16 Candles (song)

"16 Candles" is a 1958 song performed by The Crests and written by Luther Dixon and Allyson R. Khent.

"16 Candles"
Single by The Crests
B-side"Beside You"
ReleasedOctober 1958 (US)
GenreDoo-wop
LabelCoed
Songwriter(s)Luther Dixon and Allyson R. Khent

Track listing

7" Vinyl

  1. "16 Candles"
  2. "Beside You"

Single originally released in 1958 on Coed Records # 506

Chart performance
  • The song peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, while Stagger Lee by Lloyd Price was at number one.[1] "16 Candles" also went number four on the US R&B charts for 21 weeks in 1959.[2]

Covers
  • Stray Cats recorded a cover of this song for the Sixteen Candles (1984) movie soundtrack.
  • The soul group The Passions recorded a cover of this song in 1963 (Diamond Records # 146), and the Jackson 5 released the song on their 4th album.
  • The song was used as a counter-melody to Jamie Horton's "They're Playing Our Song", which reached #115 in the US publication Music Vendor, November 1961.
  • Sha Na Na recorded a cover of the song for their album "Yea! Yea! Yea!" in 1978
  • A cover by Jerry Lee Lewis peaked at number 61 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in 1986.[3]
  • The Jackson 5 covered the song on their album, Maybe Tomorrow.
  • A reference to the song was used by Frank Zappa in 1972, on The Mothers Of Invention album "Just Another Band From L.A.", in the song "Eddie, Are You Kidding?". At the very end of the song Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman sing the phrase "60 Taylors" in the style of "16 Candles".
  • The song was used in the original 1972 release of John Waters' film Pink Flamingos, but was edited out of the 25th Anniversary Edition re-release in 1997 because the rights could not be obtained, and it was therefore also not included on the CD soundtrack which was issued at the same time.
  • The original recording by The Crests features in the film American Graffiti (1973).
  • The 1984 John Hughes teen movie, Sixteen Candles, took its title from this song. The cover by The Stray Cats appeared in the film.
  • The sitcom Full House has an episode of season 3, entitled "13 Candles".
  • The television series American Dad’s first episode of season 4, is named "1600 Candles".
  • The popular rock band Fall Out Boy named a song on their album From Under the Cork Tree "A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More 'Touch Me'", although the reference is more directly made to the 1984 film.

References
  1. "Top 100 Songs | Billboard Hot 100 Chart". Billboard.
  2. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 138.
  3. Whitburn, Joel (2013). Hot Country Songs 1944–2012. Record Research, Inc. p. 194. ISBN 978-0-89820-203-8.
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