recorded at gold star studios - with sound engineer stan ross employing the innovative technique of "chorusing" by patching the session guitarist into an organ speaker - "the birds and the bees" afforded akens a top ten hit in the first quarter of 1965 reaching #2 on the us "cash box" singles chart and #3 on the us "billboard" hot 100 chart: the single also reached #21 on the us "billboard" black singles chart. the disc also had strong chart impact internationally reaching #3 in australia, #6 in belgium (flemish region), #3 in the netherlands and #4 in norway. musicians on the recording included billy strange and ervan coleman on guitar, bob west and arthur wright on bass, hal blaine on drums and leon russell on piano.