Mike Pedicin Quintet - "Shake A Hand" b/w "The Dickie-Doo"

Mike Pedicin Quintet - "Shake A Hand" b/w "The Dickie-Doo" Cameo 1957

Today's platter comes to us courtesy of New Jersey bandleader and early rock 'n' roll adopter, Mike Pedicin. Mr. Pedicin and crew (sometimes a quartet, sometimes a quintet) released a slew of twist, mambo and jazzy popcorn stompers between 1955 and 1962, any one of which could easily fit right in on one of the Twistin' Rumble or Las Vegas Grind compilations.

This particular 45 came out on the Philadelphia label, Cameo, in 1957. Oddly enough the B-side on this disc, the tune we're focusing on today, was released the year prior on Malvern Records as the A-side under a slightly different title, and paired with a completely different tune. Why "The Dickie-Doo", originally dubbed "The Dickie-Doo (The Circle Dance)" was re-released as a backer tune to "Shake A Hand" is a mystery. Maybe Mike and the gang got the Cameo deal and wanted to get a single out ASAP, so they worked out a new tune and tacked an existing one on the back to save time and money? That's assuming they had the masters for their tune. For some of these singles I'm able to upload a sound file of both sides of the disc, but due to time constraints, this time we're just focusing on one of the tunes. It's not that there's anything wrong with "Shake A Hand," it's a raucous jazz 'n' roll stomper that kind of sounds like Louis Prima's more rockin' efforts and has some amazing sax blasting on it. But there's something about "The Dickey Doo" that sticks out, and if I have to limit myself to one side of the single, this is the one going under the needle.

There's not really anything to not like about this tune: the popcorn pentameter, the odd chanting reiteration of the nonsensical title, the beat jazz breakdown at about the 1:13 mark, the child's voice exuberantly inviting us to "Do the Dickie-Doo" at the head of the track, as if he were commanding "GO!" to a wall of eagerly idling race cars!

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