Venus In Blue Jeans
Songfacts®:
- Jimmy Clanton was one of the few white singers to emerge from New Orleans in the 1950s. In 1958 he hit #4 with "Just A Dream," an R&B track co-written with Cosimo Matassa, who recorded Fats Domino. The following year, he starred in a movie called Go Johnny Go!, which set him up as a teen idol. "Venus In Blue Jeans" fit this image, with Clanton singing about a heavenly teenage girl here on Earth. He was 21 when he recorded it; it was his last Top 40 hit.
- In the UK, this was a #4 hit for the British singer Mark Wynter, whose version was released soon after Clanton's.
- This is the kind of song that fared well in 1962: innocent, written by seasoned songwriters, devoid of subtext, recorded by a young singer who was a part-time movie star. The Beatles would soon disrupt this market with more adventurous songs they wrote themselves.
Comments: 2
- Sam Williams from Sherman Oaks.Hello. So I recently found out some additional information about the session for this song from someone who was there and was either a contractor for the musicians on the session or a player himself on the song. He told me the song was recorded at Associated Recording Studios in New York and it was produced by Jack Keller. Interesting how Jack himself produced this record. I always thought it was Al Nevins who produced it since this was an Aldon Music Published song. No word on the engineer but it was probably whoever was the house engineer at Associated at that time. And why Jack never got producer credit for this song when it was originally released is beyond me. I think it had something to do with the label it was released on. Ace at the time seemed kind of stingy as to crediting ANYONE else for a 45 single EXCEPT for the writers of the song. A lot of their other releases are like that. Other labels were more generous with crediting the producers and arrangers for each single along with the songwriters who wrote the song. Also Associated was quite the hit making studio at that time. A LOT of hits came out of there that were apparently produced as full fledged demos. I’ll comment on other songs that have articles on this site to let you know what other hits came out of there. Too many people go on and on and on about Gold Star Studios and the Wrecking Crew, but the New York Musicians and recording studios simply don’t get enough credit and they really should. I could go on forever as to how many hits came out of NY in the 60’s that EASILY equaled if not topped the amount of hits recorded in LA at that time. But their story needs to be told for sure and hopefully one day that will happen. It began to be told in that Bert Berns Documentary that came out a few years back but I think they deserve another Documentary but that’s just me.
- Sam from Sherman OaksIf anybody has any leads as to any details on the recording session for this song I would really appreciate it. I asked Jimmy on his Facebook page what he can remember about the session for this song and he said Carole King arranged the session where this song was cut and it was recorded in New York but he couldn’t remember the name of the studio it was recorded at. And the original 45 doesn’t even credit a producer or an arranger but since this was an Aldon Music Published Song we can safely assume Al Nevins was probably the one who produced this record (Al produced many Aldon Music published songs since for a brief period of time since at that time he co owned the company and the musicians who played on many Neil Sedaka Hits were probably the same musicians on this song since he produced most of Neil’s hits on RCA at that time) and also, many early pressings of this song incorrectly list Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield as songwriters when this was written by Howard Greenfield and Jack Keller. I wonder what happened that caused this error to occur. That would be a good question to ask Jimmy Clanton for sure. I’m sure when Jack saw this error back then when he bought the original 45 of the song he wrote he was very upset to see this error imprinted on the original label.
More Songfacts:
Mr. CrowleyOzzy Osbourne
The Ozzy Osbourne song "Mr. Crowley" is about Aleister Crowley, a British practitioner of dark magic in the early 1900s.
Born to be AlivePatrick Hernandez
In 1979, Madonna was a dancer on Patrick Hernandez' tour, where she boogied to his hit "Born To Be Alive."
RaptureBlondie
The first #1 hit with a rap was "Rapture" by Blondie in 1980. Debbie Harry's rhymes left lots of room for improvement.
The CaveMumford & Sons
"The Cave" by Mumford & Sons is based on the philosophy of Plato and his work called "Allegory of the Cave."
You Are Not AloneMichael Jackson
Michael Jackson's 1995 song "You Are Not Alone" was the first single in US history to enter the Billboard Hot 100 chart at #1
Jack & DianeJohn Mellencamp
Jack & Diane started off as an interracial couple; Mellencamp took race references out of the song at the request of his record company.
Editor's Picks
Reverend Horton HeatSongwriter Interviews
The Reverend rants on psychobilly and the egghead academics he bashes in one of his more popular songs.
Strange MagneticsSong Writing
How Bing Crosby, Les Paul, a US Army Signal Corps Officer, and the Nazis helped shape rock and Roll.
90s Music Quiz 1Music Quiz
First question: Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson appeared in videos for what artist?
Edwin McCainSongwriter Interviews
"I'll Be" was what Edwin called his "Hail Mary" song. He says it proves "intention of the songwriter is 180 degrees from potential interpretation by an audience."
Sarah BrightmanSongwriter Interviews
One of the most popular classical vocalists in the land is lining up a trip to space, which is the inspiration for many of her songs.
Tommy JamesSongwriter Interviews
"Mony Mony," "Crimson and Clover," "Draggin' The Line"... the hits kept coming for Tommy James, and in a plot line fit for a movie, his record company was controlled by the mafia.