Gene Vincent And His Blue Caps - Be-Bop-A-Lula

First performance: 19/03/1977


Coverinfo

Bruce performed the song once at full and once as a snippet: 
 
 
 
Bruce joins rockabilly masters Stray Cats 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  • Snippet
during ROSALITA
He used  a couple lines from "Be-Bop-A-Lula" 
 
1977-03-19 Central Maine Youth Center, Lewiston, ME
 

Songinfo

"Be-Bop-A-Lula" is a rockabilly song first recorded in 1956 by Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps. The writing of the song is credited to Gene Vincent and his manager, Bill "Sheriff Tex" Davis. Evidently the song originated in 1955, when Vincent was recuperating from a motorcycle accident at the US Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia. There, he met Donald Graves, who supposedly wrote the words to the song while Vincent wrote the tune. (Cf. "Money Honey" by the Drifters, 1953).  The song came to the attention of Davis, who allegedly bought out Graves' rights to the song for some $50 (sources vary as to the exact amount), and had himself credited as the lyric writer. Davis claimed that he wrote the song with Gene Vincent after listening to the song "Don't Bring Lulu". Vincent himself sometimes claimed that he wrote the words inspired by the comic strip, "Little Lulu": "I come in dead drunk and stumble over the bed. And me and Don Graves were looking at this bloody book; it was called Little Lulu. And I said, "Hell, man, it's 'Be-Bop-a-Lulu.' And he said, 'Yeah, man, swinging.' And we wrote this song." The phrase "Be-Bop-A-Lula" is similar to "Be-Baba-Leba", the title of a No. 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.
 
 
  

Bruce on the artist

Lyrics

Well, Be-Bop-A-Lula, she's my baby
Be-Bop-A-Lula, I don't mean maybe
Be-Bop-A-Lula, she's my baby
Be-Bop-A-Lula, I don't mean maybe
Be-Bop-A-Lula, she's my baby doll, my baby doll, my baby doll

Well, she's the gal in the red blue jeans
Ah, she's the queen of all the teens
Ah, she's the one that I know
Ah, she's the woman that loves me so, say

Be-Bop-A-Lula, she's my baby
Be-Bop-A-Lula, I don't mean maybe
Be-Bop-A-Lula, she's my baby doll, my baby doll, my baby doll
Let's rock!

Well, now, she's the one that's got that beat
Ah, she's the one with the flying feet
Ah, she's the one that walks around the store
She's the one that yells, "More, more, more, more!"

Be-Bop-A-Lula, she's my baby
Be-Bop-A-Lula, I don't mean maybe
Be-Bop-A-Lula, she's my baby doll, my baby doll, my baby doll
Let's rock again, now!

Well, Be-Bop-A-Lula, she's my baby
Be-Bop-A-Lula, I don't mean maybe
Be-Bop-A-Lula, she's my baby
Be-Bop-A-Lula, I don't mean maybe
Be-Bop-A-Lula, she's my baby doll, my baby doll, my baby doll