Song:Wooly Bully
Album:Pharaohization: The Best Of Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs
Of course Wooly Bully is one of the goofiest pop hits ever. It was actually the first American pop song to break the British Invasion stranglehold on the charts. And it was an early example of what would become known as Tex-Mex music. Sam The Sham was born Domingo Samudio in Dallas in 1937. He was known as Big Sam when he was in the Navy stationed in Panama. He formed The Pharaohs in 1961. But they went nowhere and played organ and sang for Andy & The Nightriders in 1963. Supposedly Sam The Sham came from Sam doing all the singing though he wasn't the bandleader. Andy Anderson left the group in Memphis and went back to Texas. Samudio and bass player David Martin formed a new group with Ray Stinnet on guitar, Jerry Patterson on drums and Butch Gibson on sax. They were renamed Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs and Samudio started wearing a turban on stage. They signed with the Memphis based label Pen Records. There are a couple of stories about the meaning of Wooly Bully. But the one that makes sense is that Samudio wanted to do a tribute to the Hully Gully dance but couldn't use that term for legal reasons. Some radio stations banned Wooly Bully because no one could figure out the words. But it reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1965. This earned Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs a contract with MGM Records. In late 1965, the entire band left over money and they were replaced by a New York City band called Tony Gee & The Gypsies. This version of the band reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 with Lil' Red Riding Hood in 1966. This 1998 Rhino comp has all their hits. Of course Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs faded by the late 60s. Samudio recorded a solo album in 1970 and worked on the music for the 1984 film The Border. He's now a street preacher in Memphis and still tours the oldies circuit. Here's Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs performing Wooly Bully in 1965.
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