The Medallions

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The Medallions.

The Medallions were an American doo-wop group. They were the backing vocal group with Vernon Greene on the DooTone label. The Medallions are best remembered for their songs Buick '59 (1954), The Letter (1954), Edna (1955), Speedin' (1955) and Volvo '59 (1959).

Donald Woods, a one time Medallion, transformed former Medallions into The Bel-Aires.

Zappa and The Medallions

Zappa referred to their song "The Letter" in Memories Of El Monte. He played this song as a guest DJ in KSAN, San Francisco, 1968. That same year he also played their songs "1959 Volvo", "Edna" and "Speedin'" as a guest DJ during the KPPC, Pasadena radio show.

In his 1969 Pop Chronicles interview, [1] Zappa praised their song "Edna".[2]

Zappa about The Medallions

"I think that a lot of things that were happening in 1955 were cosmic and - you know - what they meant in terms of musical history. The problem is that most people who review music don't have the chops to realize, and they are so narrow-minded. They listen to a song like - well "Edna" by the Medallions on the Du-tone label if they can dig it up. The singer is a crippled guy who used to work in a car wash with the drummer from our band . He had a number of brothers , and they got together and formed this group called The Medallions , and they also recorded under a couple of other assumed names. He was singing about his girlfriend Edna, and he really loved Edna - you know - and Edna left him and that's the way it was, and that is real. What have you got that compares to that today?". - Frank Zappa in Pop Chronicles, 1969.

See also