"Young Blood"

"Young Blood" is a song written by the songwriting team Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, together with Doc Pomus, in 1957.

Structure

Musically, the song follows a minor blues structure, built mostly around three chords (im, ivm, V) except for the bridge (IV, VI, III, V). The lyrical theme is one typical of early rock and roll: boy meets girl, then meets girl's father, who does not approve of boy - so the boy departs, but cannot stop thinking about the girl, declaring: "You're the one, You're the one, You're the one".

The Coasters' version

"Young Blood" was originally recorded by The Coasters, and released as a single together with "Searchin'" in March 1957 by Atco Records (#6087). Their version can also be heard on The Very Best of the Coasters album. It topped Billboard's R&B chart, and reached #3 on the Pop chart.

The Coasters' version is ranked #414 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, the group's only song on the list. A sound bite, "Look a-there! Look a-there! Look a-there!", from The Coasters' version was used in a Dickie Goodman comedy record, "Flying Saucer the Second."

The Beatles' cover version

The Beatles played "Young Blood" in their Cavern Club repertoire. It is one of twelve songs recorded by them in July 1962 on a tape, which was re-purchased by Paul McCartney at a Sotheby's auction in 1985.

A previously-unreleased version performed by The Beatles (for the BBC radio show Pop Go the Beatles broadcast on June 11, 1963) is included on their album Live at the BBC, released in 1994. It was recorded at the BBC Paris Studio, London on June 1, 1963, and George Harrison is the lead vocalist on this recording; the tempo is moderately fast, considerably faster than in the original.

Other cover versions

The song has been covered by several other artists, including a live version by Leon Russell at the 1971 Concert for Bangla Desh, a 1976 release by Bad Company which charted, although described as a "terrible, hokey sendup ... that makes the band seem so foolish," a 1983 version by Beach Boys guitarist Carl Wilson that served as the title track to Youngblood (his second solo album), and a version by Bruce Willis in The Return of Bruno (1986). The Grateful Dead are known to have soundchecked the song. "Young Blood" was also featured in an episode of Happy Days.

Single by The Coasters
B-side: "Searchin'"
Released: March 1957
Recorded: February 15, 1957
Label: Atco Records 6087
Writer(s): Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Doc Pomus

Wikipedia