(Do The) Mashed Potatoes - Circumstances of The Recording

Circumstances of The Recording

The recording of "(Do the) Mashed Potatoes" arose out of James Brown's success in using the Mashed Potato dance as part of his stage show. Brown wanted to record a Mashed Potatoes-themed instrumental with his band in order to capitalize on the dance's popularity. However, King Records head Syd Nathan, a frequent critic of Brown's proposals, would not allow it. (The first instrumental recorded by Brown and his band, titled "Doodle Bug" and credited to Brown's tenor saxophonist J.C. Davis, had not sold well when it was released on King's sister label Federal Records.) Brown approached Henry Stone, a friend in the music business who ran the Dade Records label, about recording the piece with him. Stone, although nervous about crossing Nathan (with whom he did business), arranged for Brown to record at his Miami studio.

"(Do the) Mashed Potatoes" was recorded with Brown playing the piano and shouting the song's title. To prevent Brown's voice from being recognized, Stone overdubbed shouted vocals by Carlton "King" Coleman, a local radio DJ, onto the recording, though Brown's voice remains audible in the background. Leadership of the band was officially credited to Nat Kendrick, who was Brown's drummer at the time, while the writing was credited to "Dessie Rozier", a pseudonym for Brown. A simple twelve bar blues tune, "(Do the) Mashed Potatoes" became a Top Ten R&B hit in 1960 and fed what would eventually grow into a national dance craze. The band recorded several more singles under the Nat Kendrick & the Swans name, including "Dish Rag", "Slow Down", and "Wobble Wobble", but none were successful. Eventually made aware of Brown's outside success, Syd Nathan relented and allowed him to release future instrumentals on King, starting with the 1961 single "Hold It" b/w "The Scratch".

James Brown had a second Mashed Potatoes-themed hit with "Mashed Potatoes U.S.A." in 1962.