Speedoo

"Speedoo"
Single by The Cadillacs
from the album The Fabulous Cadillacs
B-side	"Let Me Explain"
Released	October 1955 (1955-10)
Genre	Rock and roll[1] doo-wop
Length	2:27
Label	Josie
Songwriter	Esther Navarro
The Cadillacs singles chronology
"Down the Road" (1955) "Speedoo" (1955) "Zoom" (1956)

"Speedoo" is a song written by Esther Navarro and performed by The Cadillacs featuring the Jesse Powell Orchestra. It reached number 3 on the U.S. R&B chart and number 17 on the U.S. pop chart in 1955.^[2] The song was featured on their 1957 album, The Fabulous Cadillacs.^[3] The lead vocal was by Earl Carroll.

Lyrically, the song tells of Mister Earl who acquired the nickname "Speedoo" because, when it comes to his pursuit of pretty girls, "he don't believe in wastin' time" and "he don't never take it slow".

The song was included in Robert Christgau's "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings, published in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981).^[4]

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Speedoo" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

• The song was featured on the soundtrack of the 1990 film Goodfellas.^[13]
• The song was performed by The Cadillacs in the beginning of the 1998 miniseries The Temptations.
• The song was featured on the 2001 episode "Employee of the Month" of the show The Sopranos.
• The song was featured on the 2007 episode "Cadillac" of the satellite radio show Theme Time Radio Hour.
• The song's opening lyrics were referenced in the song "Was a Sunny Day" by Paul Simon, on his 1973 album, "There Goes Rhymin' Simon. In the song, Simon sings, "Her name was Lorelei/She was his only girl/She called him Speedoo, but his Christian name was Mr. Earl." Simon has often professed his affection for doo-wop music, and has acknowledged its influence on his songwriting ("I like doo-wop. I stick it in all the time," he said in a 2011 interview^[14]).
• Song was also included in the 2010 video game Mafia 2.

1. ^ Pitzonka, Bill (2001). "Crazy Elephant". In Cooper, Kim; Smay, David (eds.). Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth. Los Angeles: Feral House. p. 60.
2. ^ "The Cadillacs, "Speedoo" Chart Positions". Musicvf.com. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
3. ^ "The Cadillacs, The Fabulous Cadillacs". Discogs.com. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
4. ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "A Basic Record Library: The Fifties and Sixties". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 0899190251. Retrieved March 16, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
5. ^ "Steve Lawrence, "The Chicken and the Hawk (Up Up and Away)" Single Release". 45cat.com. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
6. ^ "The Tokens, I Hear Trumpets Blow". Discogs.com. April 1966. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
7. ^ "Fred Weinberg, The Weinberg Method of Non-Synthetic Electronic Rock". AllMusic. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
8. ^ "The Youngbloods, High on a Ridgetop". AllMusic. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
9. ^ "Brinsley Schwarz, Please Don't Ever Change". Discogs.com. 1973. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
10. ^ "Ruben and the Jets, Con Safos". Discogs.com. 1973. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
11. ^ "Ry Cooder, Borderline". Discogs.com. 1980. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
12. ^ "Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, Carnegie Hall". Discogs.com. November 2011. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
13. ^ "Every Song in the Goodfellas Soundtrack". ScreenRant. 2020-04-08. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
14. ^ "Paul Simon: 'God's not into pop - he likes gospel'". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 29 April 2021.

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