Please let me wonder

The lovely and talented Dawn Eden dropped this bombshell on me today:

I looked askance at this, but duly fished the 45 out of the shelf and moved the speed lever over, and by gum, it's true: I'm half-tempted to pass this off to someone as a Pet Sounds outtake.

If you're looking askance at this, here's the last half of the song, picking up at the bridge.

And here's the kicker: Ward (real name Jackie; "Robin" was her daughter's name) was obviously too old to be singing about teenage romance, so the producers (Perry Botkin, Jr. and Gil Garfield, who also wrote it) sped up the tape and released the faster version, going for a "younger" sound. Obviously they didn't speed it up to the extent that I slowed it down, but stuff like this really makes you wonder, and if this disc didn't say "9-63" right there on the label — a lot of Dot 45s include the release date in small print — well, let's not go there.

Thank you, Michael, and thank you, Dawn.

Addendum: "Wonderful Summer" at the correct speed, while it lasts, at YouTube.