Credited to Sam's brother L.C.Cooke for commercial reasons ( Sam was in dispute with his label, Specialty Records ).

During a recording session in June 1957 Specialty's owner Art Rupe objected to the use of a white chorus, as Specialty was a gospel label. This resulted in Rupe offering to release Sam from his contract in exchange for outstanding royalties. Sam and producer "Bumps" Blackwell took the song to a new label, Keen, where it sold 2 million records.

Sam's performance of the song on The Ed Sullivan Show in November 1957 caused a storm, and the broadcast was cut short. Sullivan realised this was a mistake, and Sam re-appeared on the show a month later.

The song stayed in the R&B and Pop charts for 15 weeks, hitting No.1 in December 1957.