The Edsels were an American

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a subgenre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, ...

group from Campbell, Ohio who were active during the late 1950s and early 1960s. The name of the group was originally The Essos, after the oil company, but was changed to match the new Ford

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

, the Edsel. They recorded over 25

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

s and had multiple performances on

Dick Clark Richard Wagstaff Clark (November 30, 1929April 18, 2012) was an American television and radio personality and television producer who hosted ''American Bandstand'' from 1956 to 1989. He also hosted five incarnations of the Pyramid (game show), ...

's ''

American Bandstand ''American Bandstand'' (AB) is an American Music television, music performance and dance television series that aired in various iterations from 1952 to 1989. It was hosted by Dick Clark who also served as the program's Television producer, pr ...

''. The Edsels were one of the few

groups to sign with a major

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

, as most groups of that era found success with small independent labels; before their national hit "Rama Lama Ding Dong", songs like "What Brought Us Together", "Bone Shaker Joe" and "Do You Love Me" helped the group land a major

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

with

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

in 1961. Today the group is known almost exclusively for "Rama Lama Ding Dong", written by lead singer George "Wydell" Jones Jr. The song was recorded in 1957 and released, under the erroneous title "Lama Rama Ding Dong", in 1958. It did not become popular until 1961, after a

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 ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

began to play it as a

segue A segue ( , ; ) is a transition from one topic or section to the next. In music In music, ''segue'' is a direction to the performer. It means ''continue (the next section) without a pause''. The term ''attacca'' is used synonymously. For writ ...

from the Marcels' doo-wop version of "

Blue Moon A blue moon refers either to the presence of a second full moon in a calendar month, to the third full moon in a season containing four, or to a moon that appears blue due to atmospheric effects. The calendrical meaning of "blue moon" is unc ...

". The song eventually became popular throughout the US, peaking at number 21 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

. It is the official goal song of German soccer club VfL Wolfsburg. The group continues to perform today. In addition, James Reynolds performs with his five sons Jeff, Baron, Patrick, Chris and Carlisle (as the Reynolds Brothers). That group released an album, ''The Reynolds Brothers'', featuring songs written by James and fellow Edsels member George Jones. Songwriter George Jones died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

on September 5, 2008, at age 71. Marshall Sewell died of

esophageal cancer Esophageal cancer (American English) or oesophageal cancer (British English) is cancer arising from the esophagus—the food pipe that runs between the throat and the stomach. Symptoms often include dysphagia, difficulty in swallowing and weigh ...

on June 5, 2013, at the age of 75. Emmett T. Perkins II died on February 11, 2014, at the age of 75. Pastor James C. Reynolds died on Friday, April 11, 2025, at the age of 86.

Personnel

*George "Wydell" Jones Jr. –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

*Larry J. Greene – first

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

*James Reynolds – second tenor *Harry Greene –

baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...

*Marshall Sewell –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

Influence of the song "Rama Lama Ding Dong"

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of the song was performed on ''

The Muppet Show ''The Muppet Show'' is a variety sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and starring the Muppets. It is presented as a variety show, featuring recurring sketches and musical numbers interspersed with ongoing plot-lines with ru ...

'' once: in Episode 89 (or season 4, episode 17), the episode that also had

Mark Hamill Mark Richard Hamill (; born September 25, 1951) is an American actor. He is best known for starring as Luke Skywalker in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, and the Joker (character), Joker in various animated DC Comics projects, starting with ''Batm ...

C-3PO C-3PO () or See-Threepio is a humanoid robot character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He is a protocol droid (Star Wars), droid designed to assist in etiquette and translation, and is fluent in over six million forms of communication. The chara ...

R2-D2 R2-D2 () or Artoo-Detoo is a fictional robot character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. He has appeared in ten of the eleven theatrical ''Star Wars'' films to date, including every film in the " Skywalker Saga", which inclu ...

and Chewbacca from ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' as guests, a

shepherd A shepherd is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations; it exists in many parts of the globe, and it is an important part of Pastoralism, pastoralist animal husbandry. ...

, his

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

and his girl perform the song. * Rocky Sharpe and the Replays covered the song in 1979. * The song also was featured in the films Stand By Me and

Grease 2 ''Grease 2'' is a 1982 American Musical film, musical romantic comedy film, and a standalone sequel to the Grease (film), 1978 film ''Grease'', adapted from the 1971 Grease (musical), musical of the same name by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Orig ...

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n and Yugoslav

doo wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a subgenre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, ...

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...

band Vampiri recorded a

Serbo-Croatian language Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutuall ...

cover as the title track of their 1991 debut album. *

Barry Mann Barry Mann (born Barry Imberman; February 9, 1939) is an American songwriter and musician, and was part of a successful songwriting partnership with his wife, Cynthia Weil. He has written or co-written 53 hits in the UK and 98 in the US. Early ...

co-wrote a song called " Who Put the Bomp (in the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)" in 1961, in which he sings about his girl falling in love with him after listening to some

style songs with their recognizable nonsense

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, ...

. In the song he asks the question, who put the ram in the 'Rama-Lama-Ding-Dong'. *The vocable “rama lama lama ka dinga da dinga dong”, derived from the title of The Edsels biggest hit ‘Rama Lama Ding Dong’, is heard in the '' Grease'' song, "We Go Togethe

*"Rama Lama Ding Dong" is heard in the film '' Children of a Lesser God (film), Children of a Lesser God'', and is used by the character James Leeds ( William Hurt) to teach his class of hearing-impaired teenagers. *"Rama Lama Ding Dong" is played in many German ice rinks when the local team scores, as well as by

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

side VfL Wolfsburg. *

Le Tigre Le Tigre (, ; French for "The Tiger") is an American art punk and riot grrrl band formed by Kathleen Hanna (of Bikini Kill), Johanna Fateman and Sadie Benning in 1998 in New York City. Benning left in 2000 and was replaced by JD Samson. ...

's song "Deceptacon" featured the lyrics ''"Who took the ram from the ramalamadingdong?"'' * The song featured in the title sequence of an episode of '' Love/Hate'' *"Rama Lama Ding Dong" is parodied as "La canción de la vieja l'visillo" by Spanish comedian José Mota in one episode of his TV show.

References

External links

* ''Allmusic'': The Edsels biography
Biography of George Jones, Jr.

George Wydell Jones Jr. Find A Grave.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edsels, The Doo-wop groups American rhythm and blues musical groups Musicians from Youngstown, Ohio Apex Records artists Musical groups established in 1957 1957 establishments in Ohio