| "Wooly Bully" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Cover of the 1965 Italy single | ||||
| Single bySam the Sham and the Pharaohs | ||||
| from the albumWooly Bully | ||||
| B-side | "Ain't Gonna Move" | |||
| Released | March 12, 1965 (1965) | |||
| Recorded | 1964 | |||
| Studio | Phillips Recording, Memphis, Tennessee | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 2:20 | |||
| Label | XL 906,MGMK13322 | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Domingo Samudio | |||
| Producer(s) | Stan Kesler | |||
| Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Wooly Bully" is a song originally recorded byrock and roll bandSam the Sham and the Pharaohs in 1964. Based on a standard12-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 (#906) in 1964 and was picked up in 1965 by MGM. The song was recorded atSam C. Phillips Recording Studio at 639 Madison Avenue in Memphis, the successor to Phillips' originalSun Studio.[4]
"Wooly Bully" was the band's first and biggest hit song. It became a worldwide success, selling three million copies and reaching No. 2 on the AmericanHot 100 chart on June 5–12, 1965. They were kept from reaching the top spot byThe Beach Boys' "Help Me, Rhonda"[5] andThe Supremes' "Back in My Arms Again".[6] "Wooly Bully" went to No. 31 on theHot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart.[7] The song also reached No. 2 on the CanadianCHUM Charts.[8]
The song was the first American record to sell a million copies during theBritish Invasion and was influenced by the British rock sound which was mixed with traditional Mexican-Americanconjunto rhythms.[9][10] It stayed in the Hot 100 for 18 weeks, the longest time for any song in 1965, and was nominated for aGrammy Award. It was namedBillboard'snumber-one song of the year despite never reaching No. 1 on a weekly Hot 100. This feat was achieved again byFaith Hill's "Breathe" in 2000,Lifehouse's "Hanging by a Moment" in 2001 andDua Lipa's "Levitating" in 2021 (all four hits peaked at #2).[11][12] On August 5, 1965, the single was certified as gold by the RIAA.[13] It was later included on the band's 1965 albumWooly Bully, MGM SE4297.
"Wooly Bully" is a reworking of the 1962 tune "Hully Gully Now" on the Dallas-based Gay Shel label by Big Bo & The Arrows (vocal by Little Smitty), which was based onJunior Parker's "Feelin' Good". The song was given the green light after Samudio rewrote the lyrics to replace "Hully Gully" with "Wooly Bully" and a few additional lyrical changes. Samudio retained the "watch it, watch it now" refrain from the original version.[14]
The lyrics of "Wooly Bully" were hard to understand, in effect, some radio stations banned the song.[15] The lyrics describe a conversation between "Mattie" and "Hattie" concerning the "Wooly Bully" (a creature which Mattie describes as "a thing she saw [that] had two big horns and a wooly jaw" – that is, anAmerican bison) and the desirability of developing dancing skills, although no attempt is made tosynthesize these divergent topics. The warning "Let's not be L-7" means "Let's not besquare", from the shape formed by the fingers making anL on one hand and a7 on the other.[16] Sam the Sham underscores theTex-Mex nature of the song by counting out the rhythm inSpanish and English ("Uno! Dos! One, two, tres, cuatro!"), and the characteristic simple organriffing, with atenor saxophone solo in the middle. According to Samudio, "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."[17]
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[18] | Gold | 1,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
 | This article contains alist of miscellaneous information. Pleaserelocate any relevant information into other sections or articles.(January 2025) |
Eddie and the Hot Rods released a version of the song as a single in the UK in 1976, but it did not reach the chart.[19] The song is referenced byJoe Strummer in the live version ofThe Clash hit "Capital Radio" featured on their albumLive: From Here to Eternity. The song is also heard in a number of films:Bandits in Milan (in the opening titles),[20]More American Graffiti,The Hollywood Knights,Big Bully,The Rookie,Fast Times at Ridgemont High,Full Metal Jacket,The Shrimp on the Barbie,Splash,Scrooged,Happy Gilmore,Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed,Monsters vs. Aliens,Religulous,Monsieur Ibrahim,Encino Man,Made in Dagenham,Mr Holland's Opus starringRichard Dreyfuss, andThe Chipmunk Adventure, in which it is performed byAlvin and the Chipmunks. The song is also heard inThe Wire, during a scene in Delores' bar in theseason 2 episodeEbb Tide.Bachman–Turner Overdrive performs a song cover on the soundtrack for the 1989 Canadian filmAmerican Boyfriends (#80 in Canada[21]).
Gonzo the Great,Rizzo the Rat, andFozzie Bear covered the song for the 1993 albumMuppet Beach Party.The Tubes included a song on their final album from 1985,Love Bomb, entitled "Theme from a Wooly Place," amashup 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 byCanned Heat. The Iranian musical group Zinguala Ha covered the song, renamed it to "Atal Matal”. It was featured on theRaks Raks Raks – 27 GoldenGarage Psych Nuggets From The Iranian 60s Scene compilation.Ace Cannon recorded an instrumental version for his 1967 albumMemphis Golden Hits.Disco Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes released a version of the song on their 1977 album,A Piece of the Rock.[22]
In 1966Yugoslav beat bandTomi Sovilj i Njegove Siluete released "Vule bule", aSerbo-Croatian version of the song.[23] Their version was covered in 1991 bySerbian alternative rock bandBjesovi on their debut albumU osvit zadnjeg dana.[23]
In thePhilippines, a cover version was sung duringEDSA II atEDSA Shrine for a protest to impeachJoseph Estrada who resigned as president two days later.
The 1972 song "C Moon" byWings was inspired by the lyric "Let's not be L-7" from "Wooly Bully."Paul McCartney created "C Moon" to contrast the L-7neologism featured in "Wooly Bully" as a different signal to be made on the hands, meaning "cool" rather than "square."[24] The phrase "L-7" is also referred to in the lyrics to "C Moon."
The final episode (14) ofseason 4 (1987–88) of the TV seriesMoonlighting features a skit performance of “Wooly Bully” by character Herb Viola (Curtis Armstrong), based on the pretense that the writers’ strike left the show 10 minutes short.[25][26]
In a promotion for an upcoming episode of the sitcomFrasier that saw Woody Boyd (the character portrayed byWoody Harrelson onCheers) visit the title character (played byKelsey Grammer on both shows) in Seattle, NBC played a re-recording of the song, under the title "Woody Woody".
In 2009, the original 1965 release of the song on the MGM label bySam the Sham and the Pharaohs was inducted into theGrammy Hall of Fame.[27]
