"Who Put the Bomp (in the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)" is a
doo-wop style
novelty song from 1961 by the American songwriter
Barry Mann, who wrote it with
Gerry Goffin. It was originally released as a single on the
ABC-Paramount label (10237).
Lyrics
In this song, Mann sings about the frequent use of nonsense lyrics in
doo-wop music, and how his girl fell in love with him after listening to several such songs.
It fits into the category of "self-referential" songs, in that it is a song about the genre it belongs to, in this case doo-wop. This is accentuated by the fact that Mann is a songwriter singing about songwriters.
Chart performance
The single debuted on Billboard's Hot 100 on August 7, 1961, and remained for twelve weeks, peaking at #7.[3] Mann's version did not chart in the UK, though a cover version by
the Viscounts reached #21 there in September 1961. The Viscounts' record was in turn covered by comedians
Morecambe and Wise, with the same melody and modified lyrics ("We put the Bomp in the..."); the record was titled "We're the Guys (Who Drive Your Baby Wild)".
A newer version, by
Showaddywaddy, charted at #37 in August 1982.[5]
In popular culture
The song has been recorded or referenced by:
The Viscounts, on the album Who Put the Bomp—The Pye Anthology (1961)
A parody, "Who'll Put a Bomb on
Saddam Saddam Saddam" was introduced in the political satirists Capitol Steps' 1990 album, Sheik, Rattle and Roll. A later parody, "Who put the Bomb in
Tehran, Tehran, Tehran", was produced by
Capitol Steps and included in their book Sixteen Scandals and accompanying
CD.[6]
In the Full House episode "Joey Goes Hollywood" (Season 4, episode 23), the song is sung by
Frankie Avalon and
Annette Funicello in the pilot for Surf's Up, a fictitious TV show.
A parody, "Who Put the Mush", was written and performed by
The McCalmans. In an inversion of the original song, the singer's girlfriend leaves him due to the nonsense lyrics in his
folk music.[7] It was released in 1994 on the album Songs from Scotland.[8]
The audio introduction at the
Boston Museum of Science's Mugar Omni Theater includes actor and Boston native
Leonard Nimoy reciting the first two lines of the chorus of "Who Put the Bomp".
The song was parodied by
Bob Rivers as "Who Put the Stump?", written from the perspective of an angel on top of a
Christmas tree, involving the tree being inserted up the angel's
rectum. The lyrics include "Who put the stump in my rump ba-bump ba-bump".[9]
The song is referenced in Swedish comedy group
Grotesco's sketch "The Trial", a parody of American courtroom dramas, in which the characters speak broken English (without subtitles) to a confused Swedish audience.
Rocker
Chuck Prophet's 2004 album, Age of Miracles, includes the song, "You Did (Bomp Shooby Dooby Bomp)", which contains the lyric, "Who put the bomp in the bomp shooby dooby bomp? Who put the ram in the ram a lama ding dong? You did, you did".[10]
In July 2017 fictional UK comedy character
Alan Partridge selected the track as one of his favourite ever songs (along with the theme tune to the BBC sports show Grandstand) in a feature for the
Radio 4 show Inheritance Tracks.
At the restaurant Gadgets, which had a show featuring animatronics of the Looney Tunes characters (with voices reprised by
Mel Blanc), one track titled "Sensational Sixties" featured
Porky Pig singing "Who Put the Bomp".
References
^"Archived copy". members.home.nl. Archived from
the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 13 January 2022.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
link)
^Strauss, William (Bill) and Newport, Elaina, Sixteen Scandals: 20 Years of Sex, Lies and Other Habits of Our Great Leaders, 2002, Sourcebooks MediaFusion;
ISBN1-57071-890-3.