Shame, Shame, Shame (Shirley & Company song)

"Shame, Shame, Shame"
Single by Shirley & Company
from the album Shame, Shame, Shame
B-side
  • "More Shame" (U.K., Europe)
  • "Shame, Shame, Shame" (Instrumental) (U.S.)
ReleasedDecember 1974
Recorded1974
StudioSoul Sound Studios, Englewood, New Jersey
Genre
Length3:47
LabelVibration
Songwriter(s)Sylvia Robinson
Shirley & Company singles chronology
"Shame, Shame, Shame"
(1974)
"Cry, Cry, Cry"
(1975)
Music video
Shirley & Company – Shame, Shame, Shame • TopPop on YouTube

"Shame, Shame, Shame" is a 1974 hit song written and produced by Sylvia Robinson, performed by American disco band Shirley & Company and released on the Vibration label. The female vocalist is Shirley Goodman, who was one half of Shirley & Lee, who had enjoyed a major hit 18 years earlier, in 1956, with the song "Let The Good Times Roll" for Aladdin Records. The male vocalist is Jesus Alvarez. The saxophone solo is by Seldon Powell, whose instrumental version, "More Shame", is the B-side.

The track, with its prominent use of the Bo Diddley beat, was one of the first international disco hits and reached number 12 on the Billboard charts. It also made number one on the Billboard soul singles chart for one week. The phrases "got my sun roof down, got my diamond in the back" appeared as "diamond in the back, sun roof top" in William DeVaughn's 1974 hit "Be Thankful for What You Got" and "one monkey don't stop no show" was used as the title of Honey Cone's 1971 hit "One Monkey Don't Stop No Show (Part 1)" and several others as far back as 1950.

"Shame, Shame, Shame" also stayed at number one on the Billboard disco/dance charts for four weeks. A full-length album, Shame, Shame, Shame was subsequently recorded and released in 1975.