Two Dummies

The BOBBETTES - I Don't Like It Like-That (Part I) / I Don't Like It Like-That (Part II) - Gone-5112 - 1961

Today, the Public School 109 building sits empty, as it has for the past 16 years. Unfortunately, despite the efforts of the community, it looks as though this beautiful old building is slated to be renovated for condos and loft spaces to accommodate a new wave of gentrification into Spanish Harlem. That means turning the school into a playground for the rich instead of the kind where five girls from the nearby housing projects can meet up and start a singing career.  

That's how and where the R&B girl group called "The Harlem Queens" formed 57 years ago . Two years later, The Queens took the supposedly less-provocative name, "The Bobbettes" at the insistence of their new label, Atlantic Records. Soon again The Bobbettes were forced by Atlantic to whitewash their first hit, "Mr. Lee" turning a song about how much they hated the school principal into a song of endearment.

After producing a couple duds, The Bobbettes were let go from Atlantic and they were free to move back toward their original grittier style born of the playground and the projects. In 1960, they released the excellent track, "I Shot Mr. Lee" which gives some insight into what they actually thought of their principal. A year later, they released the track I've posted here, an answer to Chris Kenner's song "I Like It Like That." The flip of this record is a nearly all instrumental version that loses the vocal energy so I decided not to post it. Thanks to my friend Natalia for giving me a lead on this record! Enjoy!

I Don't Like It Like-That (Part I):


[Kyle Brown]