the song took off and distributors from the region initially placed orders for over 5000 copies of the 45. the quantity of copies on the igl label that were sold numbered between 8 and 9 thousand prior to the song being leased according to senn in an interview with kuoo radio's becky thoreson. the station received requests from 8 major labels to lease the recording. michaels recommended that igl and the band go with mercury records which released the single nationally on their smash label. the 45 entered the "billboard" charts on april 30, 1966 and remained there for 14 weeks reaching #45. as a result of the recording's popularity, the facility where it was recorded gained considerable publicity also and igl recording was off and running.