1,000,000 Wahs

mp3: The Orlons - The Wah-Watusi

According to my stats counter, the total number of Diddy Wah visitors went over the one million mark this week. I'm sure I personally make up about half of those, but thanks anyway to everyone else who has stumbled by over the years. It's quite an achievement and I'm proud to be a millionaire.

A few months ago, I posted The Orlons' Don't Hang Up, which was also included in my latest mix. Like Don't Hang Up, The Wah-Watusi was released in '62. It soared to #2 on the pop charts, making it The Orlons' biggest ever hit.

In 1960s USA, The Watusi was the second most popular dance craze (after The Twist). It started when Latin drummer Ray Barretto struck gold with El Watusi in 1961. The term Watusi refers to the Tutsi tribe of Rwanda and Burundi. I suspect Barretto used it because he felt his conga drum rhythms had an African feel, or maybe he just liked the word... The dance itself seems fairly straightforward. Stand with your legs about a foot apart, knees bent. Then swing yours hips and both arms to the left and then to the right. Repeating in time to the beat.

Thirty Days

mp3: Chuck Berry - Thirty Days

In his second single for Chess records, Chuck Berry treats us with his pioneering rock'n'roll songwriting skills. Not only does Thirty Days have that freight train beat, the lyrics, in which the threats escalate from casting a hoodoo to lodging a complaint with the United Nations, are simple and brilliant. Wherever, whoever has left Berry has gone, they've got exactly 30 days to come back home.

New Mix - Rama Lama

This new mix of mine is tight in terms of styles. It really just spans goodtime doo-wop boppers and hipshaking R&B instrumental rockers. Yep, it's full of sax. Not that I've checked or anything, but I reckon the records in it are all from the late 50s early 60s. These are the sounds driving me wild at this point in time. They're what you'll hear impregnating dancefloors at my DJ gigs.

Rama Lama is not all tunes featuring the drummer Earl Palmer, as I threatened last time, but he is well represented. Might save the Earl-Palmer-thon for a future radio show special -- stay tuned!

I was spurred on to stitch this mix together by fellow local London spinner of discs, Fritz, who kindly invited me to guest on the Buzzsaw Joint Mixcloud.

mp3: Rama Lama

The Edsels - Rama Lama Ding Dong
B. Bumble & The Stingers - Mashed #5
The Versatones - Bila
The Ideals - The Gorilla
Big Jay McNeely - Big Jay Shuffle
The Rivingtons - Papa Oom Mow Mow
Twistin' Kings - Congo Pt.1
Hollywood Flames - Buzz Buzz Buzz
Ernie Fields Orchestra - Christopher Columbus
Freddy King - The Bossa Nova Watusi Twist
The Orlons - Don't Hang Up
Googie Rene - Wiggle-Tail Pt.1
Johnny & The Hurricanes - Sheba
Curtis Lee - Pretty Little Angel Eyes

Be mine, Cherrystone

mp3: The Addrisi Brothers - Cherrystone

Two brothers, Don and Dick Addrisi from Massachusetts, had a minor hit with today's selection back in 1959. Cherrystone is a cordial rock'n'roll pop song about a boy who meets a girl at a dance, walks her home, steals a kiss, and then hooks up with her again for the next dance. I dig the handclaps.

Now, onto other matters. For a preview listen of my newest mix, hot off the platters, head over to Buzzsaw Joint's Mixcloud. I'll post the amalgam of doo wop and R&B instrumental goodness up here shortly, but it's live there right now!!

And, a quick note to say that the fountain of knowledge that is the Funky16Corners blog has recently and unexpectedly moved here.

Fuzz Fuzz Fuzz

mp3: The 2000 Pound Bee Pt.2
mp3: The 2000 Pound Bee Pt.1

There's a lot written about early electric guitar fuzz. Tunes from Link Wray, Marty Robins and Ann Margret all get a mention. But when it comes to the first use of a specifically designed fuzzbox in a truly fuzzy song, the conversation generally settles on today's fuzzified selections.

The Ventures, a pioneering surf rock group from the Pacific Northwest, inspired many others and are still, impressively, the highest selling instrumental band of all time. On hearing the fuzz in Marty Robin's Don't Worry, they asked an electronically minded friend, Red Rhodes, to create a device which would make their guitars sound as fuzzy. He did and the result was 2000 Pound Bee. It was actually Part 2 which, only slightly, bothered the Billboard chart in 1962, reaching #91. I'm not surprised, although they're equal in their fuzziness, Part 2 is the one for me. Twenty years after its release, Dan Aykroyd fulfilled a promise by playing a tape of 2000 Pound Bee at John Belushi's funeral.

At The Hop

mp3: Danny & The Juniors - At The Hop

Danny & The Juniors were a doo-wop group from Philadelphia who struck gold in 57/58 with At The Hop, a US #1. It's a true 50s rock'n'roller that received a nostalgic resurgence in the 70s courtesy of American Graffiti. At The Hop is what's known by some as an oldie, which means that it was a smash hit back in the day, is fairly inoffensive and can sit alongside chart topping classics from such luminaries as Bill Halley, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and The Coasters. Of course these are all top tunes in their own right and I'm hardly in a position to diss them, but in the context of being bunched all together they acquire a sickly sweet golden-age of rock'n'roll sheen, which make them incredibly ignorable, to me at least. I trust that in the context of this blog post, you'll appreciate today's selection as the great rock'n'bopper that it is.