{{for|the album of the same title by Spanky and Our Gang|Like to Get to Know You (album)}} {{Infobox song | name = Like to Get to Know You | cover = Like to Get to Know You - Spanky & Our Gang.jpg | alt = | type = single | artist = Spanky and Our Gang | album = Like to Get to Know You | B-side = Three Ways from Tomorrow | released = March 1968 | recorded = 1968 | studio = | venue = | genre = Sunshine pop, blue-eyed soul | length = Single: 3:19<br>Album: 2:15 (single), 0:59 (coda) | label = Mercury | writer = Stuart Scharf | producer = Bob Dorough<br>Stuart Scharf | prev_title = Sunday Mornin' | prev_year = 1968 | next_title = Give a Damn | next_year = 1968 }}

"'''Like to Get to Know You'''" is a 1968 song from Spanky and Our Gang. Written by Stuart Scharf, the song debuted at No. 71 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on April 20, 1968 and peaked at No. 17 on June 8, 1968.<ref>[https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/1968-04-20/ ''Billboard'' Hot 100, Week of April 20, 1968 &ndash; Billboard.com.] Retrieved November 5, 2024.</ref><ref>[https://www.billboard.com/artist/spanky-and-our-gang/chart-history/hsi/ Spanky And Our Gang, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 &ndash; Billboard.com.] Retrieved November 5, 2024.</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">''Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990'' - {{ISBN|0-89820-089-X}}</ref> It became a minor hit on the ''Billboard'' Easy Listening chart at the same time, eventually rising to No. 24 the same week it peaked on the Hot 100.<ref>{{cite book|first= Joel |last= Whitburn |author-link= Joel Whitburn |year= 1993 |title= Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993 |publisher= Record Research |page=225}}</ref> In Canada, the song reached No. 5 on the ''RPM Magazine'' charts.<ref name=bac-lac>{{cite web|url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.5741&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.5741.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.5741 |title=Item Display - RPM |website=Library and Archives Canada |date=June 15, 1968 |access-date=January 4, 2018}}</ref> On the album of the same name, the song is broken into two parts: the full vocal, and a coda that echoes the chorus and conversation from the song.

==Recording== As on their previous hit single, Sunday Mornin', their new producer, Stuart Scharf, also employed session musicians to create the instrumental backing track while the group members provided lead and background vocals. This was the first hit they recorded in Los Angeles—all of their previous records were cut in New York and produced by Jerry Ross. Session players on this recording included Max Bennett on bass; Larry Knechtel on piano; Mike Deasy on guitar; Hal Blaine on drums; Ralph Schaffer, Sid Sharp, Harry Bluestone, Marvin Limonick, Nathan Kaproff, William Hymanson and Mischa Russell on violins; Leonard Selic and David Burk on violas; Paul Bergstrom and Armand Kaproff on cellos; and Jules Chaikin on trumpet. Additional instruments were also played by Stuart Scharf, William Kurasch, and Bob Dorough with most of them playing wind instruments.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.afmsagaftrafund.org/covered-rec-artist_SR.php?a=MDQ5MDc1&b=TElLRSBUTyBHRVQgVE8gS05PVyBZT1U%3D&c=U1BBTktZICYgT1VSIEdBTkc%3D&s=Rg%3D%3D |title=Like to Get to Know You Artist List |work=Sound Recording Division Performing Artists |access-date=October 27, 2015}}</ref>

A performance of this song was featured on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' on March 24, 1968.<ref>{{YouTube|id=rqxkdV3Odj0|title=Original version performed on ''The Ed Sullivan Show''}}</ref> In the uniquely staged presentation, the members of the group appear to be at a cocktail party (interacting in a way that tracks the song's lyrics), while the song is performed by the same group on a stage behind them.

==Chart history== {{col-begin}} {{col-2}} ===Weekly charts=== {| class="wikitable sortable" |- !Chart (1968) !Peak<br />position |- |Canada ''RPM'' Top Singles<ref name=bac-lac/> | style="text-align:center;"|5 |- |US ''Billboard'' Hot 100<ref name="ReferenceA"/> | style="text-align:center;"|17 |- |US ''Billboard'' Easy Listening<ref>{{cite book|first= Joel |last= Whitburn |author-link= Joel Whitburn |year= 1993 |title= Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993 |publisher= Record Research |page=225}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"|24 |- |US ''Cash Box'' Top 100<ref>{{cite web |url=http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/60s_files/19680608.html |title=Cash Box Top 100 Singles |date=June 8, 1968 |access-date=January 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812082856/http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/60s_files/19680608.html |archive-date=August 12, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> |align="center"|13 |} {{col-2}}

===Year-end charts=== {| class="wikitable sortable" |- !Chart (1968) ! style="text-align:center;"|Rank |- |Canada<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.5867&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.5867.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.5867|title=Item Display - RPM|work=Library and Archives Canada|date=January 6, 1969|access-date=January 5, 2018}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"|88 |- |US (Joel Whitburn's ''Pop Annual'')<ref>{{cite book |last=Whitburn |first=Joel |date=1999 |title=Pop Annual |location=Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin |publisher=Record Research Inc. |isbn=0-89820-142-X}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"|139 |- |US ''Cash Box''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/60s_files/1968YESP.html |title=Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles |date=December 28, 1968 |access-date=January 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009061908/http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/60s_files/1968YESP.html |archive-date=October 9, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"|100 |- |} {{col-end}}

==Use in popular culture== The song is heard in a 2016 TV commercial for ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon''.

==Other versions==

===Covers=== *The Johnny Mann Singers featured it on the album ''Sixties Mann''. *Julie London, for her 1969 album ''Yummy, Yummy, Yummy''. *Linda Dachtyl, 2024 release "Waves of Change" (Summit Records/Chicken Coup Records)

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{Discogs release|2316113|type=single}}

{{Spanky and Our Gang}}

{{authority control}}

Category:1968 singles Category:American pop songs Category:Pop ballads Category:Spanky and Our Gang songs Category:1968 songs Category:1960s ballads Category:Mercury Records singles