In 1965 a striking single called “New York’s a Lonely Town” by a group called the Trade Winds flitted briefly across pop radio. Telling the story of a California surfer stuck in New York for the winter, the song was beautifully produced, echoing some of the studio techniques then favored by Brian Wilson, and although the song’s premise seems even more ridiculous now than it did then, “New York’s a Lonely Town” has such a memorable, lilting melody and projects such willful yearning and innocence that it is somewhat of a lost pop treasure.

The Trade Winds - “New York’s a Lonely Town”

The Trade Winds were actually Peter Andreoli (known professionally as Peter Anders) and Vincent Poncia Jr., a pair of Rhode Island songwriters who had a minor doo wop-inflected hit with “Mr. Lonely” in 1960 while calling themselves the Videls, and who had written “(The Best Part Of) Breakin’ Up” for producer Phil Spector and the Ronettes. The Trade Winds put out a few additional singles (including “Mind Excursion” and the pretty “I Believe in Her”) and an album before morphing into the Innocence and issuing a single under that name (”There’s Got to Be a Word”) late in 1966.

An album credited to the Innocence followed, and then the duo began recording a project under their own names. Andreoli and Poncia parted ways shortly after The Anders & Poncia Album was issued by Warner Bros. as the 1960s drew to a close. Poncia resurfaced a few years later as a producer for Ringo Starr, Kiss, and other acts, while Andreoli kept a lower profile. “New York’s a Lonely Town” remains their high watermark, one of the great lost singles of the surf era.