User:FacesSmall/Sha-La-La-La-Lee

"Sha-La-La-La-Lee" is a song written by Swedish musicians Anton Wihlborg and William Hoang, first recorded by their band the Prelude. Wihlborg had envisioned the song as a slower, drawn out ballad based on older blues musicians, such as Robert Johnson and Lead Belly. There were two versions of the song recorded, with the second being the officially released version, while the original recorded remained unavailable for several years until it became widely bootlegged, and was first given an official release in 1991. The first thousand copies of the single used the acetate of the first version, often times dubbed the "demo version" before the error was found out by Olga Records and the release was subsequently withdrawn and re-pressed.

AllMusic critic Bill Janovitz states that "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" was among the first mainstream recordings to revolve around power-chords, following a concept made popular by the Kinks in earlier that year with track such as "You Still Want Me" and "You Really Got Me", the latter of which reached the Swedish top-20. Both Wihlborg and Hoang admitted to being somewhat inspired by Ray Davies' writing. The original Swedish single sleeve, which features the band looking down into the trunk of a car, is one of the most widely known images in pop culture, and has been imitated and parodied multiple times, notably by Compton, California hip hop group N.W.A for their first studio album Straight Outta Compton, much to the appraisal of the band members.

Released as the Prelude's third single, it was their first to make a major impact on the Swedish charts, reaching number 6 on Kvällstoppen and number 4 on Tio i Topp, staying on those charts for eleven and seven weeks respectively. It has been considered their international breakthrough aswell, as it reached number 12 on the German charts. It was also successful in the Nordic and Scandinavian countries, as it reached number 1 in Finland, staying there for three consecutive weeks and breached the top-5 in both Denmark as well as Norway. The single has later been covered by many other acts, most notably by Deep Purple as their debut single in 1968; this rendition reached the top-10 in both the United Kingdom and the United States.

Background
Following the critical and commercial success of their top-20 single "Zoot Suit", the Prelude's manager Tim Blomberg praised Victor Friberg for his new-found talent, and encouraged him to continue writing. Friberg had previously written two tracks which appeared on their debut EP Louie Louie in early October of that year. The fact that these songwriting credits were individually credited caused slight bitterness and to some extent feuds between band members. At the time, no band-writing partnerships had officially formed, however, Wihlborg and Hoang had started composing a few songs together, the first released being "I Must Be In Love" which also appeared on Louie Louie. when the acetate of "I Must Be In Love" was played for critics in July of that year, they considered the track to be a direct Beatles rip-off, something that affected both Wihlborg and Hoang greatly. As a result of this, the duo set out to write, record and release a track which would not largely derive from the style of the Beatles.

According to various sources, "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" was first concieved by Wihlborg on either 3 or 7 September, following a tour which supported "Zoot Suit". Wihlborg claimed that he was strumming his guitar, when all of a sudden, a chord progression suddently popped up, he experimented with it, and after getting stuck and frustrated, decided to abandon the project for around a week. He claimed that he forgot about the composition for a brief moment, before finding the note on which the chord progression was written. Needing help finishing the product, he attempted to aquire help from his bandmates. As bassist Friberg was on a holiday with his parents in Denmark at the time, and drummer Brazer Özel was temporarily away from Stockholm, Wihlborg contacted Hoang, who he knew was a decent songwriter. Hoang had previously written "Too Much", which was issued as the B-side of "Zoot Suit", along with the aforementioned "I Must Be In Love".

"I knew he [Hoang] had written a song for the band prior to "Sha-La-La-La-Lee", not "I Must Be In Love" which I and him had written in June of that year, no, that song was called "Too Much", which solely credits him. So I decided to give him a call and about forty-fifty minutes later he pulls up in his car, knocks on my door and from there, the hours felt like minutes being wasted on songwriting"

- Anton Wihlborg It is unclear who composed the majority of the song, as both Wihlborg and Hoang have forgotten the process. In a 1998 interview with Uncut, Hoang claimed that the song was a "60-40%" to Wihlborg, where he composed most of the music, while Hoang supplied most of the lyrics for the song. Wihlborg on the other hand, has stated that the song was approximately a "50/50" job to both of them. Wihlborg is the one behind the title of the song, noting that "we wanted to record a cute little ditty, unlike the Beatles who tended to be serious in their music. So I was sitting there, coming up with ideas when it suddently hit me, Hoang was humming a generic song, you know, 'la la la' and then I told him: 'You know what would be a witty song-title? Sha La-La-La-La' to which he responded with 'add a -Lee to the end of that' so that I did." Coincidentally, British rock band Manfred Mann also released a single called "Sha La La" in October of that year.

Upon the return of Friberg and Özel, Hoang and Wihlborg decided to show them their new composition, much to the liking of Friberg, but to the dislike of Özel, who considered the song 'too poppy and unlike our style'. He was vetoed 3 against 1. Hoang initially wanted the guitar riff to be played on either a Vox Continental organ or a piano. Janovitz claims that this is really when the Prelude started taking their own inititative, and put a spin on their material. The song was written without any bass lines in part; these were invented upon Friberg's arrival at Wihlborg's house. Friberg was never credited for his participation in the songwriting process. The band introduced "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" to their live repertoire on their gig on 20 September, much to the apprecation of the audicence. The song was a radical departure from the group's live rave-up's which characterised most of their earlier music.

In 2015, during a Reddit ask me anything session featuring Wihlborg, he admitted that "Sha-La-La-La-Lee was primarily based upon earlier blues artists such as Lead Belly and Robert Johnson", stating that the sound of the withering phonograph record brought them a sense of eerieness, especially with Johnson, who's life is largely undocumented and lost to history. I wrote the track with "Cross Road Blues" in mind, as it feature approximately the same tempo. The key and tempo changes occured later when we attempted to polish the recording in the studio for the second time."

Recording
On Thursday, 8th October 1964, Olga label owner Åke Gerhard booked the studio slot between 9 am and 1 pm at Phillips Studio, located outside of Stockholm. This would be the Prelude's first and only recording cut at that studio, as opposed to most of their material being recorded at Europafilm Studios. Gerhard chose the studio for it's conventional times and lower price. The Prelude first attempted to record "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" at around 11 am, after successfully recording seven takes of an at the time untitled instrumental, which would later gain the title "Grow Your Own". This was the slow, originally blues-inspired version of the song. They recorded three takes of the song, one of which contains a false start and is incomplete. Following the completion of take three, Gerhard approached the band members and told them to leave the recording session. When asked why, he stated that "the recording was an uncommercial mess which won't get us anywhere. Too costly for our label." Their manager Tim Blomberg quickly started working on a mix on that afternoon. According to various studio engineers who were present, this mix ended up very muddy, with the vocals buried in the back, with only the piano up front.

Upon hearing the acetate disc of it on the 15th of October, the Prelude became utterly dissapointed, and requested a new recording session to finalize and re-record the song. However, Olga Records refused to buy the group more studio time, as they felt that "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" was too uncommercial and as a result, not a viable record to be released. A feud between the Prelude, their management and Olga ensued, with the Prelude repeatedly stating that they'd make it a commercial song. The stand-off was only interrupted on 20 October, when Olga gave the band a deal; they'd get to record a new version of the song, but if it didn't reach the top-10, the act would be dropped. Unbeknowst to the band, Blomberg accepted this offer, later stating that other record labels wanted to sign and record the Prelude, including Tages Platina Records. The Prelude, this time on 23 October, entered the recording studio with an entirely new rendition of the song to record. The recording session lasted between 10 am and 12 pm, with the song being completed in eight takes, two of which had false starts and one which was incomplete. Take six became the master tape stuck to an acetate, and mixing commenced on 25 October, with Özel assisting Blomberg.

The distortion found in the guitar was a mere coincidence; It was discovered by Wihlborg during a performance during the first week of October, in which during their ecstatic live act, he repeatedly smashed his Vox AC30 amplifier, successfully damaging the cone inside. Upon discovering this, he began incorporating it into the band's live repertoire, much to the appracial of the group. The damaged cone also attributed to the widespread occurence of audio feedback throughout the song. This was proven by Friberg in an interview in 2002, where he stated that "the feedback occured since Wihlborg was playing very close to the amp. It was a very concious decision by him. We like it so much because it felt genuine, something straight out of one of our gigs. And since we chose to largely imitate our stage sound, we thought that it was a great idea to feature; no one at Olga objected." This means that "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" was one of the earliest recordings to feature deliberate feedback, something that was previously thought to be first achieved by the Beatles John Lennon on their single "I Feel Fine", which was released the following month. However, "I Feel Fine" was recorded only a mere week before "Sha-La-La-La-Lee", so the question still remains up for debate.

Music and lyrics
The single surrounds a few power chords, which are mostly prevalent throughout the chorus of the song, but also appear in the intro of the song. Several critics have pointed out the similarities between "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" and "Rumble", an instrument recorded by Link Wray in 1958. The entire band was intrigued by Wray's usage of power-chords, going as far as stating that "he invented modern rock" in 1969. The song is in E major, and as such feature five chords, using a standard I–V–vi–IV progression in the chorus. The verses and intro are not dependent on these however; they tend to go from E to B, then back again to E, rendering "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" as a three-chord song during these parts. As a result of this, "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" became a quick garage standard due to the easy chord progression, and was and still is popular among new guitarists.

The lyrics revolve high school romance, which through a brief synopsis, reveal that the unnamed protagonist picked up a love interest on a Friday night, uncertain of where to go on their first date. At an unspecified location, the protagonist reveals his love for her, to a positive response. The story ends when the pair invite friends to the location. Hoang, who supplied most of the lyrics, stated that this was based on a true story. "In fifth grade me and [Friberg] had two class-mates who were deeply in love. Their names were Eva and Göran, and their relationship spread like hot butter throughout the school." The identities of Göran and Eva were long forgotten until 2010, when they came forward. By then, they had been married since 1967 and had two kids, born 1976 and 1980 respectively. Friberg verified their story and catched up with them.

Single sleeve
The initial single sleeve features a photograph of the Prelude, looking down into the trunk of a car, with the camera positioned inside the car, facing upwards. Initially, Olga had chosen a standard, generic image of the Prelude to go along with the single release. This photo was taken in a walkway tunnel in the newly built suburb of Fruängen, located south of Stockholm. When the first copy of the single was pressed on 27 October, the group objected to the imagery, as they wanted the sleeve to stand out to attract buyers. With a tight schedule, and a release date the following day, he allowed it only if the photoshoot was to take place the following day, which the group agreed on. In hurry of finding a professional photographer who was free the following day, the band hired Ulf H. Holmstedt, a professional who had photgraphed several other rock bands and was hired as Expressen's standard photographer. For a fee of 168 Swedish kronor (1828 SEK with inflation counted), Holmstedt agreed to meet the band the following day.

At approximately 8 am the following morning, the Prelude met Holmstedt at the parking lot of the unfinished IKEA at Kungens Kurva (which during later times has become a successful shopping district, but was at the time uninhabited, with the unfinished IKEA being the only structure for around a year) for the photoshoot. He later confessed in an interview that the initial roll of film for the photos were rather spontaneous, with the band doing various activities, such as jumping, doing jumping jacks, handstanding and standing on the roof of a car. Holmstedt only had 5 120 film rolls, which he estimated cost a total of 100 Swedish kronor (1 065 kronor with inflation counted) which he wanted to wanted to preserve, so he told the band to come up with something innovative quickly. Not knowing what to do, the group sat around a parked car, which was among the only vehicles at the construction site.

To their surprise, the trunk of the car was left unlocked, which was discovered by either Özel or Holmstedt, who quickly came up with various ideas. The first batch of photographs feature bassist Friberg lying in a fetal position inside the trunk. It was then they came up with the idea of putting the camera inside the trunk facing upward, with Holmstedt lying inside it. He agreed on this, and for approximately three to four minutes, he wasted an entire batch of film rolls for these photos. In 2016, shortly before his death, he published the variations online, which feature several different of the trunk photos, including some where Wihlborg is holding the boot of the trunk, and some where the band are looking at eachother and some where they are smiling. Following this, the photography was wrapped up at around 9:30 am, and the band traveled to Holmstedt's apartment, where he developed the photograph. They chose a photo where they were staring intesively into the camera lense, which was sent into Olga Records at around 6 PM that night.

"We took a quick glance at the photos and were in ave. Like, "wow, did we actually take such great photos?" and we chose the one in which we looked like mob members. It was very menacing and was certain to draw attention to buyers, it was great!"

- Brazer Özel

The model, brand and owner of the car long remained unknown. Neither the band members or Holmstedt could recall what model it was, and no photo gave away any clue as to what make the car was, with the exception of the ones which Friberg's was lying in the car, where the outside of the trunk was seen. This mystery remained unsolved until 2004, when it was revealed that the car was a model 1960 four-door Volvo Amazon, which belonged to Anders Jakobsson, who was a construction worker. Records prove that on 28 October 1964, Jakobsson was present at the IKEA, building it. Free parking was offered to the builders there. Jakobsson was oblivious to the fact that his car was used as the location of an iconic photograph, but recalled seeing five men at the parking lot during that morning, but thought nothing much of it. Jakobsson sold the vehicle in 1969 to a teenager, who owned the car for seventeen years, before once again selling it to a Veteran car club in 1986. They renovated the interior of the car, and kept it until 2005 until it was sold to Uganda for scrapping.

Nonetheless, the photo has become one of the most iconic images of the 20th century, having been seen by approximately 2 billion people worldwide. The reason behind this is that the photograph was used for the Prelude's US releases during most of 1965, including several top-20 hits during the latter parts of that year. It has been parodied several time, the first being in 1965, when a Swedish tomato paste company imitated it with their director and secretaries posing for it. This image was printed in Expressen and Aftonbladet during June of 1965. Two of the most notable renditions of it were made by N.W.A in 1988, who used it as the album cover for their debut studio album Straight Outta Compton. Eazy-E was the first member who had seen the Prelude's original image and liked it so much that he decided to issue it on their debut album. Their usage led to praisal from members of the Prelude, stating "intergenerational inspirations are always good". Based on Straigh Outta Compton, Quentin Tarantino used a similar effect for his movie Reservoir Dogs in 1992, a scene which would become one of the most iconic scenes of modern cinema.

Release
The single was first issued by Olga Records on 30 October 1964, three days after it's projected release. In Sweden, it bore the catalogue number SO 06 and was backed by "Grow Your Own". Due to a mistake with the management of Olga, the two different acetates were mixed up by secretaries, with the earlier version being sent to AB Irkå-Tryck, who started pressing the single on 29 October. After hearing the acetate, Irkå-Tryck manager Johan Jönsson found the recording odd and weird, but didn't pay it too much attention. Olga were unaware of this mistake until around a thousand copies of the single had been pressed by Irkå-Tryck, where fans inquired on why the sound quality was so terrible. Gerhard promptly went to a record store nearby and bought a pressing, and too his horror, it was the original recording. He promptly got Irkå-Tryck to stop pressing the single. The intended acetate was sent in on 2 November, for a scheduled release on 4 November, which was delayed to 6 November.

This meant that "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" did not enter Kvällstoppen until 10 November 1964, where it registered at position 17. The following week, it had ascended down to number 10, a position it held for two weeks. On 1 December, it had reached number 7 before peaking at number 6 the following week. It held that position for two weeks. Following this, it dropped back down to number 7, and by 29 December, it was at number 8, which it was at for three weeks before exiting the top-10 on 19 January 1965, at position 11. This was the final time the single was spotted on the chart. In total, it spent eleven weeks on the single chart, of which nine were in the top-10 and two were at number 6. It fared similarly on Tio i Topp, where it entered on 7 November 1964, ascending to position 4 and staying on the chart for seven weeks.

Due to heavy promiotion, "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" entered the top-10 in Denmark as well, peaking at number 3 on the Official Danish charts on 12 January 1965. In Norway, the single peaked at number 2 on VG-lista on 29 December 1964. On the West German charts, the single manage to peak at number 12 on 19 January 1965, becoming their first hit there. The Prelude achieved their hugest success with the song in Finland, where it climbed all the way to number 1, staying at the top for three weeks between 29 December 1964 and 12 January 1965. This led to the band being heavily requested to appear in Helsinki, which they wouldn't do until February, when bassist Simon Hellström was recruited. It sold approximately 6000 copies in Sweden alone, 12000 in West Germany and an estimated 25000 copies in Northern Europe.

Although not issued as a single in the United States, "Sha-La-La-La-Lee", along with it's B-side, were featured on the US-only album Introducing: The Prelude!, which was first released on 2 April 1965. As the song was only issued as a single in Europe, it was only mixed in mono, however, for the US release, it got a stereo mix for the first time, a mix which was first issued in Sweden on their 1970 compilation album The A-Sides.

Reception
The first mention of the single came in Swedish pop magazine Idolnytt on 11 November 1964, where they in a neutral review wrote that "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" was nothing special. They claimed that the track was a standard pop song, but that the performance was elevated by Wihlborg's vocals performance, which they claim is "truly mesmerizing", and ends their review by giving it a 7/10. The following day, a review was posted in Expressen, where Bosse Hansson states that "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" captures teen youth and angst completely, and adds that the song is remarkably well-defined and good for being recorded by a bunch of teenagers. Hansson also expresses his admiration for Wihlborg, and believes he can sing "almost any song in almost any way", and recommended readers to compare his vocals to those found on "Zoot Suit". Hansson was also the first to make a remark regarding the B-side "Grow Your Own", where he states that the Prelude's rhythmic section come together in an excellent performance "Booker T. & the M.G.'s" style.

Several other newspapers reviewed the single, including Popsan!, who in their December release states the the single is a standard teenybopper song, while simultaneously being their best single yet. They note the use of the distortion of Wihlborg's guitar and Hoang's organ which fills in during the verses. They state that "Sha-La-La-La-Lee's" best aspect is Wihlborg's vocals, which they call "primal and snarly". Aftonbladet gave it 4/5 stars, writing that "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" has rather weak lyrics, which are fortunately overshadows by Wihlborg's vocals. He also notes the great mixing, commenting on the bass in the mix which he considers more clear than most other bass-lines which are often times buried in the mix. He called Özel's drumming "the wildest he has heard" and also liked the sound of the hammond organ, but noted that the piano is largely buried in the mix. Several other newspapers would later review the single, however, most fan magazines are lost to time and haven't been archvied.

The Prelude incorporated "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" into their setlist for approximately 1 year, first playing it on 20 September 1964 at Uppsala Folkpark. Several recordings have been bootlegged, but only two have been officially released. The first was a rendition found on On Stage in July of 1965, while the second was found on Live At The Marquee Club 1965 released in 1983. Both of these versions where recorded in 1965, and the last time it was performed was on 17 December 1965, during the band's first US Tour with The Rolling Stones. However, during late 2019, the band has started incorporating "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" into the Oceania branch of their 2019 tour.

Legacy
Janovitz writes in his AllMusic review that "Sha-La-La-Lee" was considered revolutionary at the time. While he believes that the original version of the song is a "slow-assed", boring rendition of a decent song. Nobody had previously heard such raw rock, with the exception of "Rumble" by Link Wray. He states that while the song isn't necessarily a musical masterpiece, and is inferior to "Tired of Waiting for You", the performance holds together, largely due to Friberg's thumping bass, a style which he had not been familiar with at the time. He also writes that Özel's drumming predates that of Keith Moon and is almost just as wild. He keeps the beat and is also very flashy about it. He also notes that Wihlborg's rhythm guitar is very aggressive, a style he would start experimenting on the following year for both their debut album The Prelude and Next!

Several critics have identified "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" as the big bang of the hard rock, and punk rock genres, which would be largely be popular during the 1970's. Carl Everett wrote in his 1984 biography The Prelude and Other Stories and other stories that the Prelude secured their place in music history rather earlier on with "Sha-La-La-La-Lee", where he writes that despite being a tamer rock song that "In The City", which would appear on Next!, Everett believes that the audience certainly was shocked by the sudden introduction of distortion into mainstream music. Keith Anderson writes that "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" was his favorite song the Prelude recorded during 1964, as it did not derive from their earlier material, which focused more on Beatlesque and pop arrangements, such as the material found on Louie Louie.

Nonetheless, the band members carry a mixed opinion on "Sha-La-La-La-Lee", with Friberg stating it as being "a very catchy and good song. It is very easy to get mesmerized and stuck with the song on repeat." Hoang has shared a similar sentiment about the song, believing it to be a product of it's time, but a rather good one at that. In 2010, Hoang stated that "Sha-La-La-La-Lee" was the second favorite song he had written in the group, next to only "Kicks" which appeared on Next!. Özel has a neutral opinion of the song, stating that it's actually not that good and that he would rank it among the worst tracks they recorded. However, he has also said that he thought the song was very catchy, and that he had to give credit to Wihlborg and Hoang for that. Wihlborg carries a largely negative opinion of the song, writing on Instagram that "it's pure fucking shit, one of the worst records we've done." He alsoe wrote that he hasn't freely listened to the song since the 1980's.

The Prelude

 * Anton Wihlborg – lead vocals, guitar
 * William Hoang – hammond organ, piano, backing vocals
 * Victor Friberg – bass guitar, backing vocals
 * Brazer Özel – drums, backing vocals

Technical

 * Tim Blomberg – producer
 * Åke Gerhard – producer, studio engineer
 * Janne Frisk – studio engineer
 * Hans Sidén – liner notes