Yakety Yak
Encyclopedia
"Yakety Yak" is a song written, produced, and arranged by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
for The Coasters
and released on Atlantic Records
in 1958
, spending seven weeks as number one on the R&B charts and a week as number one
on the Hot 100 pop list
"Yakety Yak" is a song written, produced, and arranged by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
for The Coasters
and released on Atlantic Records
in 1958
, spending seven weeks as number one on the R&B charts and a week as number one
on the Hot 100 pop list
"Yakety Yak" is a song written, produced, and arranged by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
for The Coasters
and released on Atlantic Records
in 1958
, spending seven weeks as number one on the R&B charts and a week as number one
on the Hot 100 pop list
. This song was one of a string of singles released by The Coasters between 1957 and 1959 that dominated the charts, one of the biggest performing acts of the rock and roll
era.
filled in hot, honking bursts in the up-tempo doo-wop style. The group was openly theatrical in style—they were not pretending to be expressing their own experience.
The threatened punishment for not taking out the garbage and sweeping the floor is, in the song's humorous lyrics:
And the refrain is:
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Jerome "Jerry" Leiber and Mike Stoller were American songwriting and record producing partners. Stoller was the composer and Leiber the lyricist. Their most famous songs include "Hound Dog", "Jailhouse Rock", "Kansas City", "Stand By Me" Jerome "Jerry" Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011)...
for The Coasters
The Coasters
The Coasters are an American rhythm and blues/rock and roll vocal group that had a string of hits in the late 1950s. Beginning with "Searchin'" and "Young Blood", their most memorable songs were written by the songwriting and producing team of Leiber and Stoller...
and released on Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
in 1958
1958 in music
-Events:*February - 45,000 peoplein one week watch performances of "rokabirī" music by Japanese singers at the first Nichigeki Western Carnival....
, spending seven weeks as number one on the R&B charts and a week as number one
Hot 100 number-one hits of 1958 (USA)
This is a list of number-one songs in the United States during the year 1958 according to Billboard magazine. Prior to the creation of the Hot 100, Billboard published multiple singles charts each week...
on the Hot 100 pop list
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
"Yakety Yak" is a song written, produced, and arranged by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Jerome "Jerry" Leiber and Mike Stoller were American songwriting and record producing partners. Stoller was the composer and Leiber the lyricist. Their most famous songs include "Hound Dog", "Jailhouse Rock", "Kansas City", "Stand By Me" Jerome "Jerry" Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011)...
for The Coasters
The Coasters
The Coasters are an American rhythm and blues/rock and roll vocal group that had a string of hits in the late 1950s. Beginning with "Searchin'" and "Young Blood", their most memorable songs were written by the songwriting and producing team of Leiber and Stoller...
and released on Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
in 1958
1958 in music
-Events:*February - 45,000 peoplein one week watch performances of "rokabirī" music by Japanese singers at the first Nichigeki Western Carnival....
, spending seven weeks as number one on the R&B charts and a week as number one
Hot 100 number-one hits of 1958 (USA)
This is a list of number-one songs in the United States during the year 1958 according to Billboard magazine. Prior to the creation of the Hot 100, Billboard published multiple singles charts each week...
on the Hot 100 pop list
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
"Yakety Yak" is a song written, produced, and arranged by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Jerome "Jerry" Leiber and Mike Stoller were American songwriting and record producing partners. Stoller was the composer and Leiber the lyricist. Their most famous songs include "Hound Dog", "Jailhouse Rock", "Kansas City", "Stand By Me" Jerome "Jerry" Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011)...
for The Coasters
The Coasters
The Coasters are an American rhythm and blues/rock and roll vocal group that had a string of hits in the late 1950s. Beginning with "Searchin'" and "Young Blood", their most memorable songs were written by the songwriting and producing team of Leiber and Stoller...
and released on Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
in 1958
1958 in music
-Events:*February - 45,000 peoplein one week watch performances of "rokabirī" music by Japanese singers at the first Nichigeki Western Carnival....
, spending seven weeks as number one on the R&B charts and a week as number one
Hot 100 number-one hits of 1958 (USA)
This is a list of number-one songs in the United States during the year 1958 according to Billboard magazine. Prior to the creation of the Hot 100, Billboard published multiple singles charts each week...
on the Hot 100 pop list
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. This song was one of a string of singles released by The Coasters between 1957 and 1959 that dominated the charts, one of the biggest performing acts of the rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
era.
Song
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. 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." The serio-comic street-smart “playlets” etched out by the songwriters were sung by the Coasters with a sly clowning humor, while the screaming saxophone of King CurtisKing Curtis
Curtis Ousley , who performed under the stage name King Curtis, was an American saxophone virtuoso known for rhythm and blues, rock and roll, soul, funk and soul jazz. Variously a bandleader, band member, and session musician, he was also a musical director and record producer...
filled in hot, honking bursts in the up-tempo doo-wop style. The group was openly theatrical in style—they were not pretending to be expressing their own experience.
The threatened punishment for not taking out the garbage and sweeping the floor is, in the song's humorous lyrics:
- "You ain't gonna rock and roll no more,"
And the refrain is:
- "Yakety yak, Don't talk back."
Popular culture
- Sha Na NaSha Na NaSha Na Na is an American rock and roll group. The name is taken from a part of the long series of nonsense syllables in the doo-wop hit song "Get a Job", originally recorded in 1957 by the Silhouettes....
performed this as part of their set at the original Woodstock FestivalWoodstock FestivalWoodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969... - The song has also been mixed & recorded by 2 Live Crew2 Live Crew2 Live Crew was a hip hop group from Miami, Florida. They caused considerable controversy with the sexual themes in their work, particularly on their 1989 album As Nasty As They Wanna Be.- Early career :...
for the movie Twins. In the same film, Julius (Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
) sings along, with hilarious results, as the song plays in his earphones while flying to the United States. - It has also served as the theme to Clive AndersonClive AndersonClive Anderson is a British former barrister, best known for being a comedy writer as well as a radio and television presenter in the United Kingdom...
's chat-show Clive Anderson Talks Back during the 1990s, and as the opening theme of the movie, The Great OutdoorsThe Great OutdoorsThe Great Outdoors was an Australian travel magazine series broadcast on the Seven Network.-History:Similar to its competitors Getaway and So Many Worlds, the program featured a team of reporters who travelled around Australia and overseas, reporting on travel destinations, tourist attractions and...
. - In 2002, Nickelodeon made a series based on the song named Yakkity YakYakkity YakYakkity Yak is a television program that ran on Nickelodeon from November 9 to December 12, 2003. Yakkity Yak was canceled on December 11 with 26 episodes, due to a generally low fanbase. The episode "Fairy Yakkity" was declared as the final episode on Nickelodeon...
.
See also
- List of number-one R&B singles of 1958 (U.S.)
- List of number-one singles of 1958 (U.S.)