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Clambake

Rating:
2.8 / 5

Words & Music: Ben Weisman Sid Wayne

All right, Hmm
Mamma's little baby loves clambake, clambake
Mamma's little baby loves clambake too
Mamma's little baby loves clambake, clambake
Mamma's little baby loves clambake too

Hey listen world you've gotta know
I'm cuttin loose and lettin' go
Who needs the worry and the strife
Life can be a ball now just followin' my life
clambake, gonna have a clambake
clambake, gonna have a clambake

Look for the brightest lights in town
That's where you'll find me hanging round
I've got this feeling to be free
I pick and choose the life I want
And that's the life for me
clambake, gonna have a clambake
clambake, gonna have a clambake

Mamma's little baby loves clambake, clambake
Mamma's little baby loves clambake too
Mamma's little baby loves clambake, clambake
Mamma's little baby loves clambake too

All right

Look for the brightest lights in town
That's where you'll find me hanging round
I've got this feeling to be free
I pick and choose the life I want
And that's the life for me
clambake, gonna have a clambake
clambake, gonna have a clambake

Mamma's little baby loves clambake, clambake
Mamma's little baby loves clambake too
Mamma's little baby loves clambake, clambake
Mamma's little baby loves clambake too
Hey!

Mamma's little baby loves clambake, clambake
Mamma's little baby loves clambake too
Mamma's little baby loves clambake, clambake
Mamma's little baby loves clambake too
Mamma's little baby loves clambake, clambake
Mamma's little baby loves clambake too

Recordingdate: 1967/02/22, first released on: Clambake (album)

Musicians

Musicians who contributed to the first recording of Clambake:

(guitar)
(guitar)
(guitar)
(steel guitar)
(bass)
(drums)
(drums)
(piano)
(piano)
(harmonica)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(sax)

Availability

Find available albums with Clambake.

old shep wrote on April 20, 2008
The writers took liberties with the old melody from Shortnin' Bread and came up with this trash, which like the footage from the film should have been clambaked
John4126 wrote on May 13, 2008
This is a dreadful song and Elvis sings it as such.
Jerome wrote on June 16, 2008
luckily we have enough outtakes of this song..
Deano1 wrote on February 22, 2010
The title song to Elvis' 25th film is like two songs in one. Part "Shortnin Bread" and part normal typical Elvis' movie title song, this song is as uneven as the LP soundtrack it came from. Yet for some odd reason, I like it and find myself singing along with it. The movie was fluff, but fun as a nice cast makes it much better than "Easy Come, Easy Go", "Harum Scarum" or "Paradise, Hawaiian Style".
shoesuedeblues wrote on March 30, 2010
The soundtrack including this number was pretty poor saved only by the bonus tracks, which says something.
Steve Morse wrote on March 30, 2010
This is one of the few times I'll say this about an Elvis recording, but this is garbage. To call any film "Clambake" (apparently the Colonel's idea) is just asking for ridicule and then to ask someone to conjure up a title song . . . I'm genuinely lost for words.
dgirl wrote on March 30, 2010
Elvis and shellfish. It just never seemed to work well did it?
Jim Hoff wrote on March 30, 2010
Somewhere in the jungle of outtakes I've heard a slow bluesy version of the second verse sung acapella by Elvis. This effort has some potential ...... can't find the power to comment on the master take ......
Swen wrote on March 30, 2010
Even though I have owned the album for some 40 years or so I guess I´ve only listened to this one a few times, but I really liked and like Colonels so called "bonus tracks" a lot.
Steve V wrote on March 30, 2010
As I was leaving the record store with LP in 1967, I knew even before I played it, it would stink. The title was silly and the song was even worse than I imagined. In fact Elvis sounded liked he was sleep-walking throughout the soundtrack. One of his worst. Only the bonus songs were good and they should have been on a proper studio LP. Very unhip product for the hip year of 1967.
Great Dane wrote on March 30, 2010
I liked it as a kid,now my kids like it.This and the bonus songs is the only positive about it.
NONE000000 wrote on March 30, 2010
The fact that they led off the album "Clambake" with the song "Guitar Man" instead of the title shows that somebody involved knew what an embarrassment this track was even at the time. I actually don't mind part of the song---the part that is not "Mamma's little baby loves clambake, clambake...." As for the full soundtrack album, aside from some good bonus songs, only "You Don't Know Me" and "The Girl I Never Loved" are (in my opinion) really any good. "House That Has Everything" is kinda on the borderline, but the rest is terrible. (There were only 7 songs in the whole movie, which was about 5 too many)
TBG wrote on December 29, 2010
I like this song, I think it's a nice movie song and don't mind listening to it. I'll give it 3 stars. People tend to slander songs just because they are movie songs. I think Elvis sounds much better on the soundtracks than on several of his 70's recordings. His vocal range, and the energy in his voice, was better during the 60's compared to the seventies - even when you compare the soundtracks. Clambake as a movie is not very good, but the album is nice! Songs like "How Can You Loose..", "Clambake", "You Don't Know Me" (why that one wasn't a hit beats me), "The Girl I Never Loved", "Guitar Man" and "Just Call Me Lonesome" makes up for a very good album. Much more enjoyable than most of Elvis' albums from 1971 and upwards.
tmorelli@hughes.net wrote on December 29, 2010
Songs like this make you wish for a common disclaimer that could be placed on a majority of the soundtrack albums made after 1962. Something to the effect of: 'The non-bonus song content of this album was produced in accordance with the plot of a low budget movie that Elvis was contracted to star in. While the music for the most part served the movie well it was not something that Elvis would have considered recording (or listening to) in a million years unless he was guaranteed a large financial incentive. Even though he honored his contract and took the money he, at the very least tried his best to convey in his performance both a commitment to his craft and an acknowledgment that the quality of the material was beneath both him and his fans.'
RobIreland wrote on December 01, 2011
I love this period of ELvis. Just wish he had sang grittier material tho. He looked great in Clambake, rode a seriously cool Motorbike and had great quality to his voice .... such a shame it was all wasted at this time. The song Clambake is an example of what we'r left with from this time. Ok, taking it for what it is. I think if the shortin bread referance had been omitted from this tune it would have been much better. Maybe just an instrumental part playing that piece if it had to be included at all. I like ELvis" voice in this song and he seems quite relaxed and happy with it. His "Allllllllrrriiiggghhhhht" bit in the middle is raw elvis and the subject of the song "Im cutting loose and letting go" is perfect. A carefree almost road song .... I like it but could have well done without the shortin bread bit ... why is it there ? whos smart ass idea was that anyway ???
GEORGE (GK) wrote on December 01, 2011
Since the movie was about 2 people trading lives/places for a few days, why name the movie "Clambake" ? I read that the Colonel liked the title "Clambake" and thats why the title was chosen. A better movie title would have been "Trading places", which later became a title to a Eddie Murphy film. A title song about 2 people trading identities, may have been a real interesting movie song.
Marty_TCE wrote on May 12, 2012
Pleasant enough little ditty...but...could and would do so much better.
Lou A wrote on May 13, 2012
As someone pointed out , it's almost like there are two songs here : the "Shortnin Bread" part and the regular melody which would have been an average but listenable soundtrack title song for this point in Elvis career. Would have been on a par with songs like Roustabout or Double Trouble, nothing special but not embarassing. The Shortnin Bread reference makes you cringe a little when you listen to this. Elvis was having a tough time getting decent material for the soundtracks at this time . For me, "Hey Hey Hey" is the worst and thanks to "Shornin Bread" this isn't much better. Luckily the studio sessions were picking up as the bonus material on the album attests to.
Biffx wrote on September 08, 2012
An unbearable low point in the recording career of Elvis Presley. This must be one of the worst songs ever laid down by Elvis together with Hey Hey Hey also on the soundtrack. I find it really hard to listen to these and would sooner put on Old McDonald from Double Trouble before this. Bad bad bad enough said!!!
bajo wrote on September 08, 2012
I must admit that Clambake, the titlesong and the entire soundtrack is bottom of the barrell when it comes to Elvis' soundtracks. It's even worse than Easy Come, Easy Go. Poor Elvis, he really didn't know what to do with this material. As if he didn't even try. Luckily they left out the terrible movie version of You Don't Know Me. Saved by the opening number of Guitar Man and the remaining bonus songs I lived through with it.
Gorse wrote on January 23, 2013
Well I like it and never skip it. Nice catchy title song that breezes along and has me singing it long after it has finished. 3 Stars from me.
sugartummy wrote on March 01, 2013
Please folks, listen to the 21 seconds of take 4. Only a genius could hear this in a song like Clambake. I read somewhere that Parker always looked for ways to put Elvis down and as Elvis hated seafood (Priscilla only could eat fish when Elvis was away), why not let Elvis sing several songs about seafood. It's a nice hobby to look for personal matters concerning Elvis in a Elvis movie. It is as if someone put them in deliberately. Makes you wonder who.
kink56 wrote on July 23, 2013
About 1/2 the songs on Clambake were very good, same goes for Double Trouble. Between the two one could have a damned good album! I like all of side two of Clambake and a couple of songs on side one---Clambake ain't one of them.
cookingfat wrote on July 23, 2013
Garbage, unoriginal tat from a bad movie and dire soundtrack saved only by the bonus songs.
Cruiser621 wrote on August 08, 2013
Without a doubt, the worst song Elvis every put out! Absolute garbage.
ElvisSacramento wrote on August 09, 2013
This is such an atrocious and embarrassing song and Elvis should have refused to ever record it.
JerryNodak wrote on August 12, 2019
Clambake, gonna have a clambake. Clambake, gonna have a clambake. Everybody sing-a-long. I like it. So, sue me. I play the FTD release regularly. 3 stars for the title tune.
JerryNodak wrote on September 09, 2020
Elvis hated seafood? Another thing he and I wouldn't have had in common, It's been said that Elvis hated jazz. Now that's one thing we would have in common, besides an overall love of music.
Gorse wrote on September 09, 2020
Just played it again and my opinion remains the same as a few years back. Absolute garbage and embarrassing does not spring to my mind, but then I enjoy the basic timbre of his voice while accepting this song is in the 3rd tier of his musical efforts..
marty wrote on September 09, 2020
Most fans will agree that from "Kissin' Cousins" recorded in the fall of 1963 until "Speedway" recorded in June 1967, most of his soundtrack recordings were not as good as they could/should have been. It's probably not a coincidence that the drop in quality started when Parker decided that production costs for "Viva Las Vegas" (including the soundtrack) were too high and the idea of low cost/budget production for his films really started. Obviously there are some gems in those soundtracks and we all have our favorites. "Clambake" is not one of them for me but there are other worse songs recorded during this period. 2 stars from me.
Milky White Way wrote on September 09, 2020
I would never use words like garbage to describe any Elvis song. Each one to their own, but for me there are songs I love, like or not keen on but never garbage. I love Elvis and his legacy left behind. Clambake is a nice catchy movie tune and I like it. 2 and 1/2 stars
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