External links
| Studio albums | |
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| Posthumous studio creations | |
| Live albums | |
| Notable compilations | |
| Billboard Hot 100 top 10 singles | |
| Other Billboard Charts #1 singles | |
| Grammy Awarded Works (not included above) | |
| See also | |
| "One Mint Julep" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by the Clovers | ||||
| B-side | "Middle Of The Night" | |||
| Released | March 1952 | |||
| Recorded | December 19, 1951 | |||
| Studio | Atlantic Studios, New York City | |||
| Genre | R&B | |||
| Length | 2:27 | |||
| Label | Atlantic | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Rudy Toombs | |||
| The Clovers singles chronology | ||||
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| "One Mint Julep" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Ray Charles | ||||
| from the album Genius + Soul = Jazz | ||||
| B-side | "Let's Go" | |||
| Released | February 1961 | |||
| Recorded | 1960 | |||
| Genre | Rhythm and blues | |||
| Length | 3:02 | |||
| Label | Impulse! | |||
| Ray Charles singles chronology | ||||
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"One Mint Julep" is a R&B song, written and composed by Rudy Toombs, that became a 1952 hit for the Clovers. [1] The song has received over 100 cover versions, both with lyrics and as an instrumental. [2]
"One Mint Julep" was recorded on the Atlantic Records label in New York City on December 19, 1951, and released in March 1952. It was one of the first "drinking songs" to become a hit and one of the first to feature a tenor saxophone solo. It was an important step in the history of Ahmet Ertegun and Atlantic Records in its quest to become a hot rhythm and blues label. [3] Stylistically, the Clovers were moving away from the sentimental lyrics of the romantic doo-wop group songs and adapting a cooler group style, emphasizing rhythm more, nearing the style of a jump blues combo. [4]
Toombs had been hired by the Atlantic Records label to write and compose humorous up-tempo rhythm and blues novelty songs. Atlantic wanted material that was true to life, but also funny. The humor in this song comes in part from the idea of a young black man getting drunk on mint juleps, traditionally thought of as an aristocratic southern white woman's drink. [3] The Atlantic B-side was "Middle of the Night" by "Nugetre", Ertegun spelled backwards.
The story line is a classic one of a man who falls for the charms of a young woman only to realize a few years later that he has a ring on his finger. He remembers that it all started with "One Mint Julep." [5] [1]
"One Mint Julep" was the first of several successful up-tempo drinking songs by Toombs, who went on to write and compose "One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer" for Amos Milburn, "Fat Back and Corn Likker" for Louis Jordan, and "Nip Sip" for the Clovers. [4]
In 1961 "One Mint Julep" finally reached a mass audience when Ray Charles's organ-and-big-band instrumental version reached No. 1 on the R&B charts, and also reached No. 8 on the pop chart. [3]
| Studio albums | |
|---|---|
| Posthumous studio creations | |
| Live albums | |
| Notable compilations | |
| Billboard Hot 100 top 10 singles | |
| Other Billboard Charts #1 singles | |
| Grammy Awarded Works (not included above) | |
| See also | |
Leiber and Stoller were an American Grammy award-winning songwriting and record production duo, consisting of lyricist Jerry Leiber and composer Mike Stoller. As well as many R&B and pop hits, they wrote numerous standards for Broadway.
Specialty Records was an American record label founded in Los Angeles in 1945 by Art Rupe. It was known for rhythm and blues, gospel, and early rock and roll, and recorded artists such as Little Richard, Guitar Slim, Percy Mayfield, and Lloyd Price. Rupe established the company under the name Juke Box Records but changed it to Specialty in 1946 when he parted company with a couple of his original partners. Rupe's daughter, Beverly, restarted the label in the 1980s.
Joseph Amos Milburn was an American R&B singer and pianist, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. One commentator noted, "Milburn excelled at good-natured, upbeat romps about booze and partying, imbued with a vibrant sense of humour and double entendre, as well as vivid, down-home imagery in his lyrics."
Checker Records is an inactive record label that was started in 1952 as a subsidiary of Chess Records in Chicago, Illinois. The label was founded by the Chess brothers, Leonard and Phil, who ran the label until they sold it to General Recorded Tape (GRT) in 1969, shortly before Leonard's death.
Smash Records was an American record label founded in 1961 as a subsidiary of Mercury Records by Mercury executive Shelby Singleton and run by Singleton with Charlie Fach. Fach took over after Singleton left Mercury in 1966. Its recording artists included Frankie Valli, James Brown, Bruce Channel, Roger Miller, The Left Banke, Bill Justis, and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Rama Records was a record label founded by George Goldner in 1953 in New York City. It recorded doo-wop groups such as The Crows and The Harptones.
Modern Records was an American record company and label formed in 1945 in Los Angeles by the Bihari brothers. Modern's artists included Etta James, Joe Houston, Little Richard, Ike & Tina Turner and John Lee Hooker. The label released some of the most influential blues and R&B records of the 1940s and 1950s.
The Clovers are an American rhythm and blues/doo-wop vocal group who became one of the biggest selling acts of the 1950s. They had a top 30 US hit in 1959 with the Leiber and Stoller song "Love Potion No. 9".
Jubilee Records was an American independent record label, specializing in rhythm and blues and novelty records. It was founded in New York City in 1946 by Herb Abramson. His partner was Jerry Blaine. Blaine bought Abramson's half of the company in 1947, when Abramson went on to co-found Atlantic Records with Ahmet Ertegun. The company name was Jay-Gee Recording Company, a subsidiary of the Cosnat Corporation. Cosnat was a wholesale record distributor.
Meteor Records was a Memphis-based R&B record label run by Lester Bihari, one of the Bihari brothers, owners of Modern Records in Los Angeles. Founded in 1952, the label was a bold experiment to broaden the talent base by focusing on signing and recording Southern regional talent by having recording studios locally available.
"Teardrops from My Eyes", written by Rudy Toombs, was the first upbeat major hit for Ruth Brown, establishing her as an important figure in rhythm and blues. Recorded for Atlantic Records in New York City in September 1950, and released in October, it was Billboard's number-one R&B hit for 11 non-consecutive weeks. It was Atlantic's first release on the new 45-rpm record format. The huge hit earned Brown the nickname "Miss Rhythm" and within a few months she became the acknowledged queen of R&B. "Teardrops from My Eyes" was her first of five number-one R&B hits.
Rudolph Toombs was an American performer and songwriter. He wrote "Teardrops from My Eyes", Ruth Brown's first number one R&B song, and other hit songs for her, including "5-10-15 Hours". He also wrote "One Mint Julep" for The Clovers.
"Searchin'" is a song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller specifically for the Coasters. Atco Records released it as a single in March 1957, which topped the R&B Chart for twelve weeks. It also reached number three on the Billboard singles chart.
"Work with Me, Annie" is a 12-bar blues song with words and music by Hank Ballard. It was recorded by Hank Ballard & the Midnighters in Cincinnati on the Federal Records label on January 14, 1954, and released the following month. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) immediately opposed it due to its overtly sexual lyrics, lyrics that had crossed over and were now being listened to by a white teenage audience. Because the record was in such demand and received so much publicity, attempts to restrict it failed and the record shot to number one on the R&B charts and remained there for seven weeks.
"Gee" is a song by American R&B and Doo-wop group the Crows, released in June 1953. The song has been credited as the first rock and roll hit by a rock and roll group. It is a doo-wop song, written by William Davis and Viola Watkins, and recorded by the Crows on the independent label, Rama Records, at Beltone Studios in New York City in February 1953. It charted in April 1954, one year later. It took a year to get recognized on Your Hit Parade. It landed No.2 on the rhythm and blues chart and No. 14 on the pop chart. It was the first 1950s doo-wop record to sell over one million records. Recorded on an independent label, it was one of the first such R&B records to crossover to the wider pop market. In fact, some, including Jay Warner, consider it as the first of the "rock n' roll records".
"Honey Hush", is a blues song, written by Big Joe Turner, recorded in May 1953 in New Orleans, Louisiana, and released that August by Atlantic Records. It was a number-one song on Billboard's Rhythm and Blues chart for eight weeks.
Excello Records was an American blues independent record label, started by Ernie Young in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, in 1953 as a subsidiary of Nashboro, a gospel label.
John Vincent Imbragulio, known as Johnny Vincent, was an American record producer for Art Rupe at Specialty Records. He founded Ace Records in 1955 in Jackson, Mississippi, 165 miles away from New Orleans. Although Vincent started out recording local blues musicians, in 1956 he branched out into New Orleans rhythm and blues and rock and roll. He signed Huey "Piano" Smith and his group, who were able to develop a New Orleans shuffle style distinct from the Fats Domino jumping boogie rhythm.
Groove Records was a subsidiary of RCA Victor records, founded by Billboard writer Bob Rolontz in 1953 as a rhythm and blues label. The label tried hard to break into the R&B market. Piano Red had its first hit but Mickey & Sylvia was its first big seller. The label also recorded King Curtis, Arthur Crudup, Brook Benton and George Benson. Following Mickey & Sylvia's big hit "Love Is Strange" in 1957, Groove was deactivated and its remaining artists switched over to RCA's Vik subsidiary.
"5-10-15 Hours" is a rhythm-and-blues song written by Rudy Toombs in 1952 for Ruth Brown and was one of several number-one R&B hits he wrote for her. When Brown was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, her induction said that "her best work was to be found on such red-hot mid-Fifties R&B sides as '5-10-15 Hours'".
