“Sh-Boom” (“Life Could Be a Dream“) is an early doo-wop song by the R&B vocal group The Chords. It was written by James Keyes, Claude Feaster, Carl Feaster, Floyd F. McRae, and William Edwards, members of The Chords, and published in 1954. It is sometimes considered the first doo-wop or rock ‘n’ roll record to reach the top ten on the pop charts (as opposed to the R&B charts), as it was a top-10 hit that year for both the Chords (who first recorded the song) and The Crew Cuts. In 2004, it was ranked No. 215 on Rolling Stone’s “Top 500 Best Songs of All Time”.
The song was written and first recorded on Atlantic Records’ subsidiary label Cat Records by the R&B group The Chords in March 1954, and would be their only hit song. The group reportedly auditioned the song for famed record producer Bobby Robinson while he was sick in bed, but he rejected them, stating the song “wasn’t commercial enough”. When the Chords recorded their debut single for Cat Records, a cover of Patti Page’s “Cross Over The Bridge”, the label reluctantly allowed them to record “Sh-Boom” for the B-side with Sam “The Man” Taylor on saxophone. “Sh-Boom” would eventually overshadow “Cross Over the Bridge”, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard R&B charts and peaking at No. 9 on the pop charts. It was later released by Cat as an A-side, coupled with another Chords original, “Little Maiden”.
A more traditional version was made by an all-white Canadian group, The Crew-Cuts (with the David Carroll Orchestra), for Mercury Records and was No. 1 on the Billboard charts for nine weeks during August and September 1954. The single first entered the charts in July 1954, and stayed for 20 weeks. The Crew-Cuts performed the song on Ed Sullivan’s ‘Toast of the Town’ in December 1954. On the Cash Box magazine best-selling record charts, where both versions were combined, the song reached No. 1.
Stan Freberg recorded a combined spoof of “Sh-Boom” and Marlon Brando because he felt that they both mumbled, in 1954. It reached No. 14 in the US and 15 in the UK. The Billy Williams Quartet released a version in 1954 on Coral Records that reached No. 21 on the Billboard, with orchestra directed by Jack Pleis. A recording by Ken Mackintosh and His Orchestra (vocalists: the Mackpies) was made in London in April 1954. It was released by EMI on the HMV label as catalog number B 10698.
The record for most recordings of “Sh-Boom” by a single group probably belongs to the Harvard Din & Tonics, a co-ed a cappella singing group that has featured the song on 12 of their 13 albums. Their 1979 Crew-Cuts-style arrangement was so popular that the group began performing “Sh-Boom” as their signature song at all their concerts, bringing all their alumni onstage to perform it across the United States and through 10 world tours.
