Winning Playlists from the History of Rock n Roll in Ten Songs Contest - Yale Press Log

Winning Playlists from the History of Rock n Roll in Ten Songs Contest - Yale Press Log



It's only rock and roll

“Duke of Earl” by Gene Chandler, Bernice Williams, and Earl Edwards.

Bernice Williams, a Chicago songwriter, also wrote the B-Side to the million selling “Duke of Earl,” a song titled “Kissin’ in the Kitchen.”

Before he started calling himself “The Duke of Earl,” Eugene Dixon changed his name to Gene Chandler, after the actor Jeff Chandler, who played Cochise in Broken Arrow. “Duke of Earl” was the number one song on the charts for three weeks in 1962:

So it’s with a deepening sense of regret

they remember Gene Chandler topping the charts with “Duke of Earl”

and winning their hearts, Mavis and Merle.