Do you know there’s a list of one-hit wonders on Wikipedia? It’s true, there is, and those one-hit wonders are even broken down by decade. Back in May 2025, Jay Hartman, Editor-in-Chief, White City Press emailed me with an invitation to submit a short story for Lunatic Fringe, a sequel to their anthology (I Just) Died in Your Arms: Crime Fiction Inspired by One-Hit Wonders. The only criteria was the song had to come from the list, could not have been done before, and it had to actually inspire the story. It wouldn’t do just to have a character listen to the song or dance to it or some other easy way out.

Now, I’ve had stories in anthologies before (including five that I published under Superior Shores Press). In fact, I got my start as an author by being published in three anthologies in one year (2014). But invited? I’d never been “invited” before. I allowed myself ten minutes of feeling important before surveying the one-hit wonder list. And there it was:

Baby, It’s You by Smith

I was probably a bit too young to fully appreciate the angst in lead singer Gayle McCormick’s voice (though I’ve certainly been there and done that since), but I’ve loved that song since the first time I heard it, which would have been 1969, the year it was released. I wasn’t the only one. Baby, It’s You sold over one million copies between July and October 1969, out-charted popular versions by the Beatles and Shirelles, and was awarded a gold record.

Like many bands with or without one-hit wonders, Smith soon disbanded, and after a brief solo career, McCormick left the music business. A lifelong smoker, she died of metastatic lung cancer in 2016, at the age of 67.

My protagonist in the story is named (you guessed it) Gayle. And the man that broke her heart? None other than Mac McCormick, a wannabe writer and very much married man.

The opening paragraph of my story goes like this:

My Mama always said there’s a lid for every pot, it just took some folks longer than others to find their match. Even so, I’d just about given up hope of ever meeting my lid when Mac McCormick walked into my life.

And later…

I was sitting on my Mama’s porch, rocking back and forth in her white wicker recliner. It had been six months since that first day at the Sleep & Nap and with the exception of the bookstore and the coffee shop, Mac and I had never been anywhere else. It hadn’t mattered in the beginning, mostly because I’d been so sure that he was my lid. But now I wondered if maybe it was loose somehow, like my lid didn’t have a snug enough fit, like there was something else I needed to do. Because not going anywhere, well, it just didn’t feel right.

“Ah, Gayle honey,” my Mama said when I’d finished, her voice soft, the way it got when she was about to tell me something I didn’t want to hear. “Seems like you’ve found yourself a double boiler.”

I looked at her, confused.

“A married man, honey.”

Married?

That would never do.

If you’ve never heard the song …

or if you’d like a refresher, there’s a fabulous Youtube version.

And if you’re a fan of songs that have lived on long after you’ve forgotten the artist who recorded them, then Lunatic Fringe is the anthology for you! Enjoy contributions that mix the best of music and crime from Steve Liskow, Vicki Erwin, Kaye George, John M. Floyd, Linda Kay Hardie, Sandra Murphy, Karen Keeley, Teresa Inge, Michael Bracken, Mary Dutta, Nikki Knight, Judy Penz Sheluk (that’s me!) and Adam Meyer.

You can find  Lunatic Fringe at your favorite retailer or purchase directly from White City Press.

The past Chair of Crime Writers of Canada, Judy Penz Sheluk is the bestselling author of seven mystery novels, five anthologies, and two award-winning books on publishing, including Finding YOUR Path to Publication and Self-publishing: The Ins & Outs of Going Indie. Find her at www.judypenzsheluk.com.