I've heard this song done by a number of garage bands over the years (my favorite version being by the Scorpions from Germany...or were they from Holland?), so it's quite a surprise to run across this version by the boys of "Yakety Yak" fame, The Coasters. I don't know if this is the original version or not, but what a doozy it is!
This 1961 release comes at a time when chart appearances were beginning to become sparse for the group. (This one didn't even chart at all.) The A-side is actually "Bad Blood," another from the Leiber-Stroller canon, and it's very much in the same vein as the great "Poison Ivy," except with a bit more horns.
But the B-side is where our focus is today. This is a Carroll-Guy composition and it consists of 3 nursery rhymes (Mary Had a Little Lamb, Humpty Dumpty, Hey Diddle Diddle) with the chorus going something like this:
Now ain't that
Just like me (what you say?)
Followin' you around,
You know that I love you, yeah,
I love you,
I just can't put you down.
The chorus follows that same pattern, but is different each time.
The song's pattern itself goes nursery rhyme, chorus, nursery rhyme, chorus, etc. You get the idea.
Throughout all of this the Coasters give this an ensemble vocal treatment (no soloists this time, except for the person going "What you say?" all to a background that gives the guitar player and the saxes plenty of room. There's even time enough for a wicked guitar solo midway through.
Me say this is a primo R&B killer and me say "Check it out," especially if you're at all a Coasters fan.
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