"Shoppin' for Clothes" is a

novelty Novelty (derived from Latin word ''novus'' for "new") is the quality of being new, or following from that, of being striking, original or unusual. Novelty may be the shared experience of a new cultural phenomenon or the subjective perception of an ...

R&B song in the

talking blues Talking blues is a form of folk music and country music. It is characterized by rhythmic speech or near-speech where the melody is free, but the rhythm is strict. Christopher Allen Bouchillon, billed as "The Talking Comedian of the South", is cr ...

style, recorded by American vocal group

the Coasters The Coasters are an American rhythm and blues/rock and roll vocal group who had a string of hits in the late 1950s. Beginning with " Searchin'" and " Young Blood" in 1957, their most memorable songs were written by the songwriting and producin ...

in 1960. Originally credited to Elmo Glick, a songwriting

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller Lyricist Jerome Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and composer Michael Stoller (born March 13, 1933) were American songwriting and record producing partners. They found success as the writers of such crossover hit songs as " Hound Dog" ( ...

, who also produced the track, it was partly based on the 1956 song "Clothes Line (Wrap It Up)", written by

Kent Harris Kent Levaughn Harris (October 15, 1930 – April 9, 2019) was an American songwriter and record producer, who is best known as the writer of novelty tunes such as " Shoppin' for Clothes" (a hit for The Coasters, credited to Harris, Leiber and S ...

and recorded by him as Boogaloo and his Gallant Crew. Harris later received a co-writing credit on "Shoppin' for Clothes."

Background and recording

Jerry Leiber conceived the idea for the recording when

Billy Guy Billy Guy (June 20, 1936 – November 5, 2002) was an American singer, best known as a lead singer for the Coasters. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. Biography Born Frank Phillips in Texas, Guy is best known as a memb ...

of the Coasters told him about a song he had heard on the radio, about a man shopping for clothes. Guy had remembered some of the lyrics, but not the song title or singer. Leiber failed to track down the original recording, and created some new lyrics on the same theme, incorporating the lines that Guy had remembered. Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, David Ritz, ''Hound Dog: The Leiber & Stoller Autobiography'', Simon and Schuster, 2010, pp.133-135
/ref> Matt Powell, "Buddy, that Suit is You: Shopping for Clothes with Kent “Boogaloo” Harris", ''Humor In America'', 28 February 2014
Retrieved 30 March 2016 Both songs had the same introductory lines: The song continues with the singer being shown various expensive, stylish suits while demonstrating his deep knowledge of men's fashions of 1960, eventually selecting several and then telling the merchant to "go get that paper so I can sign on the dotted line", but subsequently being told, "I’m sorry my man, but your credit didn’t go through”, and taunting him with "That’s a suit you’ll never own." The hapless shopper laments "It's a shame and me with a good job, sweeping up every day!". Stoller wrote and arranged the music, at a slower tempo than Harris' earlier song, and the group recorded the track on July 29, 1960, at

Atlantic Studios Atlantic Studios was the recording studio of Atlantic Records. Although this recording studio was located at 1841 Broadway (at the corner of 60th Street), in New York City, Atlantic Recording Studios was initially located at 234 West 56th Street fr ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. In reciting the dialogue, Guy took the part of the shopper and bass singer Will "Dub" Jones was the salesman. Other musicians were group members

Carl Gardner Carl Edward Gardner (April 29, 1928 – June 12, 2011) was an American singer, best known as the foremost member and founder of The Coasters. Known for the 1958 song "Yakety Yak", which spent a week as Hot 100 number-one hits of 1958 (USA), numbe ...

and

Cornell Gunter Cornell Gunter (November 14, 1936 – February 26, 1990) was an American rhythm and blues singer, most active in the 1950s and 1960s. He was born in Coffeyville, Kansas, and died in Las Vegas, Nevada, after being shot in his automobile. He was ind ...

, with Stoller (piano),

King Curtis Curtis Ousley (born Curtis Montgomery; February 7, 1934 – August 13, 1971), known professionally as King Curtis, was an American saxophonist who played rhythm and blues, jazz, and rock and roll. A bandleader, band member, and session musician ...

(tenor sax),

Sonny Forriest Elbert McKinley "Sonny" Forriest (May 21, 1934 – January 10, 1999) was an American guitar player. He is best known for playing guitar for The Coasters. Biography Forriest was born in Pendleton, North Carolina in 1934. During the Korean War, For ...

and

Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (born Harvey Philip Spector; December 26, 1939January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by ...

(guitars), Wendell Marshall (bass), and

Gary Chester Gary Chester (born Cesario Gurciullo; October 27, 1924 – August 17, 1987) was an American studio drummer, author, and teacher. Beginning in the 1960s, he played on hundreds of records for bands such as The Coasters, The Monkees, and The Lovin ...

(drums). Writer Matt Powell said that "Guy’s... vocal performance as the hapless customer is a subtle, nuanced, self-deprecating hipster tour de force", and "King Curtis’ sly, playful, warm and flirty sax lines accentuate Stoller’s minimalist, stuttering groove bed".

Phil Hardy Philip Hardy (born 9 April 1973) is an English-born former Ireland under-21 footballer who played as a left-back. With Welsh club Wrexham from 1990 to 2001, he played more than 450 games under manager Brian Flynn. He was named on the PFA ...

called the track "the coolest—and blackest—sounding of he Coasters'Atlantic recordings."

Release and legacy

Released by

Atco Records ATCO Records is an American record label founded in 1955. It is owned by Warner Music Group and operates as an imprint of Atlantic Records. After several decades of dormancy and infrequent activity under alternating Warner Music labels, the comp ...

in September 1960, the record reached no higher than number 83 on the '' Billboard'' Hot 100. After Harris' publishing company, American Music, alleged copyright infringement, an out-of-court settlement gave Harris sole writing credit. Some later copies of the record were titled "Clothes Line (Wrap It Up)" (Harris' original title), with a writing credit given to Harris. Adding to the confusion, some 1961 copies with the "Clothes Line" title are mispressed, and actually play the song "Silver Dollar", performed by Barry Darvell. In live performances, the Coasters would place a clothes rack on stage, and dramatize the song.

References

{{The Coasters songs 1960 singles Songs written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller The Coasters songs 1960 songs Atco Records singles Songs about consumerism