BeBop-A-Lula

Today in Music History: April 9

Bebop, Rebop, DooWop, Hip Hop, Boogie Woogie, Hillbilly, Rockabilly...trying saying all of these fast and there is no way to avoid getting into the rhythm! After all, they are the stepping stones to the ever classic, very much alive Rock 'n' Roll. 

Today, let's step back in time to April 9 (may be May 4, or June 2). Sometimes sources just can't seem to agree on the same date but the year is definitely...

1956 and Gene Vincent recorded the classic rock 'n' roll song
'Bebop-A-Lula'. 

Gene Vincent - "Be-Bop-A-Lula" - Capital, 1956

 

Vincent himself sometimes claimed that he wrote the words inspired by the
comic strip, "Little Lulu".

The phrase "Be-Bop-A-Lula" is similar to "Be-Baba-Leba", the title of a # 3 R&B chart hit for Helen Humes in 1945, which became a bigger hit when recorded by Lionel Hampton as "Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop." This phrase, or something very similar, was widely used in jazz circles in the 1940s, giving its name to the bebop style, and possibly being ultimately derived from the shout of "Arriba! Arriba!" used by Latin American bandleaders to encourage band members.
Source: en.wikipedia.org

Two things for sure...the song was released and it was a HIT! Within twenty-one days it sold over two hundred thousand records, stayed at the top of national pop and country charts for twenty weeks, and sold more than a million copies. These same musicians, Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps, would have two more releases in 1956, followed by another in January 1957.

 

Makes you wanna dance!

 Bop-bop-bop bop-bop ba dada dada

Bop-bop-bop bop-bop ba dada dada

Bop-bop-bop bop-bop ba dada dada

Da bada bada bada

Bop-bop-bop bop-bop ba dada dada

 

 

And the music goes on beating to the rhythm of the changing times...