Was this the first song in rock 'n roll history where you could actually hear the bass drum thumpin'? Frank Guida sure knew how to record a song that sounds like it was made at a party!
This song always reminds me of when I was in jr. high. Went to a party at someone's house on a hot summer night. Only about 8 or maybe 10 people were invited. But the word got out and the party got crashed by what must have ended up being somewhere between 50 and 75 and I swear half of them were sailors. This record was playing on the "hi-fi" at full blast, over and over and over, the entire place was pulsing. People were crowded into the home like shoulder-to-shoulder, the walls were literally sweating, people dancing and drinking and singing and everyone echoing the call-and-response lyrics at the top of their lungs. I said a-hey-a-hey-a-hey-yeah! When you're a 14 yr old kid in 1960 you don't soon (or ever, in my case) forget a scene like that.
The good 'ol days....Love this song!! We used to dance to it all the time at the Friday teen dances at the VFW. (Yes, back then they had dances for the kids)...... good times!
This was referred to as the Norfolk sound.
Recorded in a studio located in the basement of a record store in Norfolk, VA owned by Frank Guida, who also produced it.