Tag Archives: Rock Music

The Enduring Mystery of “Chevy Shut Down”

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WFMU is a listener-sponsored, free-form radio station broadcasting out of Jersey City, New Jersey. Now, of course, their programs, old and new, are available worldwide at http://www.wfmu.org.

A couple days ago, the insightful person who does the “Fool’s Paradise” show on Saturday afternoon played “Chevy Shut Down” by the Jaguars. It went by quickly and I’d never heard it before, but there was something extremely familiar about it.

Now, of course, there’s YouTube, so an obscure single from 1964 can be listened to over and over again, all over the world, maybe forever! It’s also easy to investigate just about anything. Some have investigated “Chevy Shut Down”, but with little success. The YouTube description says “Millions of hours searching the Google has netted NO information”. I searched “the Google” too and think the Jaguars may have started out in Oklahoma, but it isn’t clear where they came from or who they were (there have been lots of groups called the “Jaguars”). One thing I did find out is that two years ago a copy of the 45 sold on eBay for $100.

What’s especially interesting about this song, aside from its general rambunctiousness and semi-incomprehensible lyrics, is that it’s a “mashup” (the modern term). The Jaguars started with the Beach Boys’ 1963 classic “Shut Down”, rewrote the lyrics and apparently borrowed the intro from “Fun, Fun, Fun”. Then they threw in some of the Rip Chords’ “Hey, Little Cobra” (“go little Chevy, cause I know you’re gonna shut ’em down”) and Chuck Berry’s “Little Queenie” (“go go, go little Chevy”). The result: Cherry Records C-0369, “Chevy Shut Down”.

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The song starts after the brief introduction. (Some of the mystery is lifted after the video.)(Update: the YouTube video I originally posted is now gone. This one is from 2018.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69owMBT2wjQ

Six months ago, someone calling himself Steven Williamson left a comment on YouTube:

This is my Dad singing this song. The Jaguars only recorded 2 songs back in the 60’s. Chevy Shut Down and Just Out Of Luck. I know he was proud to see this. There are still some copies of these songs left but very hard to find.

That is pretty cool.

Whoever they were, the Jaguars did a mashup with incomprehensible lyrics in 1964 that still rocks. They were clearly ahead of their time.

For comparison purposes, the original “Shut Down” from 1963:

The Beach Boys loved how Chuck Berry played guitar:

The Rip Chords’ big hit reached #4 in the U.S. at the dawn of the British Invasion (and led to “go little Chevy, cause I know you’re gonna shut ’em down”):

The incomparable Chuck Berry as he appeared in the 1959 movie “Go, Johnny Go!” (hence, “go, go, go little Chevy”):

August 2020 update: There’s been recent discussion in the comments. The enduring mystery isn’t what it used to be. Thus, ladies and gentlemen: The Jaguars! (Most of them anyway. See below.)

From Bryan Sharp:

Original members of the “Jaguar Band” Left to right: Willie “Bruto” Perdue , Gerald Black “Jerry” & Dale Sellers on the trunk. Not in the picture was James “Rabbit” Williamson.  Rabbit said that car belonged to Willie Perdue. It was a 57 Chevrolet and he cut the top out to turn it into a convertible.  Rabbit said he was probably riding his motorcycle around somewhere. Juanita Purdue is on the hood and that’s Judy (Mclaughlin) Black. Dale’s father Mr. Calvin took the picture in their front yard on a Sunday afternoon May 1965.

Rabbit was telling how “The Jaguars” played @ The Civic Center in Panama City.  He said Earl Lowery was playing the drums @ that time, when Willie was in Vietnam.Rabbit said The Jaguars won a talent show in Evergreen, AL that sent the band to Panama City. Not too long after playing in  Panama City Dale went to Nashville.  Rabbit said, “we did what we wanted to do, record that record” (Rabbit, Jerry, Dale, & Willie).

One Benefit of Having Children (Recommending Songza)

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One of mine told me about a website called Songza. They let you listen to commercial-free music after an initial advertisement, but what’s especially interesting is that they have many, many categories, all the way from “Doing Housework” and “Today’s Pop Hits” to “Pastoral Symphonies”, “Blues Instrumentals”, “Sun Records Road Trip”, “Surf Music After the 60s” and “Robert Christgau’s Record Collection”.

It’s similar to how Netflix suggests stuff like “Dark Movies About Road Trips in South America” or “Comedies with Singing Animals”.

I browsed the “Record Store Clerk” category, found “New Music for Baby Boomers”, and then “Retro Indie Rock”. I’ve been listening for an hour or so and it’s been great. They’re playing music by groups I’ve never heard of (Department of Eagles, Leagues, Morning Benders) that will probably appeal to anybody who’s a Brian Wilson fan (like your humble blogger).

There may be a catch somewhere (you have trouble leaving your computer?), but I don’t know what it is.

http://www.songza.com

Trains, Boats, Planes and Names

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William Howard Ashton was born in Liverpool. After an apprenticeship at British Railways (later British Rail), he began a singing career as “Billy Kramer”. Shortly thereafter, a friend (John Lennon) suggested he add the “J”. Having become Billy J. Kramer, he acquired a manager (Brian Epstein, who had a great deal of success with some other performers from Liverpool).

Kramer’s manager put him together with a group from Manchester called “The Dakotas”, whose manager had given them that name because, for some reason, he wanted them to do a show dressed up like American Indians.

In 1963, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas recorded John Lennon’s “Bad to Me”. It reached #1 in the U.K. and #9 in the U.S.

Two years later, they had their last U.K. hit with “Trains and Boats and Planes”, written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. It didn’t do well in the U.S., losing out to the version by Dionne Warwick (born Marie Dionne Warrick in East Orange, New Jersey). But I think it’s worth hearing.

So This Is Love, Real Love

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It’s funny how you can immediately recognize a song you haven’t heard in decades. “So This Is Love” by an obscure California group called the Castells has been locked away in my brain since around 1962. I heard it the other day and it was like bumping into a very old friend.

The Castells lasted about five years but never had a big national hit. “So This Is Love” only got to #21 nationwide, but went all the way to #9 on KRLA in Los Angeles, my station of choice in the early 60s.

By the way, if you want to see how one of your favorite songs did on the record charts in Los Angeles in 1962, or New York in 1969, or Jefferson City, Missouri, in 1971, you can visit http://las-solanas.com/arsa/index.php. It’s a non-profit site that does an amazing job presenting such information, especially for the mid-60s, when just about everybody listened to their favorite AM radio station.

Coincidentally, Chuck Girard, one of the Castells, later became a member of the Hondells, who I wrote about earlier this month. I hope he’s enjoying all this belated publicity.


Little Hondas, the Record Business, Summer Fun and Advertising

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The Beach Boys recorded “Little Honda” in April 1964, when the Beatles occupied positions 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart (something nobody else has ever done). Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, “Little Honda” was released on the Beach Boys’ All Summer Long album in the summer of ’64.

Gary Usher (who had earlier written “In My Room” and “409” with Brian Wilson) heard the album and decided to include “Little Honda” on an album of car songs, mostly written by him and Roger Christian (who had written “Don’t Worry Baby” and “Little Deuce Coupe” with Brian Wilson).

Usher hired some studio musicians and singers to make the album, although it was supposedly recorded by the Hondells, a group that didn’t exist yet. Usher made up a story for the album cover explaining how the fictional Hondells had gotten together. In order to release “Little Honda” as a single, however, he needed a group to tour and promote the record, so four young men, one of whom had sung backing vocals on the song, became the real-life Hondells.

“Little Honda” was the only hit record the Hondells ever had, rising to #9 on the Billboard chart. Brian Wilson and the other Beach Boys went on to other things.

Here’s the Beach Boys’ version of “Little Honda”. I think that’s the late Dennis Wilson yelling “Go!” at the beginning. (From the advertising pictures in the video, it appears that young women weren’t supposed to drive Hondas in 1964, although they were encouraged to have fun and hang on tight.)

In 1997, the “alternative” rock band Yo La Tengo released their own “Little Honda” on their I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One album. It’s unlikely that anyone in Yo La Tengo ever had fun riding a Honda, but it’s a cool, rather disturbing version of the song.