We’re looking at organ-heavy tracks this week and today’s classic organic song of the day is “Double Shot of My Baby’s Love” by the Swingin’ Medallions. Released in April of 1966, this garage rock classic peaked at at #17 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100.
“Double Shot of My Baby’s Love” was written by Don Smith and Cyril Fitter (real last name: Vetter), songwriters with some minor hits under their belts. The song was originally recorded, in 1963, by a group called Dick Holler & the Holidays, to little notice. (Holler later wrote the classics “Abraham, Martin and John,” a hit for Dion, and “Snoopy vs. the Red Baron,” a hit for the Royal Guardsmen.)
The Swingin’ Medallions covered the tune three years later in a recording that heavily featured the Farfisa Compact Combo organ, and it was a hit—even though it was banned from some radio stations because it was all about getting drunk and getting laid:
Woke up this morning, my head was so bad
The worst hangover that I ever had
What happened to me last night
That girl of mine, she loved me so right
She loved me so long and she loved me so hard
I finally passed out in her front yard
It wasn’t wine that I had too much of
It was a double shot of my baby’s love
The Medallions (originally without the “Swingin'”) were a bunch of college friends from Lander College in Greenwood, South Carolina, who got together in 1962 to make a little spare change playing at frat parties and local clubs. They became aware of “Double Shot,” which was a regional hit at the time, and added it to their live act. John McElrath, the group’s founder, recalls:
“I had heard it played in Columbia [South Carolina] in the 1950s. It was a local hit when I was a teenager, and when we put our band together, we started to play it, too.”
The song was notable not only for its prominent organ part (played by band member Brent Fortson) but also for the party sounds in the background. As McElrath noted:
“We actually pulled in people off the street and had a big crowd in the studio to make background noise, and that party atmosphere gave us the sound we were looking for.”
Those raucous background sounds made “Double Shot of My Baby’s Love” one of the all-time great party songs, or what some people dubbed “frat rock.” It’s certainly a fun one—both to play and to listen to.
And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, along with members of the Swingin’ Medallions, performing “Double Shot of My Baby’s Love” live in Greenville, South Carolina, on September 16, 2009. It’s a party!
