AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Boots Randolph

Artist:Boots Randolph

Song:Yakety Sax 

Album:Yakety Sax

Most of you are probably familiar with Yakety Sax as the theme of The Benny Hill Show. But what you don't know is that Homer "Boots" Randolph scored a top 40 pop hit with Yakety Sax in 1963. He also wrote it so The Benny Hill Show made him a lot of money. Most of the time, Randolph was a Nashville session musician. He was born June 3, 1927 in Paducah, KY. His brother gave him the nickname Boots because their father was also named Homer and he wanted to avoid confusion. Randolph learned to play music in his father's band. He started out playing ukulele and trombone. But he switched to sax when his dad unexpectedly brought one home. After graduating from high school, Randolph served in the US Army and played in the US Army Band until his 1946 discharge. He settled in Decatur, IL. and played with Dink Welch's Kopy Kats from 1948-54. Then he started his own band. He called himself Randy Randolph. Randolph moved to Nashville in 1957 and signed with RCA in 1958. Legendary guitarist Chet Atkins was the head of RCA's Nashville office. Though Randolph's recordings weren't commercially successful, Atkins put him to work in the recording studio and he played on records by Brenda Lee, Al Hirt, Roy Orbison and many more. Most notably he played on the Elvis Presley hit Return to Sender. He worked a lot with Atkins. Meanwhile, Randolph signed with Monument Records in 1961. Monument was owned by producer Fred Foster. His best known artist was Roy Orbison. Randolph first recorded Yakety Sax on the 1961 album Boots Randolph's Yakety Sax. In 1963, it reached #35 on the Billboard Hot 100. Randolph rerecorded it on the 1963 album Boots Randolph's Yakety Sax. Foster produced the album. Yakety Sax was inspired by King Curtis' sax solo on The Coasters 1958 single Yakety Yak. In 1969, British comedian Benny Hill adopted Yakety Sax as the theme of The Benny Hill Show. That's where most folks heard the song. It made him money while he was playing on hundreds of albums and on TV. Randolph recorded for Monument for most of his career. You can get Yakety Sax on this comp from Bear Family. Randolph owned his own Nashville club from 1977-94. He continued to tour and record until he died on July 3, 2007 at age 80. Here's Boots Randolph performing Yakety Sax on Nashville Now.