A Little Bit of Soap

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“A Little Bit of Soap”
Single by The Jarmels
Paul Davis, and
Nigel Olsson
Released 1961 (Jarmels)
1970 (Davis)
1979 (Olsson)
Recorded 1961 (Jarmels)
1970 (Davis)
1979 (Olsson)
Length 2:13
Label Laurie (Jarmels)
Bang (Davis, Olsson)
“A Little Bit of Soap”
Single by The Fabulous Echoes
Cliff Foenander
Released 1963 (The Fabulous Echoes)
Recorded 1963 (The Fabulous Echoes)
Length 2:42
Label Diamond Records Hong Kong

"A Little Bit of Soap", written by Bert Berns (aka Bert Russell), was a song, first sung by The Jarmels, reaching #12 in September 1961.

The song has been covered many times since: Paul Davis's rendition reached #52 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1970, and Nigel Olsson's rendition hit #34 in June 1979.

The song, about a breakup and lost love, was sung in a bluesy soul style by the Jarmels. It was followed up in a ballad arrangement by both Davis and Olsson.

While the song was a minor hit in the United States all three times it was released, it reached the Top Ten on the Canadian charts in 1970 for Paul Davis ("A Little Bit of Soap" was, coincidentally, his first single release. 'A Little Bit of Soap' was a huge hit in South East Asia when the Hong Kong based group - Cliff Foenander and The Fabulous Echoes released it as a single - it spent 25 weeks at Number 1 in Top Ten Charts in 1963 in South East Asia. Foenander and The Fabulous Echoes also sang the hit in Las Vegas, USA in 1964. 'A Little Bit of Soap' made Cliff Foenander a household name in South Asia - Radio Ceylon, the oldest radio station in South Asia played the Number One hit across the Indian sub-continent.