<P> As of 2017, "Zoot Suit Riot" remains the only single of the Daddies' career to place on the Billboard charts . </P> <P> By the end of 1996, the formerly underground swing revival began drawing mainstream recognition following the success of bands including the Squirrel Nut Zippers and the hit film Swingers . As a result, the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, who were then at that time largely associated with the West Coast ska punk scene, began attracting a separate and sizable following for the prominent swing influences in their music . As means of having something new to sell on their next tour while the band was writing their next studio album, the Daddies quickly put together a compilation album of only the swing tracks from their first three albums, recording four new songs--including "Zoot Suit Riot"--to round out a full - length record . The album, titled Zoot Suit Riot: The Swingin' Hits of the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, was released independently on Space Age Bachelor Pad Records in March 1997 . </P> <P> "Zoot Suit Riot" is written in the musical style of 1940s jump blues . Lyrically, the song's narrative revolves around the Los Angeles Zoot Suit riots of the 1940s, though Perry has stated the song makes no overt political or social commentary regarding the events . In a 2009 interview, he elaborated on its significance as an intended "anthem" for the swing scene, saying "I guess it seemed like a Pachuco rallying cry that could double as a dance anthem for those of us interested in swing music and culture at a time when nobody else was . It was an expression of a proud marginalism . That's not that deep, but there you go ." In discussing the appropriation of the actual Zoot Suit riots, he wrote "To me, the simplified duality I used as I wrote the song was: we swingers were in solidarity with our counter cultural ancestors the' Zoot Suiters' and we were opposed to the' sailors' who represented the squares who weren't yet hip to our growing communal jive". </P> <P> Due to the hurried production of the album, the vocal track for the song was recorded in one take . At the end of the recording, Perry is heard saying "I think I'm about ready to sing it", which he was signifying to the engineer . "I had sung the tune and the engineer, my friend, pressed the button and said,' I think it sounds pretty good, come in here and listen to it"', Perry revealed in a 2014 interview . "He said,' We should keep that in and it will be our joke that we did this on the first take .' So we left it in the song and moved on . Unbeknownst to us, it became a big hit record", noting elsewhere that he "probably would of given it 2 or 3 more rips, probably slightly slower, if we had known the future back in 1996". </P>

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