"Hey Paula"

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about one of the most enduring love songs ever cut in the state of Texas. Now, picture this — somewhere in the world, right now, as you're rollin' down this road, someone is listening to 'Hey Paula.' The marker reckons the song has been played almost every day somewhere in the world since it was recorded in the fall of 1962. Every.

Single. Day. That is not a small thing.

That is a song that found a permanent home in the human heart, and it started right here in Brownwood, Brown County, Texas. Let me tell you how it happened. Raymond Glenn Hildebrand was born on November 21, 1940, in Joshua, Texas.

He graduated from Harlingen high school, earned a basketball scholarship to Navarro Junior College in Corsicana, and then got recruited to play for Howard Payne College. Jill Jackson was born May 20, 1942, in McCamey, Texas — another native Texan, another Howard Payne student, a sophomore that fall of 1962. Now here's where the story gets that particular kind of small-world texture Texas seems to specialize in: in 1962, Ray rented a room from a family by the name of Nettleship — who happened to be Jill's aunt and uncle.

The two of them were already running in the same musical circles, performing with a local folk group called The Prisoners and recording songs for local radio station KEAN. Then one day Ray played a song for Jill and her mother — a song he'd written the previous summer about a friend and his girlfriend. And those two women knew.

Right then. They knew it would be a hit. So Ray and Jill got in a car and drove to Fort Worth.

They went down into the basement of Radio Station KFJZ, into Clifford Herring's recording studio, and they laid it down. A few weeks later, the song was selling sixteen thousand copies in a single day. One day.

By 1963, the record had climbed to number one on the Billboard pop chart and stayed there for three weeks. It went on to sell nearly two million copies total, and it hit number one in other countries too — Japan, England, Canada. Ray became Paul.

Jill became Paula. Together they were dubbed the Sweethearts of the Sixties, embodying what the marker calls the Universal Lovers image — that theme that hit so perfectly in the mid-1960s. They launched into television appearances, touring musical shows, and some credit this pairing for inspiring other famous male and female musical duos that came after.

Two Texans, one borrowed room, one song written about somebody else's romance — and somewhere out there right now, it's still playing.

What the marker says

It is estimated that the song “Hey Paula” has been played almost every day somewhere in the world since it was recorded in the fall of 1962. The song and its performers, Paul and Paula, exhibited the “Universal Lovers” image and theme that was successful in the mid-1960s. Dubbed the “Sweethearts of the ’60s,” the two entertainers, Raymond (Paul) Hildebrand and Jill (Paula) Jackson, were both native Texans who met while attending Howard Payne College in Brownwood in the fall of 1962. Raymond Glenn Hildebrand was born on November 21, 1940, in Joshua. He graduated from Harlingen high school and received a basketball scholarship to Navarro Junior College in Corsicana. Soon, he was recruited to play for Howard Payne College. In 1962, as a Howard Payne student, Hildebrand rented a room from the Nettleship family, Jill’s aunt and uncle. Jill, born May 20, 1942, in McCamey, was a sophomore at Howard Payne that fall. Ray and Jill performed with a local folk group called The Prisoners, and both musicians recorded songs for local radio station KEAN. When Ray played a song for Jill and her mother that he wrote the previous summer about a friend and his girlfriend, they knew it would be a hit. The duo drove to Fort Worth to record the song at Clifford Herring recording studio, in the basement of Radio Station KFJZ. A few weeks later, the song was a smash hit, selling 16,000 copies in one day. The record went on to sell almost two million copies and spent three weeks at #1 on the billboard pop chart in 1963. The song also reached #1 in other countries including Japan, England and Canada. Ray and Jill began a series of television appearances and touring musical shows, and some credit this pairing for inspiring other famous male/female musical duos.