It Was 50 Years Ago Today: “Wooly Bully” by Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs

October 20, 1965
“Wooly Bully” by Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs
#1 on Media Control Top 100 Singles Chart (Germany), October 2-22, 1965

More than nearly any other country in continental Europe, West Germany dug rock ‘n’ roll. Compare the German singles charts of the mid-’60s with those of France, Spain, and Italy, and you’ll find a higher proportion of rock acts, whether foreign or homegrown. The Beatles earned their stripes grinding through all-night sets in early ’60s Hamburg; later, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” topped the charts in Germany for eight weeks straight in 1964, a full seven days longer than it did in America. Whether this thirst was driven by the large number of American GIs stationed in West Germany, the plentiful port cities catering to foreign sailors, or the aspirational symbolism of rock ‘n’ roll as the product of a prosperous post-war society, something about the music struck a chord with German record buyers.

Even so, it’s a bit strange that for three weeks in 1965, an obscure band from Texas managed to rule the German singles charts with a rudimentary, almost unintelligible novelty tune. Then again, Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs had a striking visual gimmick, dolled up in campy pseudo-Arab attire, and their hit “Wooly Bully” featured distinctive Tex-Mex rhythms and a simple rhyming chorus made for shout-singing. It also had the American stamp of approval: “Wooly Bully” struck the first major blow against the British Invasion, becoming the first US record to sell a million copies since the Beatles touched down at Kennedy Airport. While “Wooly Bully” never topped the weekly Billboard Hot 100 chart (peaking at #2 in June 1965), its popularity and staying power made it the best-selling single of the year. 

The Kingsmen’s version of “Louie Louie” may have sparked the garage rock revolution, but “Wooly Bully” managed to be both more commercially successful and much, much weirder. Beneath the primitive arrangement and muffled vocals, “Louie Louie” is a straightforward R&B song about a girl. “Wooly Bully,” on the other hand, is about…? A hirsute bovine? Sam the Sham’s cat? An attempt at a new dance craze, but without any instructions for how to do it? Something risqué? Add in the jumbled Spanglish intro (“Uno! Dos! One, two, tres, quatro!”) and hipster slang (“let’s not be L-7”), and you get a lyrical stew that could baffle German- and English-speakers alike.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcguLZaMelE

Unlike the Kingsmen, the Pharaohs were professional gigging musicians, performing at clubs in Texas, Louisiana, and Tennessee. Even so, “Wooly Bully” is somehow ever rawer than “Louie Louie,” with a one-chord verse, a two-word chorus, and 15-bar structure that sets the song on an odd, wobbling groove. Sam the Sham — real name Domingo Samudio — supposedly took voice classes in college, but there’s no sign of any classical training in his bellowing bleat that struggles to stay on key. (In fact, his nickname is purported to originate from his iffy vocal approach.) Sax player Butch Gibson toots out a decent solo in the middle of the song, but all of the other musicians sound as though they discovered their instruments for the first time at the song’s recording session.

Yet it’s this boneheaded simplicity that makes “Wooly Bully” such a classic, standing out both from the diluted faux-rock of the early ’60s, and from the increasingly artistic ambitions that rockers like the Beatles were beginning to explore. “Wooly Bully” houses no frippery, no pretensions, and no aspirations toward accessibility to the non-rock crowd. This was danceable party music for outsiders who didn’t mind getting a little dirty. It didn’t matter what the lyrics actually meant: “Wooly Bully” spoke the international language of rock ‘n’ roll.

It Was 50 Years Ago Today examines a song, album, movie, or book that was #1 on the charts exactly half a century ago.

Sally O'Rourke

Sally O’Rourke works in an office and sometimes writes about music. She blogs about every song to ever top the Billboard Hot 100 (in order) at No Hard Chords. She has also contributed to The Singles Jukebox, One Week // One Band, and PopMatters. Special interests include girl groups, soul pop, and over-analyzing chord changes and lyrics as if deciphering a secret code. She was born in Baton Rouge and lives in Manhattan. Her favorite Nugget is “Liar, Liar” by The Castaways.