Fact #190486
When:
Short story:
The Swinging Blue Jeans record Hippy Hippy Shake at EMI's Abbey Road Studios, London, England, UK, Europe. The song had originally been recorded by Chan Romero in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Full article:
Bob Keane (owner, Del-Fi Records) : Quite a few Chicano rockers gravitated to my label because of the Ritchie Valens association.
Chan Romero : I had a manager who was a disc jockey named Don Redfield. He wanted to manage us because he liked our sound and he called me one night in 1958 and asked me to listen to La Bamba and Donna. I said I loved them and wanted to learn the songs. He said, 'Well, that singer sounds just like you.' I guess I did. We're both Latinos, and we both played lead guitar and sang.
I had hitch-hiked to East L.A. for the summer. I was in 9th grade and one of my cousins played Spanish and country music and had an electric guitar and amplifier. I would be at his house alone during the week, and I started writing songs with his guitar. I started with 'For goodness sake,' which was something the Oriental actrss Nancy Kwan used to say. She was in The World Of Susie Wong and I used to get a kick out of that. The rest of it just came out.
Just before Ritchie Valens died, Don Redfield had made a demo tape of my song, The Hippy Hippy Shake at the radio station using Thumbs Carlisle on guitar, and he sent it to Bob Keane out at Del-Fi Records.
I was on my way home from school a few days later and I was listening to Don's show on the radio. I couldn't believe what I heard. He said, 'If Chan's out there, or if anybody knows where he is, get him to call me because I've just had a call from Bob Keane and he wants to sign him to a contract.' I raced home, called Don and had him tell me it all again. I couldn't believe it.
A few weeks later, I was in the Del-Fi studio where Ritchie had cut all his songs and I was using exactly the same musicians that Ritchie had used. We had Rene Hall on guitar, Irvin Ashby on upright bass, Barney Kessel on rhythm guitar and Earl Palmer on drums. Bob told me at this point, 'I need someone to carry Del-Fi now that Ritchie has gone. I think you can do it.' He used the same musicians in an attempt to capture Ritchie's sound. That was a compliment to me.
Bob Wooler (DJ, The Cavern Club, Liverpool) : In 1959, Mike Millward, who was with Bob Evans and the Five Shillings at the time, asked me if I had heard Chan Romero's Hippy Hippy Shake, which was mainly falsetto singing. We didn't even know if it was by a guy or a girl. The record had come out on Columbia and I bought it. Mike was very impressed with the song, But I Don't think he did it, either with Bob Evans or later with The Fourmost.
I played it at a lunch-time session at The Cavern, and Paul McCartney asked me about it. He always fancied himself as a high-voiced singer. I lent him the record, and The Beatles started doing it.
In the summer of 63, following a lunch-time session at The Cavern, I got a call from Brian Linford, the manager of the Mardis Gras club, who asked if he could borrow Hippy Hippy Shake, and return it within the hour, which he did. I thought he wanted it for The Escorts, who were under the Mardi's management. It never occurred to me that he wanted it for The Swinging Blue Jeans, because they had an upright bass and banjo. The Blue Jeans were jumping on the bandwagon - a classic case of 'If you can't beat them, join them.'
Chan Romero : I've got 21 versions of the song. One group did it with a Little Richard Lucille bass riff, and it was fantastic. The Georgia Satellites version was in the Tom Cruise film, Cocktail, and The Swinging Blue Jeans' in The Angels In The Outfield with Danny Glover. I like The Swinging Blue Jeans' version best.
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Chan Romero : I had a manager who was a disc jockey named Don Redfield. He wanted to manage us because he liked our sound and he called me one night in 1958 and asked me to listen to La Bamba and Donna. I said I loved them and wanted to learn the songs. He said, 'Well, that singer sounds just like you.' I guess I did. We're both Latinos, and we both played lead guitar and sang.
I had hitch-hiked to East L.A. for the summer. I was in 9th grade and one of my cousins played Spanish and country music and had an electric guitar and amplifier. I would be at his house alone during the week, and I started writing songs with his guitar. I started with 'For goodness sake,' which was something the Oriental actrss Nancy Kwan used to say. She was in The World Of Susie Wong and I used to get a kick out of that. The rest of it just came out.
Just before Ritchie Valens died, Don Redfield had made a demo tape of my song, The Hippy Hippy Shake at the radio station using Thumbs Carlisle on guitar, and he sent it to Bob Keane out at Del-Fi Records.
I was on my way home from school a few days later and I was listening to Don's show on the radio. I couldn't believe what I heard. He said, 'If Chan's out there, or if anybody knows where he is, get him to call me because I've just had a call from Bob Keane and he wants to sign him to a contract.' I raced home, called Don and had him tell me it all again. I couldn't believe it.
A few weeks later, I was in the Del-Fi studio where Ritchie had cut all his songs and I was using exactly the same musicians that Ritchie had used. We had Rene Hall on guitar, Irvin Ashby on upright bass, Barney Kessel on rhythm guitar and Earl Palmer on drums. Bob told me at this point, 'I need someone to carry Del-Fi now that Ritchie has gone. I think you can do it.' He used the same musicians in an attempt to capture Ritchie's sound. That was a compliment to me.
Bob Wooler (DJ, The Cavern Club, Liverpool) : In 1959, Mike Millward, who was with Bob Evans and the Five Shillings at the time, asked me if I had heard Chan Romero's Hippy Hippy Shake, which was mainly falsetto singing. We didn't even know if it was by a guy or a girl. The record had come out on Columbia and I bought it. Mike was very impressed with the song, But I Don't think he did it, either with Bob Evans or later with The Fourmost.
I played it at a lunch-time session at The Cavern, and Paul McCartney asked me about it. He always fancied himself as a high-voiced singer. I lent him the record, and The Beatles started doing it.
In the summer of 63, following a lunch-time session at The Cavern, I got a call from Brian Linford, the manager of the Mardis Gras club, who asked if he could borrow Hippy Hippy Shake, and return it within the hour, which he did. I thought he wanted it for The Escorts, who were under the Mardi's management. It never occurred to me that he wanted it for The Swinging Blue Jeans, because they had an upright bass and banjo. The Blue Jeans were jumping on the bandwagon - a classic case of 'If you can't beat them, join them.'
Chan Romero : I've got 21 versions of the song. One group did it with a Little Richard Lucille bass riff, and it was fantastic. The Georgia Satellites version was in the Tom Cruise film, Cocktail, and The Swinging Blue Jeans' in The Angels In The Outfield with Danny Glover. I like The Swinging Blue Jeans' version best.