"Wooly Bully" is a song originally recorded by novelty rock and roll band Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs in 1965. Based on a standard 12-bar blues progression, it was written by the band's frontman, Domingo "Sam" Samudio. It was released as a single on the small Memphis-based XL label in 1964 and was picked up in 1965 by MGM. The song was recorded at Sam C. Phillips Recording Studio at 639 Madison Avenue in Memphis, the successor to Phillips' original Sun Studio. It proved to be the only recording made at the studio to achieve national success.
History
"Wooly Bully" was the band's first and biggest hit. It became a worldwide success, selling three million copies and reaching No. 2 on the American Hot 100 chart on June 5–12, 1965, kept off the top by The Beach Boys' "Help Me, Rhonda" and The Supremes' "Back in My Arms Again". It was the first American record to sell a million copies during the British Invasion and was influenced by the British rock sound which was mixed with traditional Mexican-American conjunto rhythms. It stayed in the Hot 100 for 18 weeks, the longest time for any song in 1965, and was nominated for a Grammy Award. It was named Billboard'snumber-one song of the year despite never reaching No. 1 on a weekly Hot 100; this feat was achieved again by Faith Hill's "Breathe" in 2000 and Lifehouse's "Hanging by a Moment" in 2001. On August 5, 1965, the single was certified as gold by the RIAA. It was later included on the band's 1965 album Wooly Bully, MGM SE4297.
Title and lyrics
"Wooly Bully" is a reworking of the 1962 tune "Hully Gully Now" on the Dallas-based Gay Shel label by Big Bo & The Arrows, which was based on Junior Parker's "Feelin' Good". The song was given the green light after Sam rewrote the lyrics famously replacing "Hully Gully" with "Wooly Bully" and few additional lyrical changes. Sam retained the 'watch it, watch it now" refrain from the original version. The lyrics of "Wooly Bully" were hard to understand, and some radio stations banned the song. The lyrics describe a conversation between "Mattie" and "Hattie" concerning the "Wooly Bully" and the desirability of developing dancing skills, although no attempt is made to :wikt:synthesize|synthesize these divergent topics. The warning, "Let's not be L-7", means "Let's not be square", from the shape formed by the fingers making an L on one hand and a 7 on the other. Sam the Sham underscores the Tex-Mex nature of the song by counting out the rhythm in Spanish and English, and the characteristic simple organ riffing. According to Sam: "The name of my cat was 'Wooly Bully', so I started from there. The count down part of the song was also not planned. I was just goofing around and counted off in Tex-Mex. It just blew everybody away, and actually, I wanted it taken off the record. We did three takes, all of them different, and they took the first take and released it."
Legacy
released a version of the song as a single in the United Kingdom in 1976, but it did not chart. The song is referenced by Joe Strummer in the live version of The Clash hit "Capital Radio" featured on the live album titled . The song is also heard in a number of films: Banditi a Milano , More American Graffiti, Big Bully, The Rookie, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Full Metal Jacket, The Shrimp on the Barbie, Splash, Scrooged, Happy Gilmore, ,Monsters vs. Aliens, Religulous, Monsieur Ibrahim, Encino Man, Made in Dagenham, Mr Holland's Opus starring Richard Dreyfuss, and The Chipmunk Adventure, in which it is performed by Alvin and the Chipmunks. Bachman–Turner Overdrive performs a cover of the song on the soundtrack for the 1989 Canadian filmAmerican Boyfriends. Gonzo the Great, Rizzo the Rat, and Fozzie Bear covered the song for the 1993 album Muppet Beach Party. The Tubes included a song on their final album from 1985, Love Bomb, entitled "Theme from a Wooly Place," a mashup in which the string arrangement for "Theme from A Summer Place" was played over "Wooly Bully" for 46 seconds. Another cover of the song was made by Canned Heat. The Iranianmusical group Zinguala Ha covered the song, renamed "Atal Matal"; it is featured on the Raks Raks Raks – 27 Golden Garage Psych Nuggets From The Iranian 60s Scene compilation. Ace Cannon recorded an instrumental version for his 1967 album Memphis Golden Hits. Disco Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes released a version of the song on their 1977 album, A Piece of the Rock. In the Philippines, a cover version was sung during EDSA II at EDSA Shrine for a protest to impeach Joseph Estrada who resigned as president two days later. In 1988, the French band Au Bonheur des Dames recorded a parody song. The title "Roulez Bourrés" is a play on words with "Wooly Bully", which sounds similar in French. English Ska band Bad Manners also recorded a version on their debut album Ska 'n' B. Ry Cooder and Corridos Famosos included it on their album Live in San Francisco, recorded in 2011 and released in 2013. The 1972 song "C Moon" by Wings was inspired by the lyric "Let's not be L-7" from "Wooly Bully." Paul McCartney created "C Moon" to contrast the L-7 neologism featured in "Wooly Bully" as a different signal to be made on the hands, meaning "cool" rather than "square." The phrase "L-7" is also referred to in the lyrics to "C Moon." In mid-2018 Woolworths in Australia commenced using the music in the "Why I shop at Woolies" TV advertisements for the company.
