"Chocolate Salty Balls (P.S. I Love You)"
Single by Chef (Isaac Hayes)
from the album Chef Aid: The South Park Album
B-side"O Holy Night" (snippet), "Come Sail Away"
ReleasedDecember 14, 1998 (1998-12-14)[1]
Recorded1998
Genre
Length3:55
Label
Songwriter(s)Trey Parker
Producer(s)Rick Rubin
Isaac Hayes singles chronology
"Ike's Rap"
(1986) 		"Chocolate Salty Balls (P.S. I Love You)"
(1998) 		"Simultaneous"
(1999)

"Chocolate Salty Balls (P.S. I Love You)" is a song from the American animated sitcom South Park, performed by the character Chef and featured on the soundtrack album Chef Aid: The South Park Album. The song's vocals are performed by Isaac Hayes, the voice actor for Chef. The song as it originally appeared was in the 1998 episode "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls", in which Chef creates a confectionery treat, the eponymous Chocolate Salty Balls. He then begins to sing the lyrics that became the basis for the single.

The song was released as a single on December 14, 1998, and reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart and in Ireland. It also charted in mainland Europe and Australia, becoming a top-10 hit in Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway while peaking at No. 14 in Australia. The song was written by South Park co-creator Trey Parker and produced by Rick Rubin.

Song information

The song's first and second verses feature Chef listing the ingredients for his "chocolate salty balls", an innuendo meaning testicles (even though the lyrics throughout refer to the edible food, as mentioned earlier). However, there is no mention of salt in the recipe. He also urges people to "suck on [them]" during the chorus. After listing the ingredients, he sings the lines, "Say, everybody, have you seen my balls / they're big and salty and brown / if you ever need a quick pick-me-up / just stick my balls in your mouth", starting the chorus.

During the song's final verse, Chef becomes concerned that his chocolate salty balls have become burned, and urges his lover to blow on them. In particular the lyrics he sings at that point are: "Hey... wait a minute... What's that smell? It smells like something's burnin'. Well, that don't confront me none, as long as I get my rent paid on Friday. Baby, you better get back in the kitchen... 'cause I've got a sneakin' suspicion. Oh, man baby... Baby! You just burned my balls!" The verse features a line from the song "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer".

A rare alternate radio version of the song removes the "I'm Chef" intro, the musical outro and subsequent audience cheer found in the Chef Aid: The South Park Album version making it sound more like a traditional studio recording. Most noticeably, it contains an alternate final verse where Chef is serenading the listener while his chocolate salty balls are baking in the oven replacing the entire comedic "You just burned my balls!" verse/skit found in the original album version. A saxophone solo and a slightly altered ending chorus (before the song fades to end) were also added.[4] This version can be found on the UK compilation album New Hits 99.

The song was included on the fourth episode of series two of Cold Feet. Hayes also performed the song live at the 2002 Glastonbury Festival.[5]

Chart performance

"Chocolate Salty Balls (P.S. I Love You)" reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart.[6] The song was a contender for the Christmas No. 1 single in the UK but debuted at No. 2, behind the Spice Girls' "Goodbye", missing out on the top spot by 8,000 copies and garnering the most weekly sales for a song at No. 2 since Wham!'s "Last Christmas" in 1984.[7] The following week, the track dethroned "Goodbye", giving Isaac Hayes his first and only number-one hit in the UK.[6] The song became the seventh-best-selling single of 1998 in the UK.[8] "Chocolate Salty Balls" was also a top-20 hit in Australia, peaking at No. 14 in February 1999.[9]

Music video

The song's music video features various clips from season one and season two of South Park. It can be found on the South Park DVD South Park: The Chef Experience.

Track listings

European CD single

  1. "Chocolate Salty Balls (P.S. I Love You)" – 4:01
  2. "O Holy Night (Snippet)" (Eric Cartman feat. Kyle Broflovski and Mr. Garrison) – 2:00

European cassette single

  1. "Chocolate Salty Balls (P.S. I Love You)" – 3:55
  2. "Come Sail Away" (Eric Cartman) – 5:12

European and Australian CD maxi single

  1. "Chocolate Salty Balls (P.S. I Love You)" – 3:55
  2. "O Holy Night (Snippet)" (Eric Cartman feat. Kyle Broflovski and Mr. Garrison) – 2:21
  3. "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem" (Ned Gerblansky feat. Uncle Jimbo) – 0:58

UK maxi-CD single

  1. "Chocolate Salty Balls (P.S. I Love You)" – 3:55
  2. "Come Sail Away" (Eric Cartman) – 5:12
  3. "Mentally Dull (Think Thank Remix)" (Vitro) – 3:45

Personnel

Charts

References

  1. ^ "New Releases: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. December 12, 1998. p. 24. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  2. ^ Rath, Derek (November 11, 2005). "Dig It: 'The Ultimate Isaac Hayes'". NPR. Retrieved April 29, 2020. The collection includes previously unreleased material, as well as a bonus DVD featuring Hayes' South Park character, Chef, performing the raunchy funk tune "Chocolate Salty Balls.
  3. ^ Larkin, Colin (27 May 2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. ISBN 9780857125958 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ Chef (Isaac Hayes) - Chocolate Salty Balls (Rare Alternate Radio Version). Retrieved 2024-04-25 – via www.youtube.com.
  5. ^ "The 100 best Glastonbury performances ever". The Telegraph. 16 June 2015.
  6. ^ a b c "Isaac Hayes: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  7. ^ "Single Factfile". Music Week. December 26, 1998. p. 6.
  8. ^ a b "Best Sellers of 1998 – Singles Top 100". Music Week. January 16, 1999. p. 7.
  9. ^ a b "Chef – Chocolate Salty Balls". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  10. ^ "Various – Chef Aid: The South Park Album (CD, Album) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
  11. ^ "Chef – Chocolate Salty Balls" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  12. ^ "Billboard – Google Books". March 13, 1999. Retrieved April 1, 2014 – via Google Books.
  13. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 16, no. 1–3. January 16, 1999. p. 7. Retrieved April 16, 2020. See last week column.
  14. ^ "Chef – Chocolate Salty Balls" (in French). Les classement single.
  15. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Chocolate Salty Balls (PS I Love You)". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  16. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 8, 1999" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
  17. ^ "Chef – Chocolate Salty Balls" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  18. ^ "Chef – Chocolate Salty Balls". VG-lista.
  19. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  20. ^ "Chef – Chocolate Salty Balls". Singles Top 100.
  21. ^ "Jaaroverzichten 1999" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
  22. ^ "Year in Focus – Eurochart Hot 100 Singles 1999" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 17, no. 1. January 1, 2000. p. 11. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  23. ^ "Top 100–Jaaroverzicht van 1999". Dutch Top 40. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
  24. ^ "Jaaroverzichten – Single 1999" (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
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