HEY LITTLE COBRA
The Rip Chords had one of the biggest hits of the surf era in the early 1960’s with “Hey Little Cobra” – maybe THE biggest outside of those by Jan & Dean and the Beach Boys – when it reached #4 on the charts in early 1964 (back in the early days of Beatlemania).
The potential of “Hey Little Cobra” was recognized immediately (the song was co-written by Terry Melcher with Carol Connors; her many other songwriting credits include “Gonna Fly Now”, the theme from Rocky); and both Bruce Johnston and Terry Melcher were brought in as the vocalists for the Rip Chords on this song. Melcher was the lead vocalist on the track, and this was basically his debut as a singer. The Rip Chords released their first album in the same time period, Hey Little Cobra and Other Hot Rod Hits. As suggested by the title, and like other albums of that period, the album included their hit song “Hey Little Cobra” as well as several songs that had already been hits for other artists: “409”, “Little Deuce Coupe”, and “Drag City”. However, several of the band’s earlier songs are also there, including “Here I Stand” and “Gone”.
Most sources believe that Bruce Johnston and Terry Melcher basically took over vocal duties for almost all of their recordings thereafter. Allmusic claims that Phil Stewart (who has a distinctive bass/baritone voice) was the vocalist on only two songs on Three Window Coupe, the band’s second album – “Bonneville Bonnie” and “Old Car Made in ’52” – and that Ernie Bringas didn’t perform at all on the album. However, Bringas insists that all four vocalists collaborated as to who would handle the singing, and that the hit song “Hey Little Cobra” is about the only song where neither he nor Stewart sang at all.
(July 2011)
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Much to my surprise, in the Rip Chords I finally found a rock band that did not have a listing in Wikipedia with a genuine hit song; their single “Hey Little Cobra” was one of the biggest hit songs in surf music, making it to #4 in early 1964, even though the surf scene was already in significant decline following the recent arrival of the British Invasion. I had recently picked up the second album by the Rip Chords, Three Window Coupe, and it is every bit as good as their common first album, Hey Little Cobra and Other Hot Rod Hits. I was able to debunk the idea that the Rip Chords weren’t a real band but just a studio fiction that revolved around Bruce & Terry, i.e., Bruce Johnston, who later joined the Beach Boys (and is still in the band) and top producer Terry Melcher (Doris Day’s son).
YouTube has numerous Rip Chords songs on hand; their big hit “Hey Little Cobra” can be heard at www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc6FmZCT0Zc accompanied by numerous photographs of vintage hot rods.
(July 2013)
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Here are their two albums; this one includes their smash hit, “Hey Little Cobra”:
(July 2014)
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There is also a rare surf song on Pebbles, Volume 4 LP having a female lead, called “Thinkin’ ’Bout You Baby” by Sharon Marie. Another (from Born Bad, Vol. 6) is “Yum Yum Yamaha” by Carol Connors and the Cycles; Carol Connors co-wrote the hit song by the Rip Chords, “Hey Little Cobra”. “Little Honda” by the Hondells (written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love of the Beach Boys) honored a different brand of Japanese motorcycle and was a Top Ten hit in 1964.
(December 2014)
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Perhaps believing that there was only room for one Annette in show business, Annette Kleinbard changed her name to Carol Connors and had a lucrative career as a songwriter and performer. For instance, with Terry Melcher (Bruce Johnston’s partner in Bruce & Terry), Carol Connors co-wrote the hit song “Hey Little Cobra” for past UARB the Rip Chords.
(January 2015/1)
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This past year, I have been able to show a lot of variety, from power pop to surf rock to rockabilly to singer-songwriter to my usual punk rock, psychedelic rock and garage rock. One of the bands, the Rip Chords even had a hit song, “Hey Little Cobra” (#4 on the charts toward the end of the surf/hot rod era). The first band for the new year was a new band, and I plan to keep that up in the years to come. I have three new bands/artists to talk about already, so I will probably have more than one new band in the coming year.
(Year 2 Review)
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The name The Iguana Chronicles is taken from Iggy Pop’s first band, the Iguanas; once again, as with past UARB the Rip Chords (who had a big surf rock hit in 1964, “Hey Little Cobra”), I started my UARB post on the Iguanas during the month before someone finally wrote a Wikipedia article on the band. As I said before in one of my recent posts, I don’t think I will ever get used to the idea of the Iguanas being among the UARB’s.
(Year 9 Review)
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Ten years ago, in December 2009, I wrote the first of my 82 posts on Under Appreciated Rock Bands, i.e., rock bands (and artists) who did not have a write-up as yet in Wikipedia. It wasn’t much to look at, just four short paragraphs, but I got a lot wordier and more wide-ranging as the years went by. I had hoped to keep this up for at least 5 years, if not 10 years; as it happened, my last post was dated December 2017 – 8 years later, and 2 years ago.
For two of the Under Appreciated Rock Bands – the Rip Chords (who had a major hit in the surf era with “Hey Little Cobra”) and the Iguanas (punk icon Iggy Pop’s first band, and the reason that he came to be called “Iggy”) – I managed to write my post literally the month before someone started a Wikipedia article on them. For another two – the Piltdown Men and Haymarket Square – it turns out that there was already a Wikipedia article on them; for the latter band, I just plain forgot to look! And one of the UARB’s, Wendy Bagwell and the Sunliters was not even a rock band – and I just found a Wikipedia article about them also, so I suppose I didn’t look closely enough when I started that post either. But I don’t care at this point: They are all Under Appreciated, from one end to the other, even for the handful who do have a Wikipedia article these days.
(Year 10 Review)
