One Mint Julep

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One Mint Julep
The Clovers

One Mint Julep is a rhythm and blues song written by Rudy Toombs that became a hit for The Clovers. It was recorded by Atlantic Records in New York City on December 19, 1951 and released in March of 1952. It was one of the first "drinking songs" to become a hit and one of the first to feature a tenor sax solo. It was an important step in the history of Ahmet Ertegun and Atlantic Records in its quest to become a hot rhythm and blues label.^[1] Stylistically the The Clovers were moving away from the sentimental lyrics of the romantic doo wop group songs and adapting a cooler group style, empahsizing rhythm more, nearing the style of a jump blues combo.^[2]

Toombs was hired by Atlantic to write humorous up-tempo rhythm and blues novelty songs. Atlantic wanted material that was true to life but also funny. The humor in this song comes in part from the idea of a young black man getting drunk on mint julips, thought of as an aristocratic southern white woman's drink.^[1]

1 Song
2 Drinking songs
3 Key recordings
4 Notes
5 External links

[edit] Song

The story line is a classic one of a man who falls for the charms of a young woman only to realize a few years later that he has a ring on his finger. He remembers that it all started with "One Mint Julep".^[2]

One early morning as I was walking,

I met a woman, we started talking,

The last verse outlines the trap.

I don't want to bore you, with my trouble,

But from now on I'll be thinking double.

[edit] Drinking songs

This is one of the best of the many popular R&B drinking songs in the 1940's and 1950's.^[3] It was the first of several successful up tempo drinking songs by Toombs on the horrible effects of alcohol, and who went on to write "One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer" for Amos Milburn, "Fat Back and Corn Likker" for Louis Jordan and "Nip Sip" for The Clovers.^[2]

[edit] Key recordings

In 1961 "One Mint Julep" finally reached a mass audience when Ray Charles's recording reached No. One on the R&B charts and also a pop bestseller.^[1] Among the many who covered or remade this song are the following:^[3]

[edit] Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c Jim Dawson, & Steve Propes (1992). What Was the First Rock'n'Roll Record. Boston & London: Faber & Faber, pages 99-101. ISBN 0-571-12939-0.
^ ^a ^b ^c Gillett, Charlie (1996). The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll, (2nd Ed.), New York, N.Y.: Da Capo Press, p. 135, 165. ISBN 0-306-80683-5.
^ ^a ^b One Mint Julip. Retrieved on November 2, 2006.