A Little Bit of Soap

"A Little Bit of Soap"
Single by the Jarmels
B-side	"The Way You Look Tonight (Swing Time)"
Released	July 3, 1961
Recorded	1961
Genre	Doo-wop
Length	2:13
Label	Laurie
Songwriter(s)	Bert Berns (aka Bert Russell)

"A Little Bit of Soap", written by Bert Berns (aka Bert Russell), was a song, first sung in a bluesy soul style by the Jarmels, who reached number 12 with it in September 1961 and number 7 on the R&B charts.^[1] The song has been covered by many other artists.

Reception[]

While the song was a minor hit in the United States all three times it was released, it reached the Top Ten on the Canadian charts, and Top Twenty in Australia in 1970 for Paul Davis.^[2] It was his first charting single release. "A Little Bit of Soap" was a huge hit in southeast Asia when the Hong Kong-based group Cliff Foenander and the Fabulous Echoes released it as a single. It spent 25 weeks at number 1 in top ten charts in 1963 in southeast Asia.^[3] Foenander and the Fabulous Echoes also sang the hit in Las Vegas, USA, in 1964. It made Cliff Foenander a household name in South Asia: Radio Ceylon, the oldest radio station in South Asia, played the number one hit across the Indian subcontinent.^[3]

Remakes[]

• Garnet Mimms' 1964 remake of "A Little Bit of Soap" - produced by Jerry Ragovoy - reached number 95 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1965
• The song's composer Bert Berns produced a 1965 remake by the Exciters which reached number 58 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1966.
• Paul Davis remade the song in 1970: recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio this version - co-produced by Davis with Bert Berns' widow Ilene Berns - reached number 52 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1970
• Nigel Olsson's version hit number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 9 on the Adult Contemporary chart in June 1979.^[4] The versions by the Exciters, Paul Davis and Nigel Olsson were all recorded for Bang Records, the label which Bert Berns had founded in 1965.
• Showaddywaddy would remake "A Little Bit of Soap" in 1978 affording the song its sole appearance on the UK Singles Chart, Showadaddywaddy's version of "A Little Bit of Soap" reaching number 5 UK in July 1978.^[5]
• Daniel Johnston also covered it.

Samples[]

• De La Soul sampled it for a different song with the same name.^{[citation needed]}

Popular culture[]

• The song was featured in the 2019 Netflix film El Camino: A Breaking Bad movie.

References[]