Kal Mann
Kal Mann (born Kalman Cohen; May 6, 1917 – November 28, 2001) - accessed June 2010 was an American
Bernie Lowe
Bernard Lowe (born Lowenthal, November 22, 1917 – September 1, 1993) was an American songwriter, record producer, arranger, pianist and bandleader.
Born in Philadelphia, Lowe started Teen Records and in 1955 was working with Freddie Bell and t ...
, and performed by
Dee Dee Sharp
Dee Dee Sharp (born Dione LaRue; September 9, 1945, in Philadelphia) is an American R&B singer, who began her career recording as a backing vocalist in 1961.
Career
Although Sharp had been playing the piano from an early age and directed chur ...
, with backing vocals by
The Orlons
The Orlons are an American R&B group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that formed in 1960. The group won gold discs for three of their singles.
Career
The quartet consisted of lead singer Rosetta Hightower (June 23, 1944 – August 2, 2014), Sh ...
, on her debut album ''
It's Mashed Potato Time
''It's Mashed Potato Time'' is the debut album by Dee Dee Sharp. It was released on Cameo Records in May 1962.
Track listing
References
{{Authority control
1962 debut albums
Cameo Records albums
Dee Dee Sharp albums ...
''. The song refers to the
Mashed Potato
Mashed potato or mashed potatoes (American and Canadian English), colloquially known as mash (British English), is a dish made by mashing boiled or steamed potatoes, usually with added milk, butter, salt and pepper. It is generally served as a ...
dance move, which was a fad. It was one of several songs that at that time that referenced the dance, another being
James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the hono ...
The Marvelettes
The Marvelettes were an American girl group that achieved popularity in the early to mid-1960s. They consisted of schoolmates Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart (now Cowart Motley), and Georgia Dobbins, who wa ...
song "
Please Mr. Postman
"Please Mr. Postman" is a song written by Georgia Dobbins, William Garrett, Freddie Gorman, Brian Holland and Robert Bateman. It is the debut single by the Marvelettes for the Tamla (Motown) label, notable as the first Motown song to reach the ...
" is mentioned in the lyrics and is copied in the arrangement. Also mentioned in the lyrics are the songs "
The Lion Sleeps Tonight
"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" is a song originally written and recorded by Solomon Linda under the title "Mbube" for the South African Gallo Record Company in 1939. Linda's original was written in isiZulu, while the English version's lyrics were wri ...
" by
the Tokens
The Tokens were an American doo-wop band and record production company group from Brooklyn, New York City. The group has had four top 40 hits on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, all in the 1960s, their biggest being the chart-topping 1961 hit si ...
and "
Dear Lady Twist
"Dear Lady Twist" is a song written and produced by Frank Guida, and performed by Gary U.S. Bonds. It reached #5 on the U.S. R&B chart and #9 on the U.S. pop chart in 1962. It was featured on his 1962 album ''Twist Up Calypso''.
The song rank ...
" by Gary U.S. Bonds. Sharp recorded a sequel to "Mashed Potato Time" called "Gravy (For My Mashed Potatoes)".
In 1996 the
Campbell Soup Company
Campbell Soup Company, trade name, doing business as Campbell's, is an American processed food and snack company. The company is most closely associated with its flagship canned soup products; however, through mergers and acquisitions, it has gro ...
featured the song in a $30 million advertising campaign, using a new, more upbeat recording by Sharp.
In 2009, the song appeared in the video game Just Dance as a playable track.
In
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...
, it appeared in a
TV commercial
A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...
for
AirBNB
Airbnb, Inc. ( ), based in San Francisco, California, operates an online marketplace focused on short-term homestays and experiences. The company acts as a broker and charges a commission from each booking. The company was founded in 2008 b ...
.
Chart performance
The song reached No. 1 on the '' Cashbox'' Top 100 and ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...
'' R&B charts in 1962, as well as No. 2 on the ''Billboard''
Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...
chart. It was kept from the No. 1 spot by "
Soldier Boy
Soldier Boy is the name of three superhero characters in the comic book series '' Herogasm'' and '' The Boys'', created by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. The first character introduced (the second successor to the mantle, made by Vought along ...
" by
The Shirelles
The Shirelles were an American girl group formed in Passaic, New Jersey in 1957. They consisted of schoolmates Shirley Owens (later Shirley Alston Reeves), Doris Coley (later Doris Kenner-Jackson), Addie "Micki" Harris (later Addie Harris McFad ...
. ''Billboard'' ranked it as the No. 3 song for 1962. It became a
gold record
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...
.
Cover versions
*
Dick and Dee Dee
Dick and Dee Dee (or Dick and Deedee) is an American singer-songwriter duo that reached popularity in the early to mid-1960s. The group was founded by California classmates Richard Gosting and Mary Sperling. They eventually changed their names t ...
released a version of the song on their 1962 album ''Tell Me - The Mountain's High''.
* Dee Dee Ramone, as Dee Dee King, recorded a hip hop version of the song, with new lyrics, on his 1989 album ''
Standing in the Spotlight
''Standing in the Spotlight'' is the first solo studio album by Dee Dee Ramone released in 1989, under the rap moniker Dee Dee King. The album is sometimes considered to be one of the biggest failures in recording history.
Musically, the son ...
'', with
Debbie Harry
Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981.
Born in ...
on backing vocals.
Bobby "Boris" Pickett's " Monster Mash," released a few months after "Mashed Potato Time", was written in part as a parody of Dee Dee Sharp's record, even copying the "whaa-oo" backing vocal.