"Jennie Lee" is a song whose music was composed and written by

Jan Berry Jan and Dean was an American rock duo consisting of William Jan Berry (April 3, 1941 – March 26, 2004) and Dean Ormsby Torrence (born March 10, 1940). In the early 1960s, they were pioneers of the California Sound and vocal surf music styles ...

and Arnie Ginsburg, which was recorded by Jan and Arnie. Jan & Arnie were the precursor to

Jan & Dean Jan and Dean was an American rock duo consisting of William Jan Berry (April 3, 1941 – March 26, 2004) and Dean Ormsby Torrence (born March 10, 1940). In the early 1960s, they were pioneers of the California Sound and vocal surf music styles ...

. The song was recorded and released as the band's first single in April, 1958. The B-side of the single is "Gotta Getta Date". "Jennie Lee" reached No. 3 on the Cash Box charts on June 21, 1958, and No. 8 on the Billboard charts on June 30, 1958. This is generally regarded as the earliest example of elements that would become instrumental in the famous California sound of surf pop in the '60s.

Composition

After being inspired by a poster featuring a local

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

burlesque performer, Virginia Lee Hicks, who was then performing as Jennie Lee, the "Bazoom Girl", at the New Follies Burlesk at 548 S. Main Street, Los Angeles, Ginsburg wrote a tribute song, "Jennie Lee", that he brought to Berry and Torrence. Arnold P. Ginsburg, from Wisconsin, grew up in West Los Angeles, and was a school friend of Jan Berry. He is sometimes confused with the

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

radio DJ Arnie "Woo Woo" Ginsburg, but is unrelated. Berry adapted the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

tune "

Aura Lea "Aura Lea" (sometimes spelled "Aura Lee") is an American Civil War song about a maiden. It was written by W. W. Fosdick (lyrics) and George R. Poulton (music). The melody was used in Elvis Presley's 1956 hit song " Love Me Tender". History \n ...

" and arranged the harmonies. After weeks of practice, Berry, Ginsburg, and Torrence planned to make a

demo recording A demo (shortened from "demonstration") is a song or group of songs typically recorded for limited circulation or for reference use, rather than for general public release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas in a fixed for ...

in Berry's garage, but Torrence was conscripted into the

United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a Military reserve force, reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed F ...

, forcing Berry and Ginsburg to record "Jennie Lee" without Torrence,Ben Marcus, ''Surfing USA!: An Illustrated History of the Coolest Sport of All Time'' (MVP Books, 2005):89. with Berry's friend and fellow University High student Donald J. Altfeld (born March 18, 1940, in Los Angeles, California) "belting out the rhythm on a children's metal high chair". The next day Berry took their recording to Radio Recorders, a small

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enoug ...

, to have it transferred to an

acetate disc An acetate disc (also known as a ''lacquer'', ''test acetate'', ''dubplate'', or ''transcription disc'') is a type of phonograph record generally used from the 1930s to the late 1950s for recording and broadcast purposes and still in limited use t ...

.Kent Hartman, ''The Wrecking Crew: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Best-Kept Secret'', 64. Joe Lubin, Vice President and Head of

A & R Artists and repertoire (colloquially abbreviated to A&R) is the division of a record label or music publishing company that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists (singers, instrumentalist ...

Doris Day Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress, singer, and activist. She began her career as a big band singer in 1939, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, " Sent ...

and

Martin Melcher Martin Melcher (August 1, 1915 – April 20, 1968) was an American motion picture and music executive. He was married to popular singer and actress Doris Day, with whom he owned a series of business ventures named Arwin. Melcher produced severa ...

Arwin Records Arwin Records was an American label that operated from the late-1950s to mid-1960s. Artists to have releases on the label include Dave Barbour and his Orchestra Hadda Brooks, Mel Carter, The Cascades (band), The Cascades, Doris Day, Jan & Arnie, D ...

, was impressed and offered to add instruments and to release it through Arwin. In March 1958 the fathers of Berry and Ginsburg signed contracts authorizing Lubin to produce, arrange, and manage their sons. Berry and Ginsburg, now christened "Jan & Arnie", re-recorded their vocals on a professional recording system. Produced by Lubin, "Jennie Lee" (Arwin 108), backed with "Gotta Get a Date" (credited to Ginsburg, Berry & Lubin), became a surprise commercial success. According to Berry's biographer Mark A. Moore, "The song (with backing vocals, plus additional instruments added by the Ernie Freeman combo) had a raucous R&B flavor, with a bouncing bomp-bomp vocal hook that would become a signature from Jan on future recordings." Distributed by

Dot Records Dot Records was an American record label founded by Randy Wood (record producer), Randy Wood and Gene Nobles that was active between 1950 and 1978. The original headquarters of Dot Records were in Gallatin, Tennessee. In 1956, the company moved ...

, "Jennie Lee" was released in mid-April, entered the charts on May 10, 1958, the same day they appeared on

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's '' Dick Clark Show''. "Jennie Lee" peaked at No. 3 on the

Cash Box charts ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

on June 21, 1958, No. 4 on the

R&B charts The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

, and No. 8 on the

Billboard charts The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in '' Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

on June 30, 1958. Billy Ward and his Dominoes's R&B cover of "Jennie Lee" reached No. 55 in the Pop charts in June 1958, while other cover versions including that of

Moon Mullican Aubrey Wilson Mullican (March 29, 1909 – January 1, 1967), known professionally as Moon Mullican and nicknamed "King of the Hillbilly Piano Players", was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and pianist. He was associated with t ...

(Coral 9-61994) and Bobby Phillips & the Toppers (Tops 45-R422-49), released in 1958 failed to chart.

Charts

Covers

Shortly after Jan and Arnie's version was released, Billy Ward and his Dominoes came out with a cover that charted at number 55 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and placed at 14 on the US R&B charts. In 1962 Jan & Dean recorded a version of the song on their album ''Jan & Dean Golden Hits''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jennie Lee 1958 songs 1958 debut singles Jan and Dean songs Songs written by Jan Berry