"Carolina Girls" - General Johnson and the Chairmen of the Board (1980)

Written by J.D. Shropshire Jr.

What's the #1 all-time most-requested song at Surf 94.9? Jim Quick says Chairman of the Board's "Carolina Girls" has been there for years, and the latest listener poll taken for this past Labor Day weekend confirmed it once again. The song that gave Carolina girls their anthem wasn't born in a recording studio or written by a Motown hitmaker—it was penned in 1973 by J.D. Shropshire Jr. of Forest City, North Carolina, while he was attending barber school in Raleigh.

By 1980, General Johnson had reinvented the Chairmen of the Board. After the group's spectacular early-seventies run on Invictus Records—"Give Me Just a Little More Time," "(You've Got Me) Dangling on a String," the Grammy-winning "Patches"—Johnson retreated to the Carolinas and reformed the group with Danny Woods and Ken Knox. They founded their own label, Surfside Records, based in Charlotte, and began recording music aimed directly at the beach music community that had always embraced them. "Carolina Girls" appeared on their album Success and was released as a single that topped the Beach Music chart, though it never crossed over to pop radio

That regional focus proved to be its strength. As Danny Woods explained in an interview with Blues Critic, before the song came along "there was no style. You know you had the New York girls, California girls and they all got the attention. Even songs about them. And that just made Carolina girls feel like nothing." Fellow Chairman Ken Knox, who today leads the group, Page 4 of 6 followed up: "Girls became prideful. High schools and colleges use that song. Marching bands play 'Carolina Girls.' It's on T-shirts and we're glad about that."

The song arrived at a pivotal moment. The first Society of Stranders event had just been held at Fat Harold's in North Myrtle Beach, and beach music was being institutionalized through dance competitions, DJ organizations, and awards shows. "Carolina Girls" became part of that new wave alongside the Embers' "I Love Beach Music" and the Fantastic Shakers' "Myrtle Beach Days"—songs written specifically for the beach music community rather than repurposed R&B hits. It wasn't trying to be a national phenomenon; it was written about the beach, for people at the beach.

The song has persisted for forty-five years, embedded so deeply in Carolina culture that it feels less like a recording than a regional birthright. Cover versions have appeared over the decades: UNC Chapel Hill's a cappella group The Clef Hangers recorded it on Sounds of Carolina (1990), Eugene Pitt of The Jive Five included it on his 2009 beach music tribute album Steppin' Out in Front, and jazz guitarist Jack Jezzro cut a smooth instrumental version for his Ocean Boulevard album (2003). None displaced the original in the shag community's affections, but they speak to the song's reach beyond the dance floor.

General Johnson, who passed away in 2010, once said "a song like 'Carolina Girls' will last forever." He also asked Knox to carry the group's legacy forward—a promise Knox has kept for fifteen years. "General asked me to go out and give the best shows I could give and keep the legacy going," Knox has said. "He was passing the baton to me." Now 73, Knox continues to lead the Chairmen of the Board with members Thomas Hunter and Brandon Stevens, and the group's latest single, "Baby, You're the Melody," proves the baton is still in good hands. Given "Carolina Girls'" permanent residence at the top of Surf 94.9's request list, Johnson was right.

Sources: Wikipedia, Visit Myrtle Beach, SoulTracks, South Writ Large, Rate Your Music, Blues Critic interview with Danny Woods and Ken Knox, Outer Banks Voice

This article 1st appeared in the Surf LINE Issue 2

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