Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)

"Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)"
Single by Edward Byrnes and Connie Stevens
from the album Kookie Star of "77 Sunset Strip"
B-side	"You're the Top"
Released	March 1959 (1959-03)
Genre	Novelty
Length	2:05
Label	Warner Bros.
Songwriter(s)	Irving Taylor
Producer(s)	Karl Engemann
Edward Byrnes singles chronology
"Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)" (1959) "Like I Love You" (1959)
Connie Stevens singles chronology
"Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" (1959) "Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)" (1959) "Apollo" (1959)

"Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)" is a song written by Irving Taylor and performed by Edward Byrnes and Connie Stevens. The single was produced by Karl Engemann and arranged by Don Ralke, ^[1] and was featured on Byrnes' 1959 album, Kookie Star of "77 Sunset Strip". ^[2]

Background

It was based on Byrnes' character from the television show, 77 Sunset Strip . The song is mostly spoken, except when Kookie sings the bridge section: "I've got smog in my noggin' ever since you made the scene...", and makes use of Beatnik slang. Connie continually interrupts him, asking him to lend her his comb. When he finally asks her, "What's with this comb caper, baby?...", she says she wants him to stop combing his hair and kiss her. Kookie likes the sound of that, ending up saying, "Baby, you're the ginchiest!".

Chart performance

It reached No. 4 on the U.S. pop chart, No. 27 on the UK Singles Chart, and No. 30 on the U.S. R&B chart in 1959, ^[3] and ranked No. 37 on Billboard's Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1959. ^[4]

Other versions

• Spike Jones released a version of the song on his 1960 album 60 Years of "Music America Hates Best". ^[5]
• We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It released a version of the song on their 1986 album The Vindaloo Summer Special. ^[6]
• The band Anthrax performed an a cappella version of the song with Byrnes on an episode of the sitcom Married... with Children . ^[7]

Cultural References

Buying a copy of the song was the goal of the titular mummy on Bob McFadden's one hit wonder, The Mummy, also from 1959.

References

1. "Edward Byrnes and Connie Stevens, "Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)" Single Release". 45cat.com. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
2. "Edward Byrnes, Kookie Star of "77 Sunset Strip"". Discogs.com. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
3. "Edward Byrnes and Connie Stevens, "Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)" Chart Positions". Musicvf.com. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
4. "Billboard Top 100 - 1959". Longboredsurfer.com. Archived from the original on January 2, 2014. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
5. "Spike Jones, 60 Years of "Music America Hates Best"". Discogs.com. 1960. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
6. "We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It, The Vindaloo Summer Special". Discogs.com. 1986. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
7. "Anthrax's Charlie Benante Remembers Edd 'Kookie' Byrnes: "We had so much fun filming 'Married with Children' with him"…". Full in Bloom. 10 January 2020. Retrieved February 21, 2021.