Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So)

[3] Originally recorded by rhythm and blues duo Gene and Eunice (Wilson and Levy) in November 1954 on the Combo label and again in January 1955 on the Aladdin label, it was covered by at least 17 different musicians in the first few months of 1955 alone, including Perry Como, The Crew-Cuts, The Charms, Louis Armstrong and Gary Crosby, Goldie Hill & Red Sovine, Hawkshaw Hawkins and Rita Robbins, The Hutton Sisters (Marion Hutton and Betty Hutton), The Flamingos, Ronnie Aldrich and The Squads, Tito Rodríguez, Big Dave and His Orchestra, Marvin & Johnny, Barry Frank (with the Four Bells), Bill Darnell & Betty Clooney, Jack Cardwell with Jackie Hill, and The Dooley Sisters.

[7] Forrest Samuel Wilson, Jr. (born September 3, 1931, in San Antonio, Texas; died on July 24, 2003, in Las Vegas, Nevada) (known professionally as Gene Forrest) and Eunice Hazel Russ (known professionally as Eunice Levy) (born March 12, 1931, in Texarkana, Texas; died May 26, 2002),[8][9] who were romantically involved with one another (and later married) and known as "The Sweethearts of Rhythm & Blues",[10] wrote the song together by the Spring of 1954.

[11] Classified as a rhythm and blues song, it featured Dave Bartholomew's much-used (or even over-used)[12] tresillo three-beat Caribbean or Latin riff,[13] and a habanera bassline.

[1][16] Late in 1954 The Billboard magazine reported: "Uptowners also digging the stellar treatment issued by newcomers Gene and Eunice and their Combo 'Ko-Ko-Mo' slicing".

[6][14] Encouraged by findings of the US Federal Court in the A Little Bird Told Me case that permitted cover versions,[33] and fueled by advance rumors that the song was a likely hit,[26] by the middle of January 1955, cover versions had been recorded by Perry Como (RCA Victor 20-5994A) on January 4, 1955, in New York city;[34] The Crew-Cuts;[35][36] The Hutton Sisters (Marion Hutton and Betty Hutton) (Capitol 303); the Bill Darnel & Betty Clooney duo (X Records "X"-0087; 4X-0087);[37][38] and The Dooley Sisters (Tampa 100) that "broke loose in Pittsburgh".

[51] Other disc jockeys refused to play any R&B songs, including Marc Jennings, of WCMI in Huntington, West Virginia, who indicated in May 1955: The most popular and commercially successful version of Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So) was that of Perry Como,[3] "the quintessential white pop crooner of the 1950s",[54] who recorded his version at Webster Hall, New York on January 4, 1955,[53] as the first rock 'n' roll release on the RCA Victor label.

[1] Shapiro and Pollock viewed Como's version as part of "the industry effort to whitewash the racy, raunchy music of rhythm and blues before anyone's daughter heard it".

[63] At the end of 1955, Como's version was ranked by Billboard Magazine as #22 on its Disc Jockey charts and #25 of the year's Top Tunes based on record sales.

[1] Albin Zak described Como's version as a "bizarre transformation emphasizing the novelty element to the point of Spike Jonesish parody.

[88] In 1955 rockabilly duo The Collins Kids performed the song on Tex Ritter's Town Hall Ranch Party television program.

[89] Jamaican / British vocal groupThe Southlanders performed the song on BBC television program In Town Tonight on October 15, 1955.

In August 1959 Joe Houston released "a rocking arrangement" of the song that featured horns (Combo 157),[92] and a "deliriously fractured doo-wop harmony over a loping rhumba pattern".

[99] Also in 1965 New Jersey quartet The Valtairs (Harry Ray, Joe Gardner, Kenneth Short, and Gregory Henson) released the song as the flip side of "Moonlight in Vermont" on the Selsom Records label, but it failed to chart.