Songfacts®:

• Five songwriters are credited on this track, which was a minor near the end of Little Anthony & the Imperials career - they were officially known as Anthony & the Imperials by this time. Those writers are Tony Bell, William Berry, Rufus Brown, James Hill and Phil Hurtt. Bell and Hurtt were frequent collaborators, teaming up at Philadelphia International Records and at Atlantic Records as songwriter/producers. Hurtt told us about writing the lyrics:
  
  "'Hold on just a little bit longer,' it's just one of those ideas. It's a thing that pops into your head. What are you holding onto? Hold on a little bit longer. And then the story popped into my head. I'm going to leave my girl here at home, and I trust her, but I don't trust people around her. So I don't mind you going out, but you have limits. Know when to say no, know when to come back, and hold on just a little bit longer. Be strong. Ideas like that just pop up. I can't put a finger on it, but it pops into your head. And once you get a title, then you get the first line, and then you get a story. You have two or three different ways you can go with the story, and then decide on which way to go. Sometimes it just takes you there."