Which only put me in mind of awopbopaloobop alopbamboom. I think I was 19 or 20 when I read Nik Cohn describe that sound as “a glorious burst of incoherent noise.” A phrase I’ve mentioned many times over the years, as almost a guiding light for a certain kind of work. Cohn probably wasn’t much over his early twenties when he wrote that, in fact.
Most people assume it’s a load of old codswallop-a-lop-bam-boom – an outlet for the primal, pent-up energy that erupted from Little Richard’s soul every time he sang.
An alternative theory is that the cry is actually a vocal approximation of a drum break, making Little Richard one of the earliest beatboxers on record.
But speaking to Rolling Stone magazine in the 1970s, external, the star said the phrase actually started out as a sneaky way of cursing at his boss.
“I was working at the Greyhound bus station in Macon, Georgia,” he recalled, “and I couldn’t talk back to my boss, man.
“He would bring all these pots back for me to wash, and one day I said, ‘I’ve got to do something to stop this man bringing back all these pots to me to wash,'” he recalled.
“And I said, ‘A-wap-bop-a-lup-bop, A-wop-bam-boom, take ’em out!‘ and that’s what I meant at the time.