Even if you don’t know the Chiffons by name, if you have spent any time with oldies radio, you’re surely familiar with some or all of the girl group’s hits, which include “One Fine Day,” “I Have A Boyfriend,” and “He’s So Fine” (the latter spent four weeks at #1 in the spring of 1963). The Chiffons were certainly popular for a period, but then the British Invasion happened in early 1964, and the hits dried up. In an attempt to get back on the charts, a bold Chiffons record was produced, one that combined an established formula with the sound of the future.

“Nobody Knows What’s Goin’ On (In My Mind But Me)” was written by Brute Force (born Stephen Friedland), who was working with the Chiffons’ producers, the doo-wop group the Tokens (they’re best known for “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”). “Nobody Knows” is a big production, with brass and strings, and features an arrangement that’s both dramatic and fantastic. This song of defiance was released as a single in May of 1965 on Laurie Records, and slowly worked its way up Billboard’s Hot 100 chart that summer, before eventually stalling at #49 in August, rendering it a minor hit.
 

 
“Nobody Knows What’s Goin’ On (In My Mind But Me)” is an astonishing blend of the girl group genre with a style of music that had yet to take root: psychedelic. Ultimately, the track wasn’t just an attempt to bring the Chiffons up to date with what was happening in popular music at that moment, but a step forward—it was ahead of its time. It’s a wonderfully strange song that frequently sounds somewhere between dreamy and haunting.
 

 
The Chiffons did have a final hit with the more conventional, Motown-like, “Sweet Talkin’ Guy,” which made the Top 10 in 1966.

Performing “Nobody Knows What’s Goin’ On (In My Mind But Me)” on a TV show (possibly Shindig!):
 

 
Miming the song in the 1966 film Disk-O-Tek Holiday: