Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy


"Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" is a song which became a major hit for The Andrews Sisters and an iconic World War II tune that first appeared in the Abbott & Costello comedy film, Buck Privates. It reached number six on the U.S. pop singles chart in early 1941. The song is ranked No. 6 on Songs of the Century. Bette Midler's 1972 recording of the song also reached the top ten on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
"Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song but lost out to "The Last Time I Saw Paris".
The song is closely based on an earlier Raye-Prince hit, "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar," which is about a virtuoso boogie-woogie piano player.

Storyline of the song

According to the lyrics of the song, a renowned Chicago, Illinois, street musician is drafted into the U.S. Army. In addition to being famous, the bugler was the "top man at his craft," but the army reduced his musical contributions to blowing the wake up call in the morning. His not being able to play his usual chops depressed him: "It really brought him down, because he couldn't jam." The Cap was sympathetic and assembled a band to keep the bugler company. Back in the saddle again, he infuses his style into reveille: "He blows it eight to the bar...in boogie rhythm." His company is enthusiastic about his style too: "And now the company jumps when he plays reveille." But, apparently the bugler can't get it done without his band, "He can't blow a note if the bass and guitar/Isn't with him."

People who claim to have inspired the song

Articles published in Stars & Stripes on 19 March 1943, as well as Billboard Magazine and The Christian Science Monitor during World War II credit Clarence Zylman of Muskegon, Michigan, as the original Boogie Woogie Bugler. The lyrics in the song agree with several aspects of Zylman's life. Drafted at age 35, Clarence had been performing for 20 years, beginning with radio station WBBM in Chicago and moving on to several big bands, starting with Paul Specht and Connie Connaughton, and most recently with the Tommy Tucker Orchestra. He brought his playing style to England where he was a bugler for an engineer company, using his trumpet for Taps and Reveille, eventually being transferred to an army band. Articles in Billboard and The Plain Dealer support this, including the fact that Clarence was sent to teach other buglers his techniques. However, Clarence Zylman did not enlist in the Army until June 9, 1942, and thus did not play his new style of Reveille until well after the "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" was written and recorded. A sculpture of Clarence Zylman as the Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy has been dedicated in his hometown of Muskegon, Michigan, at the LST-393 Veterans Museum. The sculpture was created by artist Ari Norris.
Another claimant to the title—though he seldom mentioned it—would be Harry L. Gish, Jr.. At age 17, after a meteoric rise in the mid 1930s based out of the Ritz Hotel in Paducah, Kentucky, he ventured to New York City where he appeared with the Will Bradley "All Star Orchestra" with highly regarded solos on the Raye-Prince songs "Celery Stalks at Midnight," "Scrub Me Mama With a Boogie Beat," and "The Boogilly Woogilly Piggie." He also performed with the Olsen & Johnson band, Ray Anthony and was popular in the Plattsburgh, New York area before returning to Decca Records in Chicago. He also had a "summer replacement" radio show there for CBS from WBBM radio.
In the 1980s and 1990s, he honored many requests to play at services for veterans' funerals, and in 1995, in the character of The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy he opened the combined service units celebration of the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he opened with "Reveille" and closed the ceremony with "Taps."

Bette Midler version

included the song on her 1972 The Divine Miss M album, and released it as the B side of the album's second single, "Delta Dawn." However, when "Delta Dawn" met resistance from radio, the single was quickly flipped, with "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" becoming the new A side. Midler's version peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in mid-1973, introducing it to a new generation of pop music fans. The single was produced by Barry Manilow. The track was also a number-one single on the Billboard easy listening chart.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Other versions of the song