The most widely heard performer named James Reynolds may just be the singer who for only two years was in a Campbell, OH, band named after a car. At least this status seems somewhat assured by the enduring popularity of doo wop, especially the really weird songs in the genre in which group members chant mumbo jumbo and otherwise come off as if they have been sipping belladonna tea. Reynolds was a member of the Edsels, whose most famous track is a perfect example of this style, a profound statement of enlightened consciousness entitled Rama Lama Ding Dong.

Music trivia junkies will be happy to point out that the initial release of this song was under the name Lama Rama Ding Dong, a difference that means a great deal to somebody, and that the composer of the song as well as founder and leader of the Edsels was named George Jones, Jr., but was not the mutant offspring of the famed country western singer. Despite the obvious and well-deserved attraction of the rama lama or lama rama concept, the song actually goes into the list of hits that were not hits the first time out.

A local publisher helped the group get into the studio circa 1959; Rama Lama Ding Dong was apparently the obvious choice for an initial single spin from the Edsels. Local fans went wild over the single but nationally the record was considered more lame than lama. Two years later, the Edsels were basically parked in the garage of broken doo wop groups when another combo, the Marcels, hit big with an arrangement of Blue Moon that reminded more than a few demented disc jockeys of Rama Lama Ding Dong, initiating a new round of play for the original side. The song was a hit again in the United Kingdom in 1978 thanks to a cover version by Rocky Sharpe the Replays. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi