# Origin of "bow chikka wow wow" to denote porn music in conversation. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 16, 2003, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-bow-chikka-wow-wow-to-denote-porn-music-in-conversation/149099 "2003-01-16T23:54:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-bow-chikka-wow-wow-to-denote-porn-music-in-conversation/149099/21 "2010-03-03T21:58:59Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > What are the two dirtiest animals on a farm? > > Brown chick & brown cow No you did not just make the brown chicken brown cow joke. I knew a girl who would tell that joke, then giggle endlessly. You now remind me of her. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-bow-chikka-wow-wow-to-denote-porn-music-in-conversation/149099/22 "2010-03-03T22:01:58Z")
I’m just a stuck-in-the-70s kinda guy. I think the music was better _and_ the porn was better. ---
**Author:** ![acetylene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@acetylene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/acetylene)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-bow-chikka-wow-wow-to-denote-porn-music-in-conversation/149099/23 "2010-03-03T22:09:26Z")
> [@cstamets](#): > > There was a comedian several years ago - I forget his name or which TV show I saw him on or when it was (late 80s or early 90s maybe?) - who did a pretty funny bit about porno music and how when you heard the “bow chikka”, someone was about to get some. After that was when people I knew started using it during the course of conversations. > > For some reason, I’m thinking I saw the guy on MTV’s “Half Hour Comedy Hour”. But, being that it was that long ago, it’s hard telling. If anyone know who that was or has the clip, I’d like to know. I know exactly what you are talking about. I just can’t think of who it is. I think I saw him on Comic Strip Live. But I agree that this was how the whole joke entered into popular culture. ---
**Author:** ![acetylene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@acetylene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/acetylene)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-bow-chikka-wow-wow-to-denote-porn-music-in-conversation/149099/24 "2010-03-03T22:17:42Z")
Got it. [Jordan Brady](http://comedians.comedycentral.com/jordan-brady/videos/jordan-brady---porno). Definitely the 80’s ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-bow-chikka-wow-wow-to-denote-porn-music-in-conversation/149099/25 "2010-03-03T22:22:15Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > No you did not just make the brown chicken brown cow joke. I knew a girl who would tell that joke, then giggle endlessly. You now remind me of her. No, I heard it a couple of years ago from a friends daughter. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-bow-chikka-wow-wow-to-denote-porn-music-in-conversation/149099/26 "2010-03-03T22:51:12Z")
Daddy Dewdrop’s 1971 smash hit [Chick A Boom](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daddy_Dewdrop) might have something to do with this thread. Lyrics [here](http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/daddy_dewdrop/chick-a-boom.html). > [@](#): > > I opened the third door and there she was > And she whispered so sexy, hello-ooh > I tried to do the same > And impress her with my style > But why I said this > I’ll never know > > Chick-a-boom-chick-a-boom > (Mmmmm-aaaah) > Don’t ya jes’ love it > Chick-a-boom-chick-a-boom > (Mmmmm-aaaah)… ---
**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-bow-chikka-wow-wow-to-denote-porn-music-in-conversation/149099/27 "2010-03-03T23:09:46Z")
> [@](#): > > No one, though, knows how it originated, and it keeps me awake at night. Is this really such a mystery? Its just a funky guitar riff created by a wah pedal that was used it a lot of 1970s porn. Funk was pretty popular back then and musicians who made music for movies were influenced by it. Im sure it was very modern sounding in 1977. Rent some non-porn movies, especially actions movies, from the 1970s. You’ll hear a lot of the same riffs. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-bow-chikka-wow-wow-to-denote-porn-music-in-conversation/149099/28 "2010-03-04T00:50:29Z")
I’ll say this again: As someone who’s actually seen a lot of '70s porn, that’s just not the way the music sounded. Usually it was some Clarence Clemons wannabe, not the “Theme from Shaft.” ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-bow-chikka-wow-wow-to-denote-porn-music-in-conversation/149099/29 "2010-03-04T03:46:45Z")
I suspect what happened to make “bow chikka wow wow” a standard reference to pornography is the following: For the past fifteen years or so, it’s been a common claim that the golden age for pornography (at least in the U.S.) was the late 1970’s. See the 1997 movie _Boogie Nights_ (which is set in the late 1970’s) to understand just how much this era is treated as being the classic period for pornography. There’s some truth in this claim. Before the late 1960’s, most pornography was cheap stuff (and frequently illegal). In the 1970’s, it became more common to spend a reasonable amount of money in filming these movies. But in the 1980’s, video cameras became cheap. A lot of amateurs were making their own pornography. There was no point in spending a lot of money in making good professional pornography, so the quality of pornography went down again. Whether or not this period was really a golden age of pornography or not, this is what was commonly believed. So when comedians made jokes about pornography, they tended to talk about it as being from the late 1970’s. By this time people had begun to forget just what music was like then. They assumed that it was all funk, even though it mostly wasn’t. So it became standard to refer to the music to this pornography as “bow chikka wow wow” stuff. ---
**Author:** ![fuzzypickles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9d8465/32.png) [@fuzzypickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzypickles)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-bow-chikka-wow-wow-to-denote-porn-music-in-conversation/149099/30 "2010-03-05T09:59:51Z")
Maybe it’s just me, but [The Match Game](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxTMknTnOzM&feature=related) theme always sounded to me like porn music. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-bow-chikka-wow-wow-to-denote-porn-music-in-conversation/149099/31 "2010-03-05T16:02:24Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > What are the two dirtiest animals on a farm? > > Brown chick & brown cow I came here just to post that joke… and you beat me to it! Argh! I knew a 6 year old who told that joke and didn’t know why it was funny, but knew all the adults laughed hysterically when she told it… ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-bow-chikka-wow-wow-to-denote-porn-music-in-conversation/149099/32 "2012-01-06T08:02:57Z")
> [@WolfDaddy](#): > > it keeps me awake at night. That’s odd. I usually just doze right off afterwards. :o ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-bow-chikka-wow-wow-to-denote-porn-music-in-conversation/149099/33 "2012-01-06T18:48:51Z")
> [@standingwave](#): > > That’s odd. I usually just doze right off afterwards. :o Did you… notice the dates on these posts? The guy you quoted last posted almost nine years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-bow-chikka-wow-wow-to-denote-porn-music-in-conversation/149099/34 "2012-01-06T19:17:24Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > Did you… notice the dates on these posts? > > The guy you quoted last posted almost nine years ago. And someone made pretty much the same joke 9 years ago to. (also, this thread appears to be a rare “double zombie”. It got bumped in 2010 and then again today. People apparently like to search for “Porn” as a keyword on the dope. Who would’ve thunk) ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-bow-chikka-wow-wow-to-denote-porn-music-in-conversation/149099/35 "2012-01-06T19:18:13Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > And someone made pretty much the same joke 9 years ago to. Mentioning zombies would have been a joke. I made no such mention. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-bow-chikka-wow-wow-to-denote-porn-music-in-conversation/149099/36 "2012-01-06T19:19:49Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > Mentioning zombies would have been a joke. I made no such mention. 😕 The reference is to the reply in post #17. **standingwave** is the one repeating a joke from 9 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-bow-chikka-wow-wow-to-denote-porn-music-in-conversation/149099/37 "2012-01-06T19:20:46Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > The reference is to the reply in post #17. **standingwave** is the one repeating a joke from 9 years ago. … I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-bow-chikka-wow-wow-to-denote-porn-music-in-conversation/149099/38 "2012-01-06T19:28:28Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > I suspect what happened to make “bow chikka wow wow” a standard reference to pornography is the following: For the past fifteen years or so, it’s been a common claim that the golden age for pornography (at least in the U.S.) was the late 1970’s. Ah the 70s…when all the classic porn plots were developed: Pizza guy delivers more than expected Pool boy gets a surprise Teacher keeps Johnny after class In my memory, if not in actuality, the _“bow chikka wow wow”_ music cued at the exact moment the “plot” ended and the sex commenced. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-bow-chikka-wow-wow-to-denote-porn-music-in-conversation/149099/39 "2012-01-06T19:32:08Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > … > > I don’t get it. Both **standingwave** and **Coil** are responding to the line “…it keeps me awake at night” with similar, but not identical jokes. **Simplicio** is pointing out that fact. Basically, that **standingwave** revived a zombie to riff on a line in the OP that’s already been riffed on. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2012, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-bow-chikka-wow-wow-to-denote-porn-music-in-conversation/149099/40 "2012-01-06T19:37:13Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Both **standingwave** and **Coil** are responding to the line “…it keeps me awake at night” with similar, but not identical jokes. **Simplicio** is pointing out that fact. Basically, that **standingwave** revived a zombie to riff on a line in the OP that’s already been riffed on. Ah. I thought **Simplicio** was talking about _my_ behavior. I git it now. Thanks! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-bow-chikka-wow-wow-to-denote-porn-music-in-conversation/149099.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-bow-chikka-wow-wow-to-denote-porn-music-in-conversation/149099.md?page=3)