Lost Girl (song)

Having signed to Larry Page in February 1966,[1] the Troggs moved to London, where Page prepared for the band to record a debut single.[2] For the session, Page had booked Regent Sound Studios in London, where he had previously recorded demoes with the Kinks.[3] For the session, the band's lead singer Reg Presley had prepared two songs, "Lost Girl" and "The Yella in Me". The former was a hard rock which according to Ken Barnes largely revolves around Chris Britton's "wildest guitar work" along with a "psuedo-African" beat by drummer Ronnie Bond.[4] "The Yella in Me", on the other hand, was a novelty song which Page described as "him [Presley] walking down the sidewalk with his girlfriend" before getting beaten up by a stranger on the street.[5]

The Troggs were initially signed to Page's label Page One Records, but for the release of "Lost Girl", Page had arranged for it to be distributed through CBS Records.[4] The single was released on 11 February 1966.[6] Being an obscure group, the single barely garnered any airplay upon release, and according to Presley, it was played "one time on Radio Luxembourg at 3 AM".[4] After the success of the Troggs' two following singles, "Wild Thing" and "With a Girl Like You", CBS decided to reissue the single in September 1966 before the release of the Troggs' fourth single "I Can't Control Myself".[7] It once again failed to chart in the UK. In Sweden, "Lost Girl" managed to become a chart hit in December 1966 after the success of their other singles there, reaching number 16 on Kvällstoppen and entering the top-ten on Tio i Topp, peaking at number seven.[8][9]

As the single failed to chart, it did not receive much attention from the media. However, writing for New Musical Express, Derek Johnson stated that the lyrics contrast to the "fervent, frantic beat", noting that the song had an "explosive, underlying rumble". He ended by stating it to be "quite a raver".[10] Following its release, "Lost Girl" would remain in relative obscurity, partly because the Troggs re-used the melody and drum pattern for the song "From Home", which appeared as the B-side of "Wild Thing".[11] According to Britton, the band "liked the rhythm of 'Lost Girl'" to the point that they wanted to record a re-write of it.[11]

The single's lack of success led to Reginal Ball to adapt his stage name to Reg Presley, while the Troggs and Larry Page decided to record material by outside songwriters for their following singles, instead letting songs written by Presley appear on B-sides and albums.[12]