5 Coasters Songs That Influenced British Beat Groups

By Peter Checksfield

Of all the American artists that influenced the British groups of the ‘60s, there were two whose songs were in virtually everyone’s repertoire, straddling the divide between the Northern Beat Groups, and the tougher Rhythm ‘n’ Blues acts. One of these of course was Chuck Berry, but the other is a group that tends to be far less celebrated today – and that group is The Coasters.

The men who wrote and produced most of The Coasters’ big hits were two white Jewish-Americans from the East Coast of America: lyricist Jerry Leiber (b. in Baltimore on 25th April 1933 – d. 22nd August 2011) and pianist / composer Mike Stoller (b. in New York on 13th March 1933). By the time they became friends in 1950, they’d both moved to Los Angeles, and had become near-obsessive fans of Blues, Rhythm ‘n’ Blues and Jazz. Totally immersing themselves in black culture and, daringly for the time, dating black girlfriends, they soon started dabbling in song writing. Within a couple of years they’d written such future standards as ‘K.C. Lovin’’ (later re-titled ‘Kansas City’) for Little Willie Littlefield and ‘Hound Dog’ for Big Mama Thornton, and in 1954 they formed Spark Records with their mentor Lester Sill, signing black vocal group The Robins – a group who would eventually morph into The Coasters.

Here are five of The Coasters songs, and some of the artists who covered them.

Searchin’ (1957)

The two main lead vocalists with The Coasters were Carl Gardner and Billy Guy (with more occasional leads from others), and it is the latter who sings ‘Searchin’’. The group’s first major hit, it is dominated by Mike’s pioneering Honky tonk piano playing (not something usually heard on black Rhythm ‘n’ Blues records), and Billy sounds totally convincing as someone looking for his woman, citing such fictional detectives as Sherlock Holmes, Charlie Chan, Joe Friday, Sam Spade, Boston Blackie, Bulldog Drummond, and even the North-West Mounted Police.

One of two Coasters originals covered at The Beatles’ Decca audition session, Searchin’ was also the A-side of The Hollies’ 2nd single (and their first Top 20 hit), and The Spencer Davis Group featured it on their first album. It was also popular with American groups, with The Kingsmen, Cannibal and The Headhunters, Sam The Sham and The Pharaohs and The Mugwumps all tackling it.

Poison Ivy (1959)

Along with Chuck Berry and Eddie Cochran, Leiber and Stoller were amongst the few Rock ‘n’ Roll composers to write about far more than just loving and dancing. Although few noticed at the time, Poison Ivy, with its lyrics about “Scratchin’ like a hound” and needing “An ocean of Calamine lotion”, is a song about sexually transmitted disease. Despite (or because of) this, it’s a lot of fun, and with its memorable guitar riff and minor-key chorus, it is instantly contagious.

A natural for the guitar-orientated groups of the ‘60s, amongst the big names to record were The Rolling Stones (on their first EP), The Dave Clark Five, The Hollies, The Paramounts, Manfred Mann, the USA’s The Kingsmen and Sam The Sham and The Pharaohs, and Australia’s Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs – the latter famously topping that country’s charts during The Beatles’ 1964 tour down under. In 1980, Mod revival group The Lambrettas brought the song back to the charts, and even Linda McCartney went on to cut a version.

I’m A Hog For You Baby (1959)

Although released as the B-side of ‘Poison Ivy’, ‘I’m A Hog For You’ is no throwaway. Basically a mid-tempo Blues, lyrically it transforms the nursery rhyme ‘This little piggy went to market’ into a song about lust (“He’s gonna rock you all night long!”). Originally recorded with sax being the most prominent lead instrument, the overdubbed Bluesy guitar riff and innovative one-note solo (7 years before Pete Townshend did something similar with The Who’s ‘Substitute’) are pure genius.

The Rolling Stones performed it for the BBC (a recording that is sadly lost) and The Kinks cut a demo when they were still called The Ravens, with other recordings including versions by Screaming Lord Sutch and The Savages, Freddie and The Dreamers and Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs. Canned Heat, The Grateful Dead and The Youngbloods all revived it in the ‘70s, but the definitive cover is perhaps Dr. Feelgood’s live version from 1976.

(Ain’t That) Just Like Me (1961)

Though they were an exception to the rule, not quite every Coasters classic was a Leiber and Stoller composition. Written by Billy Guy in conjunction with then-new member Earl ‘Speedo’ Carroll, ‘(Ain’t That) Just Like Me’ is an up-tempo and contemporary-sounding Rhythm ‘n’ Blues song. The lyrics are nothing special – comparing a character’s situation with nursery rhymes ‘Mary had a little lamb’, ‘Humpty Dumpty’ and ‘Hey diddle-diddle, the cat and the fiddle’ – but for once Billy Guy sings the song totally straight without any of his usual comedic voices, and there’s an exciting guitar solo.

The Hollies liked the song enough to record it as the A-side to their very first single; both The Searchers and The Applejacks featured versions on early albums, and the Cliff Bennett-led Toe Fat cut it in the ‘70s. More obscure but highly recommended listening is the powerful 1999 version by Thee Headcoats Sect’s – a sort-of Garage Rock Supergroup comprising members of Downliners Sect and Thee Headcoats.

Little Egypt (1961)

Talking of Downliners Sect… Pretty much the last of Leiber and Stoller’s ‘playlets’, ‘Little Egypt (Ying-Yang)’ starts with a drum roll, followed by Carl Gardner’s “Step right up folks!” fairground intro – and then, after the striking of a gong, Billy Guy tells the tale of a belly dancer who “Had a ruby on her tummy, and a diamond big as Texas on her toe”. Then, the narrator gets lucky: the final verse reveals that “We got seven kids and all day long they crawl around the floor”.

Downliners Sect’s 1964 cover of the song was their most successful single (albeit only in Sweden), with Bern Elliott and The Fenmen and Lee Curtis & The All-Stars also cutting versions – as did Elvis Presley for one of his endless run of ‘60s movies.

Other cover versions

The above are just the tip of the ice-berg. Other influential songs by The Coasters or the proto-Coasters The Robins include: Along Came Jones (The Overlanders, Paul Jones, Denny Seyton’s Show-Group, The Righteous Brothers), Bad Blood (The Paramounts, The Plebs), Bad Detective (The New York Dolls), Besame Mucho (The Beatles, Jet Harris), Charlie Brown (Paul Jones), D.W. Washburn (The Monkees), Framed (The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Canned Heat), Girls Girls Girls (Elvis Presley, Joe Brown and The Bruvvers, The Fourmost), Keep On Rolling (The Marauders), Let’s Go Get Stoned (Manfred Mann, later made more famous by Ray Charles), One Kiss Led To Another (The Beach Boys), Riot in Cell Block #9 (Dr. Feelgood, The Blues Brothers, Mike Smith), Shoppin’ for Clothes (The Paramounts, The Steve Gibbons Band), That Is Rock & Roll (The Rattles, Ian Whitcomb), The Climb (Duane Eddy), The Shadow Knows (Wayne Fontana and The Mindbenders, The Charlatans), Smokey Joe’s Cafe (The McCoys), Three Cool Cats (The Beatles, Ry Cooder), Thumbin’ A Ride (Earl Preston and The T-T’s, Jackie Lomax), What About Us (The Undertakers), Whadaya Want (Buster Poindexter), Yakety Yak (Brian Poole and The Tremeloes, The Fourmost, Sam The Sham and The Pharaohs, The McCoys), Young Blood (The Beatles, Wayne Fontana and The Mindbenders, Joan Baez, Leon Russell, Carl Wilson, Jerry Lee Lewis), Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart (P.J. Proby, The Fourmost, The Move).

On 21st January 1987, the best-known line-up of The Coasters (Carl Gardner, Billy Guy, Cornell Gunter & Will ‘Dub’ Jones) rightly became the first ever group to be inducted into The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame – a year prior to The Beatles, the group they so strongly influenced.

Further information

The Coasters – What About Us (Every Song From Every Session) by Peter Checksfield