| "Beep Beep" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 A 1958 single of "Beep Beep" | ||||
| Single byThe Playmates | ||||
| from the album At Play with The Playmates | ||||
| A-side | "Your Love" | |||
| Released | 1958 (1958) | |||
| Genre | Novelty | |||
| Length |
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| Label | Roulette | |||
| Songwriters |
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| The Playmates[1] singles chronology | ||||
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"Beep Beep" is anovelty song written and recorded byThe Playmates, originally released in 1958 byRoulette Records on the albumAt Play with The Playmates, and later as a single—theB-side to "Your Love". The song describes an unintendedroad race between two mismatched cars (aCadillac andNash Rambler) andcharted withBillboard for 15 weeks, peaking at number four.
"Beep Beep" was written by Carl Cicchetti and Donald Claps,[2] also known as Chic Hetti and Donny Conn,[3] the band'sarranger/pianist and drummer, respectively.[4] It was written for their live performances, before any record deals.[5]
The song is built aroundaccelerando: thetempo of the song gradually increases commensurate with the increasing speed of the drivers.[6] In his bookThe Guide to United States Popular Culture,Ray B. Browne lists "Beep Beep" as an example of "motoring music [...] in the chase mode".[7] It is atortoise-and-the-hare race,[3][1] substituting the drivers of two unequal cars, originally aNash Rambler andCadillac, respectively.[1] The instruments used in "Beep Beep" were bass, drums, guitar, piano, and an "old rubber-bulb horn for the 'beeps'".[5]
Some of the songs on the 1958 Playmates' albumAt Play with The Playmates,[8] had already been released as singles, while some were recorded specifically for the LP—"Beep Beep" was one of these,[5] at 3:04 long.[8]
Roulette Records 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. Whendisc jockeys began playing it off the album, it forced the label's hand, and Roulette released it[5][3] as a45 single[3] (catalog number 4115): theB-side to "Your Love",[1][9] coming in at 2:20 long.[10]
Because of a contemporaryBBC directive that prohibited songs withbrand names in their lyrics, a version of "Beep Beep" was recorded for theEuropean market, replacing theCadillac andNash Rambler with the generic termslimousine andbubble car; this recut version was also released in the US for radio stations with similar policies aboutproduct placement.[11]
"Beep Beep" begancharting withBillboard on November 3, 1958; it charted for 15 weeks, peaking at number four.[12] After the single sold one million copies, theRecording Industry Association of America awarded it the onlygold disc of the Playmates' career.[13] The Playmates were scheduled to perform their song on the December 3, 1958 episode ofThe Milton Berle Show.[14]
In December 1958,Time credited the popularity of "Beep Beep" with helpingAmerican Motors Corporation 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%".[15] "Beep Beep" was also popular with the workers building Ramblers on AMC's assembly lines inKenosha, Wisconsin.[16]
