Yakety Yak

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This article is about the song. For other uses, see Yakety Yak (disambiguation).
"Yakety Yak"
Yakety Yak by The Coasters US vinyl A-side.jpg
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)

"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, one of the biggest performing acts of the rock and roll era.[2]

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.[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 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 won't be allowed to go out with him at all for a ride.

Personnel[]

[7]

Cover versions[]

  • Québécois duo Les Jérolas recorded in 1959 a French version "Rouspet' pas"
  • Billy Sanders recorded a version in German, "Jackety Jack" in early 1959. .[8]
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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[]

Other uses in popular culture[]

The original recording was also included in films including Stand by Me (1986), The Great Outdoors[14] (1988) and Always (1989) and the Disney+ original miniseries, WandaVision.[15]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 125.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b "The Coasters". Rock Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 2006-10-17. Retrieved 2006-11-08.
  3. ^ Anthony DeCurtis, & James Henke (eds) (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.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  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. ^ Billboard, "Yakety Yak" goes Teutonic" March 30, 1959
  9. ^ "'Yakety Yak – Take It Back!' Music Video". Take It Back Foundation. Retrieved 2012-02-08.
  10. ^ "The Show Band that Wouldn't Die". Houston Press, June 30, 2005.
  11. ^ Boots Randolph, Boots Randolph's Yakety Sax! Retrieved February 6, 2015
  12. ^ Yakkity Yak Intro. YouTube. January 12, 2011.
  13. ^ "Mark Shuttleworth » Blog Archive » Y is for…". www.markshuttleworth.com. Retrieved 2016-11-02.
  14. ^ "The Great Outdoors (1988) - Soundtracks". IMDb. Retrieved 2009-03-13.
  15. ^ "Paul Bettany on 'WandaVision' Stakes: "It Can't Stay That Way Forever"". The Hollywood Reporter. 14 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2021.

External links[]

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