomkin & Ned Washington
Recorded by Gene Pitney, 1961.
Town Without Pity Lyrics
When you're young and so in love as we
And bewildered by the world we see
Why do people hurt us so
Only those in love would know
What a town without pity can do

If we stop to gaze upon a star
People talk about how bad we are
Ours is not an easy age
We're like tigers in a cage
What a town without pity can do

The young have problems, many problems
We need an understanding heart
Why don't they help us, try and help us
Before this clay and granite planet falls apart

Take these eager lips and hold me fast
I'm afraid this kind of joy can't last
How can we keep love alive
How can anything survive
When these little minds tear you in two
What a town without pity can do

How can we keep love alive
How can anything survive
When these little minds tear you in two
What a town without pity can do

No, it isn't very pretty what a town without pity
Pitney was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and grew up in Rockville, now part of Vernon, Connecticut. His early influences were Clyde McPhatter, country-blues singer Moon Mullican and doo-wop groups like The Crows. He attended Rockville High School, at which he was named "the Rockville Rocket", and where he formed his first band, Gene & the Genials. He made records as part of a duo called Jamie and Jane with Ginny Arnell (who in late 1963 had a solo hit, "Dumb Head"), and in 1959 recorded a single as Billy Bryan. The first of the two Decca 45s as Jamie and Jane was "Snuggle Up, Baby," a cover of a song Charlie Gracie recorded at Cameo 1957 or early 1958, which remained unreleased until London Records released Gracie's original version in Europe in 1978.
Signed to songwriter Aaron Schroeder's newly formed Musicor label in 1961, Pitney scored his first chart single, which made the Top 40, the self-penned "(I Wanna) Love My Life Away", on which he played several instruments and multi-tracked the vocals. He followed that same year with his first Top 20 single, the title song from the film Town Without Pity starring Kirk Douglas. Written by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington, the song won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song. Pitney performed the song at the Oscars ceremony on 9 April 1962 (honoring the film year of 1961). The song lost the Academy Award to "Moon River". "Town Without Pity" would be the last song Gene Pitney would sing in public, at a gig in south Wales before his death at the age of 66.
Pitney is also remembered for Burt Bacharach-Hal David song "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", which peaked at No. 4 in 1962. Though it shares a title with a 1962 John Ford western with the same title, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, starring John Wayne, the song was not used in the film because of a publishing dispute between Famous Music and Paramount Pictures.
Meanwhile, Pitney wrote hits for others, including "He's a Rebel" for The Crystals, Vikki Carr, and Elkie Brooks; "Today's Teardrops" for Roy Orbison; "Rubber Ball" for Bobby Vee; and "Hello Mary Lou" for Ricky Nelson. The Crystals' version of "He's A Rebel" kept Pitney's own #2 hit Only Love Can Break a Heart, his highest-charting single in the U.S., from the top spot.
The use of Arabian music in Pitney's 1963 hit "Mecca" anticipated The Beatles' psychedelic sound experimentation. Exotic instruments, such as mariachi trumpets in "Lonely Drifter", ukuleles in "Hawaii", and a gypsy fiddle in "Golden Earrings", became a Pitney trademark.
His popularity in the UK market was ensured by the breakthrough success of "Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa", a Bacharach and David song, which peaked at #5 in Britain at the start of 1964. "Twenty-Four Hours From Tulsa" was only Pitney's third single release in the UK to reach the singles chart and the first to break into the Top Twenty there. "Twenty-Four Hours From Tulsa" was also a hit in the U.S, peaking at #17 on the Hot 100.
Pitney was present with Phil Spector at some of the Rolling Stones' early recording sessions in London, including "Little by Little" and other tracks for their debut album; he played piano, though the extent is uncertain.
The Jagger/Richards song "That Girl Belongs to Yesterday" was a UK hit for Pitney in 1964; it was the first tune composed by the Rolling Stones to become a Top 10 hit in the UK. In the U.S. the single stalled at No. 49, ending a run of seven Top 40 singles for Pitney as a performer...
Pitney died on April 5, 2006, aged 66. His tour manager found him dead in the Hilton Hotel, in Cardiff, Wales, in the middle of a UK tour. His final show at Cardiff's St. David's Hall earned him a standing ovation; he ended with "Town Without Pity". An autopsy confirmed that he had heart disease, caused by atherosclerosis. He left a wife, Lynne, and three sons, Todd, Chris, and David.He was buried at Somers Center Cemetery in Somers, Connecticut.

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