Tweedle Dee

"Tweedlee Dee" (also "Tweedly Dee" or "Tweedle Dee") is a rhythm and blues novelty song with a Latin-influenced riff written by Winfield Scott for LaVern Baker and recorded by her at Atlantic Records' studio in New York City in 1954. It was her first hit, reaching number 4 on Billboard magazine's R&B chart and number 14 on its pop chart. It was Scott's first commercially successful song.

The arrangement and vocal style of the song attempted to adapt a black vocal style to one that would satisfy the tastes of the white record-buying market, featuring a light tone and a frisky rhythm beat.

Baker closely approached a pop style in her recording, but a cover of the song was quickly recorded by Georgia Gibbs for Mercury Records, a major label, which had better distribution than Atlantic, an independent label. The cover version, which had the same lyrics and closely imitated the style and arrangement of the original. became a gold record for Gibbs, ruining any chance of Baker's recording becoming a pop hit.

It was common at that time for major record companies to release cover versions of R&B hits with more polished arrangements aimed at the wider white audience, a practice not forbidden by United States copyright law. According to Atlantic's engineer, Tom Dowd, Mercury hired the same arranger, the same musicians and tried to hire the same engineer.

Baker attempted to get her congressman to introduce legislation to prevent the copying of arrangements but was unsuccessful.

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