"Sh-Boom" ("Life Could Be a Dream") is an early doo-wop song by the R&B vocal group The Chords. It was written by James Keyes, Claude Feaster, Carl Feaster, Floyd F. McRae, and William Edwards, members of The Chords, and published in 1954. It is sometimes considered the first doo-wop or rock 'n' roll record to reach the top ten on the pop charts (as opposed to the R&B charts), as it was a top-10 hit that year for both the Chords (who first recorded the song) and The Crew-Cuts.[1] In 2004, it was ranked No. 215 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Best Songs of All Time".[2]
History
The song was written and first recorded on Atlantic Records' subsidiary label Cat Records by the R&B group The Chords on March 15, 1954,[3] and would be their only hit song. The group reportedly auditioned the song for famed record producer Bobby Robinson while he was sick in bed, but he rejected them, stating the song "wasn't commercial enough".[4] When the Chords recorded their debut single for Cat Records, a cover of Patti Page's "Cross Over the Bridge", the label reluctantly allowed them to record "Sh-Boom" for the B-side[4] with Sam "The Man" Taylor on saxophone.[5] "Sh-Boom" would eventually overshadow "Cross Over the Bridge", reaching No. 2 on the Billboard R&B charts and peaking at No. 9 on the pop charts.[6] It was later released by Cat as an A-side, coupled with another Chords original, "Little Maiden".[3]
A more traditional version was made by an all-white Canadian group, The Crew-Cuts (with the David Carroll Orchestra), for Mercury Records[7] and was No. 1 on the Billboard charts for nine weeks during August and September 1954.[citation needed] The single first entered the charts on July 30, 1954, and stayed for 20 weeks.[8] The Crew-Cuts performed the song on Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town on December 12, 1954. On the Cash Box magazine best-selling record charts, where both versions were combined, the song reached No. 1.[citation needed]
The record for most recordings of "Sh-Boom" by a single group probably belongs to the Harvard Din & Tonics, a co-ed a cappella singing group that has featured the song on 12 of their 13 albums. Their 1979 Crew-Cuts-style arrangement was so popular that the group began performing "Sh-Boom" as their signature song at all their concerts, bringing all their alumni onstage to perform it across the United States and through 10 world tours.[citation needed]
The British Doo-Wop revivalists, Darts, recorded "Sh-Boom" in the late 1970s, this time at a slower tempo. It was released as the B-side of the band's last charting single, reaching No. 48 in the UK charts in 1980.[11]
The reggae crooner Alton Ellis recorded a cover entitled "She Boom" for Studio One some time in the 1970s; the EP has been pressed at various times by various distributors.[12]
In the 1980s a parody of the song entitled "Dubuque" was featured in the Dubuque ham TV commercial, a midwestern-based meat packing company.[citation needed]
German rock-and-roll band Spider Murphy Gang adapted the song into a Bavarian version, "Leben is wiar a Traum", which they released as a single in 1985.
The Fleetwoods released a cover version of the song. Canadian children's entertainers Sharon, Lois & Bram covered the song on their 1995 album release titled Let's Dance!. Watkin Tudor Jones covered the song on his 2001 album, Memoirs Of A Clone. British doo-wop act the Overtones covered the song on their 2010 album Good Ol' Fashioned Love.[citation needed] The song was covered in 1955 by Enoch Light And His Light Brigade Orchestra, released in the UK on His Master's Voice, and appears on their album Little Things Mean A Lot from Jasmine Records. The Kansas City R&B band Bloodstone also covered the song for their 1975 movie Train Ride to Hollywood.
