'Yakety Yak': Hear hits by The Coasters live again

The 1950s was the decade when rock music was young, as Elton John and Bernie Taupin noted in their classic song “Crocodile Rock.”

Supposedly that song title was inspired by “See You Later, Alligator” and “Rock Around The Clock,” the ‘50s hit singles of the “Father of Rock and Roll” Bill Haley.

At the forefront of the ‘50s hit makers was a group called The Coasters partly formed by Carl Gardner and Bobby Nunn, two members of the West Coast group The Robins, based in Los Angeles.

The Robins in 1955 had a hit called “Smokey Joe’s Café,” co-authored by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller who would later write many hits of Elvis Presley. It later would be the title of a long-running Broadway musical that features many of The Coasters’ hits.

Because Gardner and Nunn moved from the West Coast to the East Coast to record for New York City-based Atlantic Records, their new group became The Coasters.

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Down through the years there have been many versions of The Coasters touring the world at the same time with one of them being called “Cornell Gunter’s Coasters” created by a popular member.

You have two opportunities to see this particular group in action this weekend at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6, at the Hardin Auditorium in Evans and 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 8, at the Newberry (S.C.) Opera House.

But don’t look for any of the original four Coasters to be on stage (Gardner, Nunn, Billy Guy and Leon Hughes) and certainly not Gunter himself who sang tenor. He was shot and killed in his car stopped at an intersection in Las Vegas in 1990 and his assailant was never caught. His funeral expenses reportedly were paid by Sammy Davis Jr. and Bill Cosby.

What particularly characterized The Coasters and earned them an early spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were their story-telling lyrics told about unique characters.

My personal favorite is “Little Egypt” about the housewife who had been a sexy, exotic dancer:

“She did a triple somersault and, when she hit the ground, she winked at the audience and then she turned around. She had a picture of a cowboy tattooed on her spine saying Phoenix, Arizona, nineteen forty-nine.”

Their song “Poison Ivy” about a woman who came on like a rose but attached herself to her victims noted, “You’re gonna need an ocean of calamine lotion. You'll be scratchin' like a hound the minute you start to mess around!”

Right off the bat The Coasters scored on the music charts with double-sided hits on their 45-rpm vinyl record that had “Searchin’ (Gonna Find Her) on the A-side and “Young Blood” on the flip B-side.

The A-side is what the record producers wanted the disc jockeys to play, but the radio announcers often would play the other side. And that’s how a lot of major hits came about because the record spinners and listening public preferred the secondary recording.

But it was their song about a class clown in school causing tons of trouble throwing spit balls that made The Coasters truly world famous with their song “Charlie Brown” that went:

“Who walks in the classroom, cool and slow? Who calls the English teacher Daddy-O?”

King Curtis, the legendary saxophonist who also died tragically, provided the memorable sound on The Coasters’ hit “Yakety Yak (Don’t Talk Back)” with some of the parental-theme lyrics noting:

“Take out the papers and the trash, or you don't get no spendin' cash. If you don't scrub that kitchen floor, you ain't gonna rock and roll no more.”

Western-theme programs were extremely popular on black-and-white television sets in the 1950s and early 1960s when The Coasters sang in “Along Came Jones” about a heroine named Sweet Sue who was trapped in an old sawmill by a gunslinger named Salty Sam.

Mean ole Sam said to Sue with an evil laugh, “If you don't give me the deed to your ranch, I'll saw you all in half!"

But at the last minute before being cut in half by the sawmill blade, she was rescued by an unlikely hero as the lyrics recalled:

“And then along came Jones. Tall, thin Jones. Slow-walkin' Jones. Slow-talkin' Jones. Along came long, lean, lanky Jones.”

The Coasters' last big hit single in 1971 was about a woman who made an amazing drink called “Love Potion No. 9” that would guarantee you a romantic evening long before anyone ever heard about “date rape” liquids:

“She bent down and turned around and gave me a wink. She said, ‘I'm gonna mix it up right here in the sink.’ It smelled like turpentine and looked like Indian ink. I held my nose. I closed my eyes. I took a drink.”

And about the time The Coasters were climbing the charts, so was a teenage girl who had been discovered by Grand Ole Opry star Red Foley (Pat Boone’s father in law) in February of 1956 in Augusta’s Bell Auditorium.

That was, of course, Brenda Lee who became the only singer inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Country Music Association’s Hall of Fame and the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.

She cut her musical teeth singing live on WRDW television’s Peach Blossom Special variety show and performing at local movie theaters and school auditoriums.

Lee and her mother would catch a bus in downtown Augusta; ride more than 800 miles one way to Springfield, Mo.; sing a song or two on Foley’s “Ozark Jubilee” nationally-broadcast TV show; and then ride a bus all the way back home to Augusta before Lee resumed local school classes the next week.

Her long, long, long list of hits would include “I’m Sorry,” “Break It To Me Gently,” “All Alone Am I,” “Dum, Dum,” “(Am I) Fool Number One?” “Too Many Rivers,” “(Am I) Losing You?”, “Johnny One Time,” “Coming On Strong,” “I Want To Be Wanted,” “That’s All You Gotta Do” and, of course, the holiday standards “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” and “Jingle Bell Rock.”

She is being honored by the Georgia Public Broadcasting System with its first “Legend Award” this weekend in Atlanta’s Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. NE.

There will be a dinner and dance beginning at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, with tickets costing $125.

You can say hello to the star at the pre-dinner meet and greet at 6 p.m. with tickets costing $250.

Visit gpb.org/brendalee, email Lenora Dyer at ldyer@gpb.org or call Dyer at (404) 685-2608.

Saying Goodbye To Jerry Goff: The 84-year old founder in 1971 of the Southern-gospel group The Singing Goffs, which often appeared in this area, died in Atlanta on July 12.

He had gained international fame with The Thrasher Brothers and was known for his trumpet playing. Goff also was a board member of the Gospel Music Association and in 2002 was inducted into the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame in Pigeon Forge, Tenn.

Reach out to Ramblin’ Rhodes at don.rhodes@morris.com.

In concert

Who: Cornell Gunter’s Coasters

When: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 6

Where: Hardin Auditorium, Evans

Tickets: $42.95; (706) 726-0366, augustaamusements.com

Of note: A second show is at 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 8, at the Newberry (S.C.) Opera House; (803) 276-6264, newberryoperahouse.com