SAY WHAT? Vol. 1 Utter Nonsense! "Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé"

SAY WHAT? Vol. 1 Utter Nonsense!

Jonky’s new SAY WHAT? series concerns itself with “non-lexical vocables” or in layman’s terms; complete nonsense.

At the dawn of rock & roll, if you had a “hep” phrase that the kids were using that had the "squares” scratching their heads, or even a bunch of random syllables that sounded good strung together, & stirred in a wild sax solo, you were in business.  Bill Haley & The Comets built an entire career on that formula with songs like Crazy Man Crazy, & Hot Dog, Buddy Buddy.  

The most famous early example might be Little Richard’s Tutti Frutti with its refrain of "A-wop-bop-a-loo-mop-a-lop-bam-boom!"  It came about from Richard vocalizing a drum fill he wanted to open the song.  In 2007, an eclectic panel of recording artists ranked it at No. 1 on MOJO Magazine’s ”Top 100 Records That Changed The World" & hailed the recording as "the sound of the birth of rock & roll". 

The original lyrics were a paean to anal sex with lyrics like; “Tutti Fruitti, good booty.  If it’s tight, it’s alright.  If it’’s greasy, it makes it easy” which were replaced with the nonsensical Tuttu Frutti, Aw Rooty” (which was itself slang for “all right”).

Non-lexical vocables may include word salads of disconnected lyrics that lack coherent meaning, or can rely on amphigory—with verses that SEEM to have meaning, but are meaningless.  Even scat singing can land a song in the category.  A cappella & Doo-Wop music was rife with it, & even became the subject of the song Who Put The Bomp (In The Bomp, Bomp, Bomp, Bomp, Bomp).

Such devices have been touched on in my comps; SHA LA LA & NA NA NA but utilizing those old standbys doesn’t guarantee a track a place in the SAY WHAT?! series.  Neither does yodeling, onomatopoeic references, rigmarole, folderol, or pig latin.

All that gobbledegook is meaningless unless the compilation rocks enough to pull the listener in, & keeps their hips swinging & their lips singing along throughout.  That was my goal, & I hope you find it as Super­cali­fragilistic­expiali­docious as I do!

Some stand out examples include Volume 3’s Prisencolinensinainciusol by Italy’s Adriano Celentano, which is made up of nonsense lyrics that Celentano wrote to sound like English to people who don’t understand English.  Or Volume 2’s Shimmy, Shimmy Ko-Ko-Bop by Little Anthony & The Imperials.  

Here on Volume One you get Eep Opp Ork Ah Ah by Violent Femmes—which (despite being a children’s song) seems a natural progression from Tutti Frutti.  Music intended for children is of course FULL of non-lexical vocables, as evidenced by Mahna Mahna by The Muppets, or Witch Doctor by The Chipmunks with its “Walla walla bing bang” refrain.  

Worth mentioning is John Lennon’s #9 Dream.  John dreamed "Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé" and inserted it in this wonderful hallucination set to music.  

My favorite style of music, rockabilly relied heavily on nonsense lyrics in the absolutely classic songs included on Volume One; Bip Bop Boom, Ooby Dooby, & Hasil Adkins’ demented She Said, which pops up on a subsequent volume covered by The Cramps!

So if you dig Will-O-Wil-O Wops, & Shama Lama Ding Dongs, don’t be a Rooty-Toot-Galoot!  Dive right in!  The Hum Diddley Dee Doo is fine!