Du Droppers - Bam Balam

ORIGINATION The RCA Blues & Rhythm Revue
LAST LISTENED TO last night
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT good and high
RATING

Like many of their contemporaries, the members of Du Droppers started out singing gospel. They formed as a group in '52 and soon began singing r'n'b. After an initial hit for a minor label, they were signed early in '53 to RCA, who were trying to break into the r'n'b market at the time. A few more hits quickly appeared, but that was as far as they went. By '54 they had been sidelined to a subsidiary label and, after some line up problems, they were gone by mid '55.

Bam Balam was recorded in late '53 and like all good r'n'b it couches its true meanings in euphemisms and made-up words. Listening to it today, it's blatantly clear what they're singing about. However one has to assume that in the '50s the culture was more naïve, a safe assumption given that there was a genre born then and given the name rock 'n' roll (if you don't understand this means, go ask your mummy and daddy). Therefore songs like this were quite acceptable as pop records.

What is most notable about Bam Balam is that it was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller in their first year on the scene. Famous for such (later) tunes as Hound Dog, Jailhouse Rock and Stand By Me, they were about to become the biggest names in r'n'b. Less well know was that they were also about to become pivotal in shifting r'n'b towards the mainstream and in so doing they helping to vastly increase its cultural impact. This happened primarily through two avenues of their work.

Firstly through their song writing: they turned their songs into mini-plays which helped hook the listener, whilst simultaneously toning down some of the bawdiness for which r'n'b was known. Secondly, their production and arrangements brought in pop influences hitherto unseen in r'n'b. In this they are credited with bringing strings to the style, which helped shape a sound that soon became known as Soul music.

However, Bam Balam was before much of this happened. Nonetheless it's still a Leiber & Stoller composition and as such it's no different to the rest: a fun, up-tempo romp that has some pretty good melodies. You can't ask for much more.