Yakety Yak

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"Yakety Yak"
A-side label of the U.S. vinyl single
Single by the Coasters
B-side"Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart"
ReleasedApril 1958
RecordedMarch 17, 1958
GenreRock and roll
Length1:52
LabelAtco 6116
Songwriter(s)Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller
Producer(s)Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller
The Coasters singles chronology
"Gee, Golly"
(1958)
"Yakety Yak"
(1958)
"The Shadow Knows"
(1958)
Music video
"Yakety Yak" (2007 Remaster) on YouTube

"Yakety Yak" is a song written, produced, and arranged by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller for the Coasters and released on Atco Records in 1958, spending seven weeks as #1 on the R&B charts and a week as number one on the Top 100 pop list.[1] This song was one of a string of singles released by the Coasters between 1957 and 1959 that dominated the charts, making them one of the biggest performing acts of the rock and roll era.[2]

Song[edit]

The song is a "playlet," a word Stoller used for the glimpses into teenage life that characterized the songs Leiber and Stoller wrote and produced.[3] The lyrics describe the listing of household chores to a kid, presumably a teenager, the teenager's response ("yakety yak") and the parents' retort ("don't talk back") — an experience very familiar to a middle-class teenager of the day. Leiber has said the Coasters portrayed "a white kid’s view of a black person’s conception of white society."[2] The serio-comic street-smart "playlets" etched out by the songwriters were sung by the Coasters with a sly, clowning humor, while the tenor saxophone of King Curtis filled in, in the up-tempo doo-wop style. The group was openly "theatrical" in style — they were not pretending to be expressing their own experience.[4]

The threatened punishment for not taking out the garbage and sweeping the floor is, in the song's humorous lyrics:[5]

"You ain't gonna rock and roll no more,"

And the refrain is:

"Yakety yak. Don't talk back."[6]

In the last verse, the parents order their son to tell his "hoodlum friend" outside in the car, that he will not be allowed to go out with him at all for a ride.

Personnel[edit]

Source: [7]

Cover versions[edit]

  • Québécois duo Les Jérolas recorded in 1959 a French version, subtitled "Rouspet' pas", for the RCA Victor label.[9]
  • Billy Sanders recorded a version in German, "Jackety Jack" in early 1959.[10]
  • The song was covered by Jan & Dean and was planned to be released on their album Carnival of Sound in 1968. Carnival of Sound was not released until 2010.
  • Lee Perry released a cover version in 1969 (as Lee Perry and the Upsetters), altering the lyric "You ain't gonna rock and roll no more" to "You ain't gonna reggae reggae reggae no more"
  • Sha Na Na performed this as part of their set at the original Woodstock Festival and recorded two live covers of the song in 1971 and 1972.
  • The Pipkins covered the song in 1970, produced by John Burgess.
  • Bloodstone covered the song in 1975 for their movie Train Ride to Hollywood. In the movie,"Yakety Yak" is performed at a Bloodstone concert by Bloodstone's opening act, "the Sinceres." The Sinceres are in fact played by Bloodstone themselves; they had called themselves the Sinceres before changing their name.
  • Electronic/disco group El Coco covered this song in 1975 with some comedy elements, taken from their debut album, Mondo Disco, released on AVI Records.
  • Czech band Rangers performed a sketch accompanied by their version "Někdy ty, někdy já" then recorded it in 1978 for the LP Plavci na Poříčí.
  • The song was covered by 2 Live Crew for the 1988 movie Twins. In the film, Julius (Arnold Schwarzenegger) sings along as the song plays in his earphones while flying to the United States.
  • Phantom Planet covered this song for the soundtrack of the 1999 film Mumford.

Parodies and alternate lyrics[edit]

Other uses in popular culture[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 125.
  2. ^ a b "The Coasters". Rock Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 2006-10-17. Retrieved 2006-11-08.
  3. ^ Henke, James; DeCurtis, Anthony (1980). The RollingStone: The Definitive History of the Most Important Artists and Their Music ((3rd Ed.) ed.). New York, N.Y.: Random House, Inc. p. 98. ISBN 0-679-73728-6.
  4. ^ Matos, Michaelangelo (April 13, 2005). "Yakety Yak". Seattle Weekly. Retrieved 2006-11-08.
  5. ^ Friedlander, Paul (1996). Rock and Roll: A social history. Boulder, CO: Westview Press (Harper Collins). p. 66. ISBN 0-8133-2725-3.
  6. ^ Leiber & Stoller interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (1969)
  7. ^ The Coasters: The Complete Singles As & Bs 1954-62, Acrobat Licensing LTD., ADDCCD3180, 2016, UK
  8. ^ "The Cowboy and the Dandy".
  9. ^ "Les JEROLAS".
  10. ^ Billboard, "Yakety Yak" goes Teutonic" March 30, 1959
  11. ^ "The Show Band that Wouldn't Die". Houston Press, June 30, 2005.
  12. ^ Boots Randolph, Boots Randolph's Yakety Sax! Retrieved February 6, 2015
  13. ^ "The Great Outdoors (1988) - Soundtracks". IMDb. Retrieved 2009-03-13.
  14. ^ Yakkity Yak Intro. YouTube. January 12, 2011. Archived from the original on 2021-12-13.
  15. ^ "Mark Shuttleworth » Blog Archive » Y is for…". www.markshuttleworth.com. Retrieved 2016-11-02.
  16. ^ "Paul Bettany on 'WandaVision' Stakes: "It Can't Stay That Way Forever"". The Hollywood Reporter. 14 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2021.