"Beep Beep" is a

novelty song A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and w ...

written and recorded by The Playmates, originally released in 1958 by

Roulette Records Roulette Records was an American record company and label founded in 1957 by George Goldner, Joe Kolsky, Morris Levy and Phil Kahl, with creative control given to producers and songwriters Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore. Levy was appointed ...

on the album ''At Play with The Playmates'', and later as a single—the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

to "Your Love". The song describes an unintended road race between two mismatched cars (a

Cadillac Cadillac Motor Car Division, or simply Cadillac (), is the luxury vehicle division (business), division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Its major markets are the United States, Canada and China; Cadillac models are ...

and

Nash Rambler The Nash Rambler is a compact, front-engine, rear-drive automobile manufactured and marketed by the Nash Motors division of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation for model years 1950-1954 — as a sedan, wagon, and notably, a fixed-profile converti ...

) and charted with ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' for 15 weeks, peaking at number four.

Composition

"Beep Beep" was written by Carl Cicchetti and Donald Claps, also known as Chic Hetti and Donny Conn, the band's

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestrat ...

/pianist and drummer, respectively. It was written for their live performances, before any record deals. The song is built around

accelerando ''Accelerando'' is a 2005 science fiction novel consisting of a series of interconnected short stories written by British author Charles Stross. As well as normal hardback and paperback editions, it was released as a free e-book under the CC ...

: the

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

of the song gradually increases commensurate with the increasing speed of the drivers. In his book ''The Guide to United States Popular Culture'', Ray B. Browne lists "Beep Beep" as an example of "motoring music ..in the chase mode". It is a tortoise-and-the-hare race, substituting the drivers of two unequal cars, originally a

and

, respectively. The instruments used in "Beep Beep" were bass, drums, guitar, piano, and an "old rubber-bulb horn for the 'beeps.

Release

For the 1958 release of The Playmates' album ''At Play with The Playmates'', some of the songs had already been released as singles, while some were recorded specifically for the LP—"Beep Beep" was one of these, at 3:04 long.

did not want to release "Beep Beep" as a single, because the song changed tempo, it explicitly named contemporary products on the market, and was not danceable. When

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

s began playing it off the album, it forced the label's hand, and Roulette released it as a 45 single (catalog number 4115): the

to "Your Love", coming in at 2:20 long. Because of a contemporary

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

directive that prohibited songs with

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

names in their lyrics, a UK version of "Beep Beep" was recorded for the

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an market, replacing the

and

with the generic terms ''

limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment which can be operated mechanically by hand or by a button electronically. A luxu ...

'' and '' bubble car''; this recut version was also released in the US for radio stations with similar policies about

product placement Product placement, also known as embedded marketing, is a marketing technique where references to specific brands or products are incorporated into another work, such as a film or television program, with specific promotional intent. Much of t ...

Reception

"Beep Beep" began charting with ''

'' on November 3, 1958; it charted for 15 weeks, peaking at number four. After the single sold one million copies (The Playmates' only), it was awarded a

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

. The Playmates were scheduled to perform their song on the December 3, 1958 episode of ''The Milton Berle Show''. In December 1958, ''Time'' credited the popularity of "Beep Beep" with helping

American Motors Corporation American Motors Corporation (AMC; commonly referred to as American Motors) was an American automobile manufacturing company formed by the mergers and acquisitions, merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Company on May 1, 19 ...

break sales records. In November 1958, the company doubled its previous year's production record with 26,782 cars; Ramblers accounted for 9.2% of October 1958's automobile sales in the United States; and though "total U.S. exports slid 16% in 1958, Rambler's climbed 10.3%." "Beep Beep" was also popular with the workers building Ramblers on AMC's assembly lines in

Kenosha, Wisconsin Kenosha () is a city in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Wisconsin, fourth-most populous city in Wisconsin, with a population of 99,986 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. S ...

. In 1989, a copy of the original single would cost (equivalent to in ). In 1994, a "near-

mint Mint or The Mint may refer to: Plants * Lamiaceae, the mint family ** ''Mentha'', the genus of plants commonly known as "mint" Coins and collectibles * Mint (facility), a facility for manufacturing coins * Mint condition, a state of like-new ...

commercial copy" of the single was valued at .

References

External links

* * {{authority control 1958 singles 1958 songs novelty songs Roulette Records singles songs about cars

Composition

Release

Reception

See also

References

External links