Swan Records

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This article is about the Philadelphia based record label who released The Beatles' "She Loves You". For an earlier label of the same name, see Swan Records (jazz label).

Label of Swan's biggest hit

Swan Records was a mid-20th century United States based record label, founded in 1957, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It had a subsidiary label called Lawn Records.

Swan came into the spotlight after Brian Epstein leased The Beatles' song "She Loves You" and it became an American number 1 hit in January 1964.

Swan was also given the rights to the German version of "She Loves You", "Sie Liebt Dich" which peaked at #97 in 1964.

The success of the "She Loves You" single kept Swan going while other small record labels were snowed under by the British invasion, but it finally closed its doors in 1967.

Outside of "She Loves You", Swan's most remembered hit was Palisades Park in 1962, written by Chuck Barris, and performed by the most successful artist on the label, Freddy Cannon. Another hit for Swan was a release of The Rockin' Rebels's lone hit, the instrumental "Wild Weekend" (which in fact was written as a radio jingle for a Buffalo disc jockey).

Swan was co-owned by Bernie Binnick and Tony Mammarella, with Dick Clark reported to having a financial investment in it. When the payola scandals of the early 1960's broke, Clark divested himself of all of his outside interests to avoid conflict of interest. The label was distributed by Cameo-Parkway Records, which at the time was the hottest label for teenage dance crazes ("The Twist", "Limbo Rock", ("Do) The Bird", "Wah-Watusi", "Mashed Potato Time", "Gravy (For My Mashed Potatoes", "Hully Gully Baby", "Bristol Stomp", "(Do the) New Continental")

The first hit for the Swan label was "Click Clack" by Dickie Doo and the Don'ts, a studio recording produced by Gerry Granahan under the pseudonym that was actually the nickname Dick Clark called his infant son, Dick Clark, Jr.

The Three Degrees had a moderate hit with a remake of the Five Keys' "Close Your Eyes", but scored better on Roulette with their remake of the Chantel's "Maybe" and "When Will I See You Again" on Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff's Philadelphia International Records.

The label bears the message "Don't drop out" to encourage kids to stay in school.