‘Rattle Those Pots and Pans’ : Cooking: Dick & Deedee’s culinary compilation includes such gems as ‘I Met Him on a Sundae.’ The proceeds will go toward building retirement homes for needy music legends.

OK, get ready. Ah-one, ah-two, three peppers and you’re halfway to making Brian Hyland’s “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Hot Pepper Zucchini.”

And how about Wolfman Jack’s lip-smacking “Wolf Down Wolfman’s Luscious Leg o’ Lamb” for the main dish? Of course, a rockin’ meal wouldn’t be complete without the Angels’ “My Boyfriend’s Back Because He Loves My Cheesecake” cheesecake.

If it sounds like someone’s in the kitchen with Dion, you’re getting warm.

Dick and Sandy St. John, of the ‘60s group Dick & Deedee, are putting the final touches on “Rattle Those Pots and Pans,” a kitchen-tested rock ‘n’ roll recipe book that they put together with a little help from their friends.

But this isn’t your average cookbook with a few doo-wops thrown in. The proceeds from this compilation of celebrity recipes will go to music legends in need.

“You think of Mary Wells--this is someone who needs support,” Dick St. John explained. “So many people would say I love ‘My Guy,’ but what can I do?” Wells, who died Sunday, suffered from throat cancer and was nearly destitute in the last years of her life.

To do their part, the St. Johns have turned their Pacific Palisades home into the West Coast office of the National Music Foundation (formerly the Foundation for the Love of Rock and Roll), a Florida-based charitable organization. The national organization was founded in 1987 by Joey Dee in tribute to his longtime friend Jackie Wilson, who died penniless.

Although the St. Johns have not yet lined up a publisher, the proceeds from “Rattle Those Pots and Pans” are earmarked for the foundation’s plan to build rock ‘n’ roll retirement homes for the musicians of the ‘50s and ‘60s.

“There are people right now living on the street who have had gold records,” songwriter Sandy St. John said. “I mean people who had hit records that everybody knows.”

Many of the founding fathers and mothers of rock ‘n’ roll have found themselves in financial difficulty. Recording contracts at that time did little to protect the long-term interests of the artist.

So far, the cooking primer contains easy-to-make dishes such as Jan and Dean’s “Deadman’s Curve Spaghetti Pie,” Paul & Paula’s “Hey, Hey, Pollo,” and The Shirelles’ “I Met Him on a Sundae.” The more complicated song-title eats cover a range of musical eras from Debbie Reynolds to Debby Boone, whose “You Light Up My Life With Mustard Steak” is supposed to be fantastic.

Sandy, who has been “Deedee” since 1969 (the group’s best-known early ‘60s hits, such as “Tell Me,” “Thou Shalt not Steal” and “The Mountain’s High,” were sung by an earlier Deedee), got the cookbook idea from road trips. “Bobby Vee used to put peanut butter on eggs, on everything,” she said. “It was real interesting to see what people liked to eat on the road.”

When the foundation changed its name a few years ago, dropping the “Love of Rock and Roll” hook, it began including musicians of every stripe. The foundation has gained such momentum that fans have been lining up to join. (The $30 annual membership fee includes a T-shirt.) Dick Clark is chairman of the board. Recently, rap singer Hammer joined the board of directors, adding his star power to the 300-member roster of musical artists such as Johnny Cash and Herb Alpert.

Clark, who owns a Miami restaurant, contributed his corn chowder recipe to the St. Johns’ cookbook. To the foundation he has donated money garnered from the post-award parties at the last two American Music Awards shows, as well as private funds.

The plan for the retirement homes, which will include music museums, a performing arts center, and nursing care, is the foundation’s most ambitious project. “Eventually, the costs for (the multi-function retirement facilities) will come in around $60 million,” Clark said.

No one is expecting $60 million in cookbook sales, however. “Contributions will come from corporations, radio stations and the music industry,” Clark said. “It’s a many, many year project. We’ve just laid the foundation for the foundation, as it were.”

With any luck, the cookbook will get things started, Dick St. John said.

Which goes to show: Old rock ‘n’ rollers never die, they just keep cooking.

For more information about the foundation, call (800) USA-MUSIC or (310) 459-5739.

PAUL ANKA’S “TABBOULEH MY WAY”

3 bunches parsley

2 medium-sized ripe tomatoes

1/2 cup bulgur (wheat germ)

4 green onions

1 lemon (juice to taste)

1 clove garlic

salt and pepper

Wash parsley, chop fine without stems and place in a bowl. Dice tomatoes and add them to the parsley. Soak bulgur in enough water to cover for two hours, listen to some golden oldies, then drain and combine with parsley/tomato mixture.

Dice green onion bulbs, plus a portion of green tops. Chop garlic clove fine. Add green onions and garlic to salad. Squeeze fresh lemon juice over salad. Add olive oil. Toss well, twist and shout.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with pita bread quarters or romaine lettuce leaves, and turn up the volume.

(Anka says this salad is “guaranteed to make all the women beautiful and all the men virile.”)