written and produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller

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Now here’s a classic, a golden oldie with a title punch everyone

knows... somehow, even I in my young years. When I was little, I

really liked the almost as old song “Stand By Me” by The Drifters’

Ben E. King, which had just seen a resurgence thanks to the 1986

Stephen King-written and Rob Reiner-directed movie of the same

name. My parents bought me the soundtrack on cassette. August ’86, issued from Atlantic Records... and when I later got it on CD, I noted that this had to be the shortest full-length album or soundtrack I’d ever seen. Ten songs, from the ’50s and very very early ’60s, including that covered on this page, and a total of barely 25 minutes. Of course, those were the days when pop and rock songs were very brief, barely two minutes.

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“Yakety Yak”’s one of the big songs for the American rock ‘n’ roll/rhythm ‘n’ blues/doo-wop group The Coasters, together especially with “Charlie Brown,” a song from the following year (and yes, “Charlie”

Monroe Schulz had gotten Peanuts off the ground by now, so not to be confused). As for “Yakety Yak” here, it became something of a “parody playlet,” mere satire on the group’s part rather than an actual statement on urban life. “King Curtis” Ousley lent his distinctive sax which became the practical nucleus of the entire song. It also inspired the spin-off “Yakety Sax” by Boots Randolph a few years later, the version of the song to which British comedian Benny Hill ended up owing a huge chunk of his career.

 

P.S. In my numbering system, when I reached #1,950, I began taking songs from the corresponding years and using them for those song numbers. These songs are particularly big, quintessential, and/or era-defining songs from their respective years. I.e., song #1,950 is a quintessential song from the year 1950, #1,951 was a song from 1951, etc. And being from 1958, “Yakety Yak” by The Coasters is #1,958.

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P.P.S. This page is another tribute, date-wise—but not a birthday in this case, but rather the alternative. Carl Gardner, founder and frontman of The Coasters, passed away on June 12th, 2011, near-precisely one exact decade ago today. RIP Carl, 4/29/28 to 6/12/11.

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Have notes to add? Let me know!

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YT:

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