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Get a Job (song)

 

 
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Get a Job (song)
 
 
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"Get a Job" is one of the best known doo-wop
Doo-wop

Doo-wop is a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music, which developed in African-American communities in the 1940s and which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s the 1960s....
 songs of the 1950s. Recorded by The Silhouettes
The Silhouettes

The Silhouettes were an United States doo wop/Rhythm and blues group whose single "Get a Job " was a #1 chart-topper on the Billboard R&B singles chart and pop music singles record chart in 1958....
 in October 1957, the song reached the #1 spot on the Billboard
Billboard

Billboard is a weekly United States magazine devoted to the music industry. It maintains several internationally recognized Record chart that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis....
 pop and R&B singles charts in February 1958.

"When I was in the service in the early 1950s and didn't come home and go to work my mother said 'Get A Job' and basically that's where the song came from", said tenor Richard Lewis, who wrote the lyrics. The four members shared the credit, jointly creating the sha na na and dip dip dip dip hooks later imitated by other doo-wop groups.

The song was recorded at Robinson Recording Laboratories in Philadelphia in October 1957.






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"Get a Job" is one of the best known doo-wop
Doo-wop

Doo-wop is a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music, which developed in African-American communities in the 1940s and which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s the 1960s....
 songs of the 1950s. Recorded by The Silhouettes
The Silhouettes

The Silhouettes were an United States doo wop/Rhythm and blues group whose single "Get a Job " was a #1 chart-topper on the Billboard R&B singles chart and pop music singles record chart in 1958....
 in October 1957, the song reached the #1 spot on the Billboard
Billboard

Billboard is a weekly United States magazine devoted to the music industry. It maintains several internationally recognized Record chart that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis....
 pop and R&B singles charts in February 1958.

"When I was in the service in the early 1950s and didn't come home and go to work my mother said 'Get A Job' and basically that's where the song came from", said tenor Richard Lewis, who wrote the lyrics. The four members shared the credit, jointly creating the sha na na and dip dip dip dip hooks later imitated by other doo-wop groups.

The song was recorded at Robinson Recording Laboratories in Philadelphia in October 1957. Rollie McGill played the saxophone break and the arranger was Howard Biggs. It was released on the Junior label and subsequently licensed to Ember for national distribution.

The Silhouettes performed the song several times on Dick Clark's American Bandstand
American Bandstand

American Bandstand is a television show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989, hosted from 1957 until its final season by Dick Clark , who also served as producer....
 in early 1958, and it sold more than a million copies.

The song was later featured in the soundtracks of the movies American Graffiti
American Graffiti

American Graffiti is a 1973 period piece coming of age film directed by George Lucas, and written by Lucas, Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips, Cindy Williams and Wolfman Jack and features Harrison Ford....
, Stand By Me
Stand by Me (film)

Stand by Me is a 1986 in film adventure film-drama film directed by Rob Reiner. The title comes from a Stand by Me by Ben E. King and is based on the novella The Body by Stephen King....
, and Joey (in which the group also performed it). The revival group Sha Na Na
Sha Na Na

Sha Na Na is a rock and roll revival act. Announcing themselves as "from the streets of New York", and outfitted in gold lame, leather jackets and Pompadour hairdos, Sha Na Na performed a song and dance repertoire of classic fifties rock'n'roll, simultaneously reviving and sending up the music and 1950s New York street culture....
 derived their name from the song's catchy doo-wop introduction. And a local commercial in the mid-1980s for Money Center 24 in the Peoria, Illinois
Peoria, Illinois

Peoria is the largest city on the Illinois River and the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, Illinois, in the United States. As of the United States Census, 2000, the city was the sixth largest in Illinois and had a total population of 112,936....
 vicinity, featuring the "little green guys" did a spoof of the song as a jingle entitled, "Get A Card".

The song sounds like the musical inspiration behind "Mad", sung on Sesame Street
Sesame Street

Sesame Street is an Television in the United States educational children's television series and a pioneer of the contemporary educational television standard, combining both edutainment....
 by Little Jerry and the Monotones.

External links

  • ""/"I Am Lonely" (7", 1958) on Discogs
    Discogs

    Discogs, short for discography, is a website and database of information about music recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and Bootleg recording or off-label releases....
    .com