Sh-Boom

Infobox Single
Name = Sh-Boom (Life Could Be a Dream)
Artist = The Crew-Cuts
Released = 1954
Recorded = 1954
Genre = Vocal Pop, Doo-wop, R&B, Traditional pop music
Length = 2:47
Label = Mercury records
Writer = James Keyes, Claude Feaster & Carl Feaster, Floyd F. McRae, and James Edwards
Chart position = #1 (US Hot 100)
Last single = "Crazy 'Bout You Baby" (1954)
This single = "Sh-Boom" (1954)
Next single = "Don't Be Angry" (1955)
Misc =

"Sh-Boom" (sometimes referred to as "Life Could Be a Dream") is widely considered to be the first popular Doo-Wop song. It was written by James Keyes, Claude Feaster & Carl Feaster, Floyd F. McRae, and James Edwards and published in 1954.

History

It was first recorded on Atlantic Records' subsidiary label Cat Records by a rhythm and blues group, The Chords, and would be their only hit song. Placed on the B-Side of a cover of "Cross over the Bridge" a Patti Page hit, Sh-Boom reached number 3 on the R&B charts, and topped at number 9 on the Pop charts, making it the first doo-wop or rock 'n' roll record to reach the Top Ten on the mainstream pop charts (as opposed to the R&B charts). This version was ranked #215 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and is the group's only song on the list.

A more traditional style version was made by The Crew-Cuts for Mercury Records, and this version reached #1 on the Billboard charts in for seven weeks during August and September 1954.

On the Cash Box magazine best-selling record charts, where both versions were combined, the song reached #1.

British Doo-Wop revivalists Darts recorded Sh-Boom in the late 1970s, this time at a slower tempo. It was released as the B-side of the band's last charting single, reaching number 48 in the UK charts in 1980.

The song has appeared in the movie "Clue", Pixar's "Cars", "Liberty Heights" (1999), "Cry-Baby" featuring Johnny Depp (1990), and the mini-series "Lipstick on Your Collar" (1993), the last of writer Dennis Potter's works to be produced in his lifetime. It was briefly featured in the HBO mini-series "From the Earth To The Moon" (1998), More recently, The Trevor Horn Orchestra covered the song for the "Mona Lisa Smile" (2003) soundtrack.

A remixed version is featured in the video game "Destroy All Humans!".

The Crew Cuts appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and performed Sh-Boom.

Sh-Boom was parodied by Stan Freberg. Another parody, as a singing cigarette commercial by the Sportsmen Quartet, appeared on the October 31, 1954 Jack Benny television show. More recently, comic Ronnie Golden wrote a parody, "Shoe Bomb", on the subject of the British terrorist Richard Reid.