"96 Tears" is a song recorded by the American garage rock band, Question Mark & the Mysterians (also known as "? and the Mysterians"), in 1966. In October of that year, it was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. and on the RPM 100 in Canada.Billboard ranked the record as the number five song for the year 1966. It is ranked number 213 on the Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. On November 11, 1966 the single was certified as gold by the RIAA.
The song was written by Question Mark (Rudy Martinez) in 1962 in his manager's living room, under the name "Too Many Teardrops" and then "69 Tears". Upon changing the name, in fear of loss of radio play, it was recorded in Bay City, Michigan. At first, Question Mark had to insist that "96 Tears" be the A-side over "Midnight Hour". Once the issue was settled, the band recorded the single for the small Pa-Go-Go label, owned by Lilly Gonzalez. She backed the band financially, and allowed access to her personal studio in her basement. When it began doing well locally, the band took a recording to Bob Dell, the radio director in Flint, Michigan. The song became the most requested, and wider radio play spread into Canada where it was picked up by Cameo Records for national distribution.
96 Tears is the debut album by the American garage rock band Question Mark & the Mysterians, released in 1966. A re-recorded version was eventually released on the Collectables label in 1997. It peaked at #66 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart.
First pressings had a misprinted Side 2 label listing the last track as "Tears" instead of "96 Tears".
All songs written and composed by Rudy Martinez, except where noted.
Too many teardrops for one heart to be crying
too many teardrops for one heart to carry on
You're way on top now since you lfet me
You're always laughing way down at me
But watch out now I'm gonna get down
We'll be together in just a little while
And then I'm gonna put you way down here
And you'll start crying 96 tears
You'll cry, cry, cry, cry
And when the sun comes up I'll be on top
You'll be right down there looking up
I'm gonna get you but I know now
I'll just cry
Cry I'll just cry
Too many teardrops
You're gonna cry 96 tears