“Twistin’ King” Jack Hammer’s long-forgotten 1966 ballad celebrating queer love

Songs about LGBTQ+ people in the 1960s, before Stonewall and the birth of the modern gay rights movements, are rare. What ones that exist are usually vague or coded. However, there’s little that’s vague about “When A Girl Love A Girl”, a 1966 album track by Jack Hammer.

“What strange romance, a most unusual, mixed-up dance/A weird, happy, lonely world, when a girl loves a girl,” sings Hammer. “Two female things, ignoring all the shame it brings, a dark bright confusing world, when a girl loves a girl/She lives in dreams, her love is not just what it seems, her heart is dizzy, in a twirl, when a girl loves a girl.”

Hammer goes on to suggest, wrongly, that women may be driven into the arms of other women if they’ve been let down by men: “Where did we fail her, we the men. Did unfaithful love make her bend?”

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Despite this, the song does not condemn same-sex love. Accompanied by piano and a very 1960s-era flute, Hammer sings with an unjudging, observational eye.

“When A Girl Loves A Girl” can be found on his album, Brave New World.

“Happy Feet”

Hammer was born Earl Solomon Burroughs on September 16, 1925, in Grovetown, Georgia. He grew up in California, where he picked up the nickname Happy Feet because of his tap dancing skills. In the 1950s, he moved to New York City, where he worked as an MC at the Baby Grand Theatre.

In New York, he began to write songs under the pseudonym Jack Hammer. He wrote for others and also released songs himself from the mid-50s onwards.

One song he wrote was called “Great Balls of Fire.” Hammer submitted it to songwriter Paul Case. He later said it was based on one of his grandmother’s favorite expressions.

Case loved the title but wasn’t keen on the song. Case asked songwriter Otis Blackwell to re-write it using the same title. It was for the 1957 movie, Jamboree. It was agreed the finished song would be co-credited to Blackwell and Hammer.

Recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis, “Great Balls Of Fire” sold over a million copies in its first ten days of release. It became one of the biggest-selling singles in the US at that time.

Hammer wrote for many artists, including the Cadillacs (“Peek-A-Boo”) and Nina Simone (“Plain Gold Ring”). He also sang briefly with The Platters.

The Twistin’ King

Major commercial success as a solo artist in the US eluded him. He relocated to Paris in 1961, and then Belgium. He enjoyed some success in Europe with several records exploiting the twist craze. Still a keen dancer, he became known as the “The Twistin’ King.”

“I made a lot of money writing silly songs!” said Hammer in a 2012 interview with Post News Group.

Check out this rare clip of Hammer performing in 1966.

However, besides his self-described “silly songs”, Hammer also produced music with a social conscience. A 1960 album was entitled Rebellion – Jack Hammer Sings and Reads Songs and Poems of the Beat Generation. The 1966 album, Brave New World, mixes up jazz, blues, beat, rock and lounge music. “Switch Blade Operator” is a tale of misspent youth and violence.

Then there’s the obvious queerness of “When A Girl Loves A Girl.”

Brave New World has a cult following. One of the songs, “Down In The Subway” was loved by Marc Almond of Soft Cell. The band remains best known for its cover of the previously little-known northern soul classic, “Tainted Love”. Almond and bandmate Dave Ball recorded “Down In The Subway” as a single in 1984.

Almond also covered “When A Girl Loves A Girl” in some of his solo shows in the mid-1980s. A version can be found on his album, Marc In Soho – Live at the London Palladium, Soho Jazz Festival 1986. It’s safe to assume he has a copy of Brave New World tucked away in his record collection.

Following his years in Europe, Hammer returned to the US in the mid-1970s. He performed on Broadway in the show Bubbling Brown Sugar between 1976-1977. He later moved back to California and died of heart failure in 2016 at age 90.

Musical talent runs in his family. Hammer’s son, Donald (Don) Etienne Wiggins wrote “Imaginary Love” for the American R&B group, Shalamar. A granddaughter, Amelia Hammer Harris, is also a singer, She appeared on a 2018 episode of American Idol and is still making music today.

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