Four Deuces

The Four Deuces were an American rhythm and blues vocal quartet, formed in the mid-1950s in Salinas, California. The band was started by lead singer Luther McDaniel, and recorded several songs before they broke up in 1959. While active, the Four Deuces had moderate but short-lived popularity, mainly along the West Coast, mostly due to the frequent radio airplay of their hit song, "W-P-L-J."

This article is about the vocal quartet. For the film, see The Four Deuces.
"W-P-L-J" redirects here. The term may also refer to the New York City radio station, WPLJ.

History

The band was formed when Luther McDaniel and a group of army friends from Fort Ord got together and began to sing gospel songs. They soon moved to rhythm and blues, and began to look for a record deal.

Moving to San Francisco, the band came into contact with Ray Dobard and his company, Music City Records. Once in the studio, they recorded "W-P-L-J", and a B-side called "Here Lies My Love." This record was released in February 1956 (see 1956 in music), and received wide radio airplay across the US. Besides in their home territory of San Francisco, the Four Deuces were especially popular in Philadelphia.[1]

The Four Deuces returned to the studio later in the year and released another record, which featured "Down it Went" and "The Goose is Gone", but these were not as popular. The group broke up shortly after.

There has been one more recording released by the group, "Yellow Shoes/Pretty Polly" on Everest Records; however, there is some dispute about the authenticity of the record.

W-P-L-J

The Four Deuces were best known for their song "W-P-L-J", which stands for white port and lemon juice. This later became the jingle for wine producer Italian Swiss Colony.

The Mothers of Invention version
"WPLJ"
Single by The Mothers of Invention
from the album Burnt Weeny Sandwich
B-side"My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama"
Released1969 [2]
GenreDoo-wop
Length3:02
LabelBizarre
Songwriter(s)Ray Dobard, Luther McDaniel
Producer(s)Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa singles chronology
"Anyway the Wind Blows"
(1969)		 "WPLJ"
(1969)		 "My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama"
(1969)

Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention covered the song in 1969, releasing it in 1970 on the album Burnt Weeny Sandwich. This version was both a satire of and a homage to the original, and Zappa has conceded admiringly that he could not have written a song any more absurd.[3]

The song prompted[4][5] a rock radio station in New York then known as WABC-FM to change its call letters to WPLJ on February 14, 1971; it still uses the callsign to this day. A cover of the song by Hall and Oates was the last song played by the station as a commercial outlet on May 31, 2019.[6]

Discography
  • "W-P-L-J" / "Here Lies My Love" (1956)
  • "Down it Went" / "The Goose is Gone" (1956)
  • "Yellow Shoes" / "Pretty Polly" (1959)

See also

References
  1. JCMarion (2005). "The Four Deuces Remembered". Home.earthlink.net. Retrieved 2016-10-02.
  2. "WPLJ/My Guitar - Frank Zappa/The Mothers Of Invention". Zappafrenzy.com. Retrieved 2016-10-02.
  3. Kelly Fisher Lowe, The Words and Music of Frank Zappa.
  4. "For the record." Broadcasting, March 8, 1971, pg. 59
  5. Neer, Richard (2001). FM: The Rise and Fall of Rock Radio. Random House Publishing. p. 85. ISBN 9781588360731.
  6. Ellis Feaster (2019-05-31), WPLJ 95.5 New York - End of PLJ & Launch of K-Love - May 31 2019, archived from the original on 2021-12-12, retrieved 2019-06-02
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