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Sixty Minute Man
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Sixty Minute Man
"Sixty Minute Man" is an R&B record released on Federal Records in 1951 by the Dominoes. It was written by Billy Ward and Rose Marks and was one of the first R&B hit records to cross over to become a hit on the pop chart. It is regarded as one of the most important of the recordings that helped generate and shape rock and roll.
The Dominoes were a black vocal group consisting of Clyde McPhatter (1932–1972), who later left the group to form the Drifters; Bill Brown (1926-1956); Charlie White (1930-2005); and Joe Lamont (1920-1991), led by their pianist, manager and songwriter, Billy Ward (1921–2002). Ward was a black, classically trained vocal coach who had formed a business partnership with a white New York talent agent, Rose Marks.
The pair decided to put together a smooth vocal group to rival The Ink Spots, the Orioles, and similar groups who were beginning to win acceptance with white audiences. In 1950, the Dominoes were signed to Federal Records and held a series of recording sessions at the National Studios in New York in November and December of that year.
Their initial release, "Do Something For Me", was the first record on which McPhatter sang lead. The song was musically a gospel song with gospel-style melismas but was lyrically secular. A success, the song entered the R&B chart at the beginning of February 1951. Less successful was its follow-up, the pop standard "Harbor Lights", recorded on December 30, 1950.
The record company then turned to the other sharply contrasting, straight R&B song which the group had recorded on the same day, "Sixty Minute Man", written by Ward and Marks. It was issued in May 1951 (on Federal 12022), and by the end of the month had reached number one on the R&B chart, a position it held for an almost unprecedented 14 weeks. The single also made it to number 17 on the pop singles chart and was voted "Song of the year" for 1951.
The recording features René Hall on guitar, and used Bill Brown's bass voice, rather than McPhatter's tenor, as the lead. It features the singer's boasts of his sexual prowess, of being able to satisfy his girls with fifteen minutes each of kissing, teasing, and squeezing, before his climactic fifteen minutes of "blowing [his] top".
The chorus was specific:
Lyrics of this type already had a long history. The reference to "Dan" (alternatively, "Jim Dandy") dates back at least to minstrel shows in the nineteenth century, and double-entendre had been used in blues lyrics for decades before the song was written. A common reference was to "Dan, the Back Door Man"—the lover of a married woman who would leave her house by the back door—as in a song of that title recorded by Georgia White in 1937. Among the many precedents, but with a different perspective, is "One Hour Mama" by Ida Cox. Consequently, "Sixty Minute Man" is also listed as an example of a dirty blues song.
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Sixty Minute Man
"Sixty Minute Man" is an R&B record released on Federal Records in 1951 by the Dominoes. It was written by Billy Ward and Rose Marks and was one of the first R&B hit records to cross over to become a hit on the pop chart. It is regarded as one of the most important of the recordings that helped generate and shape rock and roll.
The Dominoes were a black vocal group consisting of Clyde McPhatter (1932–1972), who later left the group to form the Drifters; Bill Brown (1926-1956); Charlie White (1930-2005); and Joe Lamont (1920-1991), led by their pianist, manager and songwriter, Billy Ward (1921–2002). Ward was a black, classically trained vocal coach who had formed a business partnership with a white New York talent agent, Rose Marks.
The pair decided to put together a smooth vocal group to rival The Ink Spots, the Orioles, and similar groups who were beginning to win acceptance with white audiences. In 1950, the Dominoes were signed to Federal Records and held a series of recording sessions at the National Studios in New York in November and December of that year.
Their initial release, "Do Something For Me", was the first record on which McPhatter sang lead. The song was musically a gospel song with gospel-style melismas but was lyrically secular. A success, the song entered the R&B chart at the beginning of February 1951. Less successful was its follow-up, the pop standard "Harbor Lights", recorded on December 30, 1950.
The record company then turned to the other sharply contrasting, straight R&B song which the group had recorded on the same day, "Sixty Minute Man", written by Ward and Marks. It was issued in May 1951 (on Federal 12022), and by the end of the month had reached number one on the R&B chart, a position it held for an almost unprecedented 14 weeks. The single also made it to number 17 on the pop singles chart and was voted "Song of the year" for 1951.
The recording features René Hall on guitar, and used Bill Brown's bass voice, rather than McPhatter's tenor, as the lead. It features the singer's boasts of his sexual prowess, of being able to satisfy his girls with fifteen minutes each of kissing, teasing, and squeezing, before his climactic fifteen minutes of "blowing [his] top".
The chorus was specific:
Lyrics of this type already had a long history. The reference to "Dan" (alternatively, "Jim Dandy") dates back at least to minstrel shows in the nineteenth century, and double-entendre had been used in blues lyrics for decades before the song was written. A common reference was to "Dan, the Back Door Man"—the lover of a married woman who would leave her house by the back door—as in a song of that title recorded by Georgia White in 1937. Among the many precedents, but with a different perspective, is "One Hour Mama" by Ida Cox. Consequently, "Sixty Minute Man" is also listed as an example of a dirty blues song.