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Topic: Be-Bop-a-Lula ? |
Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 23 May 2013 8:16 am |
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Read the words of the song. It's obviously about a girl called Lula who does the Be-Bop, so the song should be titled "Be-bopper Lula". "Be-Bop-a-Lula" makes no sense whatsoever, but it's universally used, whether it be Gene Vincent, the Everly Brothers, Ricky Nelson, or whomever.
There seems to have been a confusion in the 50s about what Be-Bop really was. You have a lot of mention of it in Rockabilly numbers, such as Ricky Nelson's "Be-Bop Baby", and a general assumption that it was another name for Rockabilly, but Be-Bop is a form of Jazz, not Rockabilly.
But, ignoring Be-Bop, what is Bop ?
Carl Perkings sings "Bopping the Blues" as if it's another name for Rockabilly. Big bands used the words as if it were a pseudonym for Boogie.
So what is Bop ? |
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Barry Blackwood
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Dave Hopping
From:
Aurora, Colorado
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Posted 23 May 2013 9:28 am
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Be-Bop-A-Lula? Sort of like Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-oo-ma-ma-ma-wow,and di-di-di-di-dip.Fifties hip-hop.
Alan,I have this vague memory of people doing a dance somewhat like Forties jitterbug to "Rock Around The Clock" and calling it the "bop".
BTW........after Bill Haley had been doing rock and roll for awhile,he dropped his steel player  |
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chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
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Posted 23 May 2013 10:49 am
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| well not exactly. wasn't 'he' his steel player? |
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Dave Hopping
From:
Aurora, Colorado
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Posted 23 May 2013 1:11 pm
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| chris ivey wrote: |
| well not exactly. wasn't 'he' his steel player? |
Every Bill Haley pic or movie clip I ever saw had him with a six-string,usually a big Gibson archtop,and (in earlier ones anyway) there was a guy playing a nonpedal.I wasn't aware Bill played steel. |
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Jerry Overstreet
From:
Louisville Ky
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Posted 23 May 2013 1:55 pm
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Since when are music lyrics supposed to make sense?  Remember Steppenwolf's "Sookie, sookie, sookie sue"?
On Bop, which came first? The lyric or the dance by the same name? I would guess that the "a" in Be-Bop-a-Lula was just a link to stretch out the lyric line to be correct in the meter. Stuff like this was pretty common back in the day of the new Rock 'n Roll Devil's Music, ya know 
I.E., the stutter in Buddy Holly's Peggy Sue.
A bit off topic, but I believe Billy Williamson had the longest steel playing stint with the BH and Comets band. |
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Cal Sharp
From:
the farm in Kornfield Kounty, TN
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Barry Blackwood
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Clete Ritta
From:
San Antonio, Texas
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Posted 23 May 2013 6:54 pm Re: Be-Bop-a-Lula ?
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| Alan Brookes wrote: |
| ...the song should be titled "Be-bopper Lula". "Be-Bop-a-Lula" makes no sense whatsoever... |
In some dialects, perhaps in Brooklyn, one might hear Bopper pronounced as Boppa. What does Sha Na Na and Doo Wop mean? Nothing...but it sounded good at the time.
Then theres Carroll's prose in Jabberwocky:
Twas bryllyg, and ye slythy toves
Did gyre and gymble in ye wabe:
All mimsy were ye borogoves;
And ye mome raths outgrabe.
I occasionally enjoy listening to a group from Iceland called Sigur Rós, and the lyrics are mostly made up syllables that mean absolutely nothing. This is from their Wiki page: Vonlenska has no fixed syntax and differs from constructed languages that can be used for communication. It focuses entirely on the sounds of language; lacking grammar, meaning, and even distinct words. Instead, it consists of emotive non-lexical vocables and phonemes; in effect, Vonlenska uses the melodic and rhythmic elements of singing without the conceptual content of language. In this way, it is similar to the use of scat singing in vocal jazz. The band's website describes it as "a form of gibberish vocals that fits to the music";[44] it is similar in concept to the 'nonsense' language often used by Cocteau Twins singer Elizabeth Fraser in the 1980s and 1990s. |
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Mike Neer
From:
NJ
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Dave Hopping
From:
Aurora, Colorado
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Posted 23 May 2013 11:13 pm
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"Mairzy doats and doazy doats
And lidda lamzy divey.
Ahkiddlee diveydo,
Wouldn't you?"  |
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Barry Blackwood
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Posted 24 May 2013 7:40 am
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"Down in the meadow in a little bitty pool
Swam three little fishies and a mama fishie too
"Swim" said the mama fishie, "Swim if you can"
And they swam and they swam all over the dam
Boop boop dit-tem dat-tem what-tem Chu!
Boop boop dit-tem dat-tem what-tem Chu!
Boop boop dit-tem dat-tem what-tem Chu!
And they swam and they swam all over the dam" 
Last edited by Barry Blackwood on 24 May 2013 7:41 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 24 May 2013 7:40 am
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Alan,
A "bop" is what you get when start fooling around with another guy's gal at a dance on Saturday night!  |
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Frank Montmarquet
From:
The North Coast, New York, USA
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Posted 24 May 2013 8:51 am
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Fake words meant to sound like English to Italians:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcUi6UEQh00
Music from 1972
Last edited by Frank Montmarquet on 24 May 2013 6:20 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 24 May 2013 10:22 am
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| Barry Blackwood wrote: |
Maybe it's one of those phrases like "A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-lop-bam-boom."
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...like Tutti-Frutti onaroody. Yes, that's what the people who wrote the labels probably thought, but if you read the words, in this case it's real words ...Bebopper Lula. |
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Michael Johnstone
From:
Sylmar,Ca. USA
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Posted 24 May 2013 11:41 am
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| Quote: |
| ...like Tutti-Frutti onaroody. Yes, that's what the people who wrote the labels probably thought, but if you read the words, in this case it's real words ...Bebopper Lula. |
Well first of all - It's "Tutti-Fruitti Alrooty" (alright-ee) sorta like in Carl Perkins tune "Pointy-Toed Shoes" (follow up to Blue Suede Shoes BTW) where he says "Ever thing is alreet when I got 'em on my feet".
Tutti-Fruity was celebratory code for being gay in certain 40's-50's Southern subcultures - just so you know.
As far as Bebop-a-lula - I think you might be slicing your bread a little too thin to look for much meaning on that one. Let's just say that "Bop" "BeBop" "Rock" and "Rock & Roll" were interchangable in some circles. |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 25 May 2013 10:18 am
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| Michael Johnstone wrote: |
| ...Tutti-Fruity was celebratory code for being gay in certain 40's-50's Southern subcultures ... Let's just say that "Bop" "BeBop" "Rock" and "Rock & Roll" were interchangable in some circles. |
Yes, Michael, it seems to be that way. There are no absolute definitions of the terms. I didn't know about the Tutti-Fruity origins. Didn't they used to make a candy bar called Tutti-Fruity? Or did that come about because of the song?
Wow, thanks for that link, Mike. Great music. I copied it onto my hard disk from YouTube, along with a few others that it led me to.  |
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Leslie Ehrlich
From:
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
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Posted 26 May 2013 11:30 pm
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I never did like that song, regardless of what the lyrics mean.
Regarding that picture of Bill Haley and the Comets, notice that the band has an accordionist.
_________________
Sho-Bud Pro III + Marshall JMP 2204 half stack = good grind! |
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Barry Blackwood
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 27 May 2013 10:25 am
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http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=135536&highlight=bill+haley
Check out the above thread. Bill Haley had had an entire career of twenty years playing Western Swing and disk jockeying a C&W station where he was renown for slipping in R&B songs.
After his 1954 rock hits they played down his prior history because they didn't want the teenagers to think of him as an old man.
Of course he had an accordion and steel guitar in his band, the Saddlemen; they were set up to play Western Swing, not rock & roll. There were no rock & roll groups at the time.
In 1952 he had a hit record with Icy Heart.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdXlZtWOv3w
It was a straight country number, and his friend Hank Williams called to congratulate him and point out that his record was climbing the charts. On the basis of that hit he was booked to play at the Grand Old Opry, but before that could happen his manager called him to say that the kids were buying the record for the flip side, Rock This Joint, and he was becoming a legend.
So he cancelled his Opry schedule, went on tour, and changed his group's name to the Comets, to appear more modern. Within a few weeks everyone was lauding him as the King of Rock & Roll.
By the way, notice the typical C6 steel on Rock This Joint.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id9YmucMYUU
Last edited by Alan Brookes on 27 May 2013 10:48 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Richard Damron
From:
Gallatin, Tennessee, USA (deceased)
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Posted 27 May 2013 10:46 am
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| Bill Haley was singularly responsible for the eventual demise of ALL good music. That, plus the limited attention span and intelligence of the average music listener. |
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Barry Blackwood
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Posted 27 May 2013 11:38 am
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Well said here on the Steel Guitar Forum, Richard. Maybe not so much anywhere else, but nevertheless I concur..  |
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Richard Damron
From:
Gallatin, Tennessee, USA (deceased)
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Posted 27 May 2013 12:25 pm
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Barry Blackwood -
My thanks for the support. We may be a minority of two.
It occurs to me that my generation - and, perhaps, the generation that followed - failed to quell the rebellion called Rock-n-roll. At best, it was a feeble attempt.
It's also apparent that musical tastes and awareness are age-dependent. Generally speaking, that is, one recalls only those offerings which can be easily remembered. Thus, the teeny-bopper of today believes that ALL OF MUSIC began in the year 2000. Those in their 20's date their musical experience only to 1990 or thereabouts. And so on, down the line, until the remaining old geezers like myself laud the compositions of the Hart's, Hammersteins, Porters, Carmichaels, Rodgers et al - too many to list.
I recall that, a couple of years ago, a young lady - all of 16 years old - had a hit which made it far up the charts. When interviewed on TV, she was asked what her next effort might be. She replied: - "I'm going to write some songs". !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????????? She had absolutely no idea of the reposed wealth in the musical library! Her naivete' was appalling! Did she really think that her masterful compositions would compare to the education and creativity of the composers of yore? Of course not because ALL OF MUSIC began but a mere 10 years prior.
When one examines the compositions of those mentioned above - plus many others - it is glaringly obvious that it would have been heresy to "copy" or otherwise "resemble" the work of another. A part of their pride was in the inventiveness of their compositions. Original - not a Xerox copy. Such is not the case in this day and time when "sameness" pervades the music industry. By "design" - if you're aware of the methods by Sony and others as to which tunes to promote.
Yes, one can break out the calculator and predict that there is still "n to the umpteenth power" remaining compositions left to be found. I ask, however, just how many of those zillion nonsensical tunes would be worth listening to? Few, if any.
It's a bit late to expose - or, even, convert the populace to the many virtues of truly classical compositions. I can only pity all of those who have not progressed beyond "do-re-me" in their listening experience. Ignorance is said to be bliss. I wish them all a blissful life. There are some, to be sure, for whom the phrase "musical ignorance" is not apropos. We'll enjoy the creme de la creme while the rest wallow in the dregs. So be it - and to each his own.
Richard |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 27 May 2013 3:33 pm
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Gosh Richard, I'm just coming up to 68, and I'm well aware of all the great music that was written in the 1930s and even before that, since on the lute I play music from the 1600s, and in folk clubs I sing songs from centuries back. I thought the attitude of breaking 78s which contained rock and roll, the "Devil's music" died out years ago, but evidently I'm wrong.
The great thing about being alive today is that no music ever goes away, and you can choose to listen to any type of music you like. Music and musical styles accumulate continually, and the existence of any one form of music does not deter others. How could anyone blame Bill Haley for things like Punk Rock, which didn't even exist during his lifetime ?
I don't know anybody who is not aware of the archive of great music from the pre-rock eara, and YouTube enables us to listen to that music more easily now than we could years ago. In the 50s it was difficult to listen to music from the 20s and 30s because the record companies only put out what would sell. Now you can listen to anything.
By the way, before WW2, when Bill Haley was a disk jockey at a C&W station, he was very contraversial in introducing blues and jazz recordings into his show, and it is largely as a result of his work, and the charity concerts that he arranged during those days, that blues, R&B and jazz gained a much wider audience. Far from blaming him for steering people away from the classics, (which he didn't do; he played a lot of classics himself), we should thank him for introducing diversity
What do the following types of music all have in common? Blues, Country, Bluegrass, Cajun, Reels, Gregorian Chant, Flamenco, Polka, Rock & Roll, Most European Folk Music. Answer: they're all played with just three chords. Yes, the odd number has one or two extras, but nothing complex.
The basic difference with show tunes of the 20s, 30s and 40s, was that they were composed at the piano, and the composers often incorporated complex chord sequences that were not found in folk music.
But I'm surprised to find a discussion like this on the Steel Guitar Forum. Most of the music played on the Steel Guitar nowadays is around very simple chord sequences. In fact the majority of songs are just combinations of I, IV, V.
What sort of music do you play on steel, Richard? |
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