album art

Artist:

Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs

Song:

Lil' Red Riding Hood

Album: 

Pharoahization! The Best Of Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs

Year: 

1998
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About The Artist

Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs were IT as far as mid-'60s Texas rock & roll goes. "Woolly Bully" alone marks them for canonization, but many of...
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alynn | MEMORY FROM 1966

A Matter of Timing

LOCATION: Record Department--Federal's , Michigan

YEAR: 1966

TAGS: wolfcall, SamtheSham, salesclerk, management

PUBLISHED: February 18, 2008

I was working the costume jewelry and record department of a now defunct department store in Taylor, Michigan.  We had a small record player, but it was only used when a customer wanted to hear something before buying.
 On a particular slow day I came up with the idea of playing it to attract people to our department.  My immediate supervisor was more interested in her cosmetic sales than my idea so dismissed it quickly with a “go ahead as long as you don’t open any new records”.  A quick search of the returns yielded nothing worthwhile so I reached for a new 45 figuring if I got caught I would just buy it myself.  The song was Lil’ Red Riding Hood.  Sam had barely finished his wolf howl at full volume when the store manager appeared from the other side of the record display.  My heart sank with the certainty that I was in big trouble.
 His first question was, “What was that and what are you doing?”  Nervously I explained my idea, adding that I thought that particular song would grab people’s attention quickly.  Imagine my surprise when a smile crossed his face.  “Well it certainly got my attention.  Good thinking, young lady.  Carry on, but no more than two new songs a day.”  With that he was gone.  I played Sam every thirty minutes that day throwing in some of the returns in between and sales increased by 10% that day alone and 40% over the next week.
 To this day whenever I hear that song I see the stunned look of the store manager as he came around the corner and I smile.
 Thank you Sam!

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