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Do the Clam

Rating:
2.8 / 5

Words & Music: Ben Weisman Sid Wayne Dolores Fuller

Hey everybody gather round
Listen to that bongo sound
Grab the first one in your reach
Now we're going to shake the beach

Do the Clam, do the Clam
Grab your barefoot baby by the hand
Turn and tease, hug and squeeze
Dig right in and do the Clam

You can get your heart to spin
On the outside looking in
Moon ain't gonna last all night
Well let's work up an appetite

Do the Clam, do the Clam
Grab your barefoot baby by the hand
Turn and tease, hug and squeeze
Dig right in and do the Clam

Everybody's got that beat
Well listen to those happy feet
Ain't you glad that you found out
What the Clam is all about

Do the Clam, do the Clam
Grab your barefoot baby by the hand
Turn and tease, hug and squeeze
Dig right in and do the Clam

Do the Clam, do the Clam
Grab your barefoot baby by the hand
Turn and tease, hug and squeeze
Dig right in and do the Clam
Dig right in and do the Clam

Recordingdate: 1964/06/12, first released on: single (album)

Musicians

Musicians who contributed to the first recording of Do the Clam:

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

Availability

Find available albums with Do the Clam.

old shep wrote on April 16, 2008
An awful film(Girl Happy) spawned an equally terrible single release.What were RCA thinking when they put this out?
JerryNodak wrote on April 18, 2008
I've always enjoyed this song.
bajo wrote on February 09, 2009
Strange as it may be, in my younger days I actually enjoyed this. Later days I've edited out that silly instrumental part of it, ending up with a proper "master" imo. It's not often on my playlist. But, my children like it! With Do The Clam it seems that people either love it or hate it. It's just a simple soundtrack song, no more no less! It made some chart actions in the far east if I'm not mistaken!
JLpResLey wrote on February 09, 2009
Not the type of song that the king of rock n´roll should have recorded. Never liked it, and I´m sure I never will do.
John4126 wrote on February 09, 2009
The Stones had 'Satisfaction', The Beatles 'Help', The Beach Boys 'California Girls' and Dylan had 'Like a rolling stone' whilst our man was churning out crud like this.
dgirl wrote on February 09, 2009
Piece of turd. What made it worse was it was 1965 and the music landscape was changing rapidly (just like in the 50's) while Elvis was lagging behind badly with songs like this. The trendsetter of the 50's was now old hat. Imagine trying to make a dance out of this! Totally embarassing.
FJE wrote on February 09, 2009
Although this should never have been released as a single and of course it is no classic I actually am fond of this as well. I like the instrumental sax part and that chorus build up. It does suffer from poor stereo mix though. I once tampered with it and put the opening guitar on one channel and the bongos on the other with Elvis coming in straight in the middle. The effect is much better.
Steve V wrote on February 09, 2009
This single singlehandedly (no pun intended) gave fodder for all the Elvis haters out there in the 60's. There could have been no worse choice for an A-side in 1965, but this goes to show you how bad the soundtracks were becoming. The single, the LP & the movie all showed Elvis sinking into creative lows while other groups were rapidly advancing. Yes this is one of the reasons Elvis is not taken as seriously as I hate to say it again but The Beatles, Stones, Dylan, etc. Even the title is silly, Do The Clam. Poorly recorded, this was hard to imagine just a few years earlier.
Ruthie wrote on February 09, 2009
Yes, it is a horrible song but no worse than most of the movie tunes. In all fairness, since music is in the ear of the listener, even the very revered Beatles put out some songs that to me were totally ridiculous. And that started the British Invasion where we had wonderful songs like "Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter" and, of course, the fantastic "I'm Henry The 8th I Am"! Wow! The oldie stations play this stuff & I still can't stand it. It's all in what appeals to you.
Shakingruud wrote on February 09, 2009
Probably the WORST ever single release.......YAK!
derekd wrote on February 09, 2009
Bad, but not the worst, At least it was a Uk top 20 hit geting to #19. Worst than 'Clam'? try 'Lon Legged Girl' or 'The Love Machine'. Looking back to 1965 and 'Clam' just geting to #19 as stated, then we have the follow up geting to #1 with the release of 'Crying in the Chapel' . Looking back Rac could have released What now, What next, Where to, or Slowly but Surely, or Memphis Tennessee, or Down in the Alley, or Tomorrow is a long Time or 'Suppose'... Any of these song would have been hits.
Deke Rivers 6 wrote on February 09, 2009
this is a fine song with a good sax solo. Worst ever single ? by who, Elvis or anyone ? I can think of a lot worse by any artist. Has anyone heard Roy Orbison's version of "Mean Woman Blues" total tosh !
JerryNodak wrote on February 09, 2009
I thought it fit the movie scene quit well. Imagine IF it had caught on as a dance craze. Would the song be held in such low esteem? No. Do The Clam. Do the Clam. Grab your barefoot baby by the hand. Dig right in and Do The Clam. Play that sax solo, Boots. Excuse me, I'm off to listen to the wonderful, delightful, tune-filled FTD soundtrack.
elvis1279 wrote on February 10, 2009
Definitely NOT the best single to put out just as Beatles are really rolling, but hey, I like the song and it goes well in the film.
Deano1 wrote on February 20, 2010
Recorded for and included in the movie and soundtrack LP "Girl Happy" (1965). The song works well in the movie (a very good movie), but it looses something on record. In probably the worst decision concerning Elvis' single releasese, RCA and Colonel Parker released this song as a 45 hoping it would start a dance craze. It didn't, but the song still hit a respectable #21 in the U.S. I wish they had released the title tune as the single, it would have been a top 10 hit. Yes critics on this site, it is a shame he didn't go head to head with the Beatles with a better single, then again two years later the Beatles would be us crap like "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "I Am The Walrus" and the "great" Rolling Stones would be wearing devil horns on their album cover.
Chop983 wrote on May 15, 2011
There's nothing I like to do more when I hit the beach than 'The Clam', Girl Happy is my favourite formula movie but Either the title track or Do not disturb would have been better singles, having said that the strippers song 'I've got news for you' is probably the best of the lot.
Jesse Garon Presley wrote on May 15, 2011
Not a favorite of mine, but i do not dislike it at all also, wether you like it or not, it's part of Elvis never ending Legacy, which is still standing high these days, those filmsongs do no take away the influence Elvis still has today in the Musicworld and On Popstars nowadays , Justin Bieber for instance. Always El.
GEORGE (GK) wrote on May 15, 2011
Fun movie song.. but definately not "single" Material for Radio airplay. It seems, somebody wanted Elvis to have a dance Craze song like "The Twist" in his catalog of music. It wasn't needed.
tornado wrote on May 15, 2011
The song being what it is, I always took the maximum out of it, inclunding the instrumental, It was not too often that we could hear a long bridge in Elvis 's song. I always love the tune.: the bongos are wonderful. It's 1964, Spring Break, Florida etc what's missing? Oh yeah, me in the resort :-)))
Monster wrote on June 09, 2011
I've always thought there were some excellent songs on this soundtrack but this was not one of them. Only Wolf Call sinks lower than this. It seems dated and a cynical and badly misfired attempt to sound "hip" in 1965, the year in which pop music grew up they say. Did anyone honestly think doing the clam would catch on. I got so much abuse from my mates at college in the 1990's when they heard this song. The movie years should have ended with Roustabout.
Great Dane wrote on June 09, 2011
This song was #1 in Japan! My kids do like it also,so in that case it's positive. I also was at school in the 90's but never been bullied about his songs,i think everyone knows he was as an artist to big to discuss about a couple of movie-songs.
TCB1974 wrote on April 21, 2012
Love the movie and soundtrack! The last Elvis movie in true blockbuster style with the lovely Shelley Fabares. The first single taken from it was not the best choice, but Puppet on a string was an excellent choice and reached #11 in the USA. Not bad for 1965 and the soundtrack reached #8 - a success that commercially is equal to the NBC TV Special. Still wondering why Elvis continued with movies for a few more years?
freedom101 wrote on April 22, 2012
A classic!
Cruiser621 wrote on September 12, 2012
The absolute worst song he ever recorded. Talk about garbage; this is the ultimate in bottom of the barrel crap.
sugartummy wrote on March 02, 2013
This song belongs in my top 5 of worst songs from Elvis.
Gorse wrote on March 11, 2013
I always thought the film was much better than the soundtrack, which needs extra echo to make it more acceptable. This song never finds its way on to my playlists although I heard it at a party recently and it did not sound as bad as I remembered. The instrumental bits save it from utter disaster.
JimmyCool wrote on March 22, 2013
I kinda like it... really.
atomic powered poste wrote on February 19, 2018
There are movie songs that are even worse than this one, but that doesn't says a lot, and those tracks weren't released as a single. The production here made it even worse, during the instrumental part in the middle of the song, one speaker drops out. That alone proves that no one cares for this crap, not even the people who produced it. Can't blame them.
Cruiser621 wrote on February 19, 2018
Ah yes, the annoying drop-out of sound on the one channel during this horrendous song. How memorable? Dig right in and "Do The Clam"! 1-star.
TheMemphisFan wrote on April 08, 2019
Even though the Girl Happy soundtrack wasn't/isn't great, there were a few nuggets hidden within the album. "Do The Clam" is not one of the better songs of course, but there were a few good ones on the Girl Happy album. The "Girl Happy" song itself (if slowed down slightly to the correct speed) is a very catchy & fun song along with "Spring Fever" & "Startin' Tonight". The song "Cross My Heart And Hope To Die" has a very nice, cool & bluesy sound to it. Other than the bonus song, "You'll Be Gone", the two best songs on the LP (in my opinion) are... "The Meanest Girl in Town", a high-energy rocker with Elvis almost resorting back to his 1950s voice, and the song "Puppet On A String"... a nice love ballad that sold well over 500,000 copies as a single.
The Hawk wrote on April 17, 2022
I don't mind it myself, but with a silly title like "Do the Clam" how do you expect people to take this tune seriously that easy. Musically, it is an energetic 3-minute dance track, featuring a terrific long Boots Randolph sax solo and Scotty Moore sounding as if he were Hank Marvin, the lead guitarist of Cliff Richard's backing band The Shadows. Not my favorite song on the soundtrack that filled out Girl Happy (that would have to be the title theme), but I don't press the skip button whenever it comes on, either. If there were any cuts on GH I skip, it would be "Wolf Call" and "Wolf Call" only. Four stars.
DerekH wrote on September 30, 2022
Oh dear, on dear, oh dear, thing is, this is poor, but things got even worse.
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