A wop bop aloom op a wop bop boom - the syllable thread

Cafe Society
1

Nonsense syllables, versions of scat singing, etc. are a key part of many rock songs because, whatever the singer/songwriter’s reasons were.

I heard Fleetwood Mac’s Second Hand News today and was surprised that “Bow-bow-bow-bow-buh-bow bow, bow bow, doo da doodladoo” takes up 49 seconds (in two segments, no less) of a song that is less than three minutes long.

At least Paul McCartney had the courtesy to put all the “Nah-nah-nah-Nahnahnahnah” at the end of Hey Jude.

What are your favorite doo-dahs that were done to excess?

2

Who Put The Bomp - Barry Mann

3

Lie, li, li li lie li

Simon and Garfunkel ‘The Boxer’

4

I don’t have the patience to count the “Mmm-bops” to words in Hanson’s “Mmm-bop” but the ratio is lopsided for sure. Now, I can’t say that I LOVE this song, but it did come out the year I graduated high school so it holds some sort of nostalgia for me.

Conversely, “Mmm mmm mmm mmm” came out the year I started high school. The 90s were a weird time.

5

The thread title immediately brought to mind “Tutti Frutti”.

6

There must be nigh infinitely many songs with syllables in them. This thread could get lengthy if us Dopers get all into it.

Ooooh, some of us gon be showing our age here!

Maybe we should limit this to just real syllables? You know, must have at least one vowel in them? :slight_smile: ETA: And NO CHIPMUNKS!

Does spelling count?

Ooh Eeh Ooh Ah Aah
Ting Tang Walla Walla Bing

Witch Doctor

Whole lotta songs by Cab Calloway. Just a couple of examples:

Ya boudley yankey boudley yankey tankey!
Oh rang tang ta tada! and much more…

Jumping Jive by Cab Calloway

… and his famous flagship song:

Hi de hi de hi de hay!
Hi de hi de hi de ho!
Hee de hee de hee he hee! and much more, much of it untranscribable.

[spoiler]Minnie The Moocher by Cab Calloway. Video shows him singing, dancing with live audience participation!

Here’s the version with the Betty Boop and the rotoscoped walrus.[/spoiler]
Even songs in foreign languages can have syllables!

Opa Neena Neena Nai

Opa Neena Neena Nai by Nana Mouskouri. Greek. If I understand aright, these are just filler syllables. Listen at your peril — This number is catchy!

Syllables you want? SYLLABLES? Syllables!
I defy anyone to write what this guy is singing, let alone sing along.

Mumbles by Clark Terry
And this: Pookie sings Mumbles and dances for Soupy Sales! This is great!

7

Plenty of Na na na na songs.

YouTube search shows one video consisting of brief excerpts from “Top 50 Na Na songs”

A few oldies but well-known goodies:

Na Na Na Na Hey Hey Good-bye by Steam

My Chemical Romance

Here’s a well-known one. Does it even have a name? Who did this first?

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down by Joan Baez at 0:56
… And all the people were singing
They went Naaaa na na na na Naaa!
Na na na Naa na na na Naaa naaa.

Jeezus f-ing Christ, is there a way to disable those stupid smart-quotes? They f up every single link I try to type and I have to fix them all one at a time. Hope I got them all right.

8

That’s because it’s a direct quote from the lyrics of said song.

9

I don’t think anyone in the world has enough self discipline to do the whole of the Batman theme without breaking into dada dada dada dada…

The Jam lasted about 50 seconds. Pretty good effort, actually.

j

10

Yesterday Once More by the Carpenters has…

Every sha-la-la-la
Every wo-o-wo-o, still shines
Every shing-a-ling-a-ling, that they’re startin’ to sing’s, so fine

11

Oo-Shoo-Be-Doo-Be

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Seems a little off to me. :slight_smile:

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Ella Fitzgerald, The First Lady of Scat: Ella Fitzgerald- "How High The Moon/Epic scat" LIVE 1966 [RITY Archives] - YouTube

14

the Beatles Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

15

Missed one - You’re gonna crash!

And then there’s Lo lo lo lo Lola.

j

16

Tenacious D’s Tribute has a cool little breakdown, with a little doopbedoop da going on.

17

Does the closing theme for *WKRP *count?

18

Everybody’s Bopping by Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. Thirty seconds of introduction, then three minutes of bop syllables.

19

nm

20

Land of 1,000 Dances by Wilson Pickett.