"Cool Jerk" is a 1966

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

song written by Donald Storball and originally performed by

the Capitols The Capitols were an American, Detroit, Michigan-based soul trio, widely known in 1966 for their '' Billboard'' hit single " Cool Jerk". Formation and disbandment The R&B trio formed in 1962 as "The Three Caps," with Samuel George as the le ...

. It became a hit song in the United States and Canada.

Original version

Released in 1966, it reached No. 2 on the American Rhythm & Blues Singles chart, No. 7 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and No. 9 on the Canadian Singles Chart. The session was arranged by Funk Brother Mike Terry, as

the Funk Brothers The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972. Its members are considered among the most successful groups of stud ...

Motown Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

's house band, played behind the Capitols on the track.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

The Go-Go's version

The Go-Go's The Go-Go's are an American all-female Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1978. Except for short periods when other musicians joined briefly, the band has had a relatively stable lineup consisting of Charlotte Caffey on lead guitar ...

covered the song for their 1982 album ''

Vacation A vacation (American English) or holiday (British English) is either a leave of absence from a regular job or school or an instance of leisure travel away from home. People often take a vacation during specific holiday observances or for sp ...

'' and later re-recorded it for their

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

album '' Greatest''. A demo that pre-dates their ''Vacation'' recording was released on their 1994 compilation '' Return to the Valley of The Go-Go's''.

References