"Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow" is a noveltynonsensicaldoo-wop song by the Rivingtons in 1962. It peaked at number 48 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number 35 on the Cashbox charts. The band released two similar follow-up songs over the next several months, "Mama-Oom-Mow-Mow " and "The Bird's the Word".
"Surfin' Bird"
Together with the Rivingtons' 1963 novelty song "The Bird's the Word", "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow" was the basis for the song "Surfin' Bird", a number four hit in 1963 by The Trashmen. The combination of the songs, played at a much livelier pace than the original doo-wop songs, was ad-libbed at an early live performance by the band and later released as a single. Initially, the single did not credit the original songwriters, but after the Rivingtons asked for their copyright to be respected, the songwriting credits were amended. The Trashmen's follow-up single "Bird Dance Beat" referenced "Surfin' Bird" in the lyrics and featured several sections of the "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow" syllables.
Cover versions
in 1963 covered in French by Les Célibataires EP on BARCLAY - 70554
In 1967, the Freshmen scored a Top 10 hit with the song in Ireland. Versions by both The Sharonettes and Gary Glitter made the UK Top 40 in 1975. This was Glitter's first non-Top 10 single after 11 consecutive Top 10 hits.
The composition was also covered in 1966 by the Thunderbirds, a Hong-Kong band headed by Robert Lee, the brother of martial-arts star Bruce Lee.
The Deviants covered the song on their 1968 album Disposable.
Gary Glitter released a version of "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow" as a single in 1975.
The song was featured in the 1989 television moviepilot episodeNick Knight starring Rick Springfield as a centuries-old vampire working as a police detective in modern-day Los Angeles.
Clifford, Kermit the Frog, and the Giant Clams later covered the song on the 1993 album Muppet Beach Party.
An arrangement of "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow" by the Persuasions was released on their 1977 album Chirpin' and was played in the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial for 35 seconds. In 2011, a version performed by a choir was used in the film Happy Feet Two.
Super Ratones, a Rock and roll band from Argentina, recorded their version on their 1990 debut album "Rock de la playa".
Other appearances of the song's lyrics
In 1964, surf rockers Jan and Dean morphed the song into "The New Girl in School", with new lyrics and the refrain "Doo-ron-de-ron-de" substituted for "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow". "New Girl in School" garnered significant U.S. airplay as the B-side of the Top 40 hit "Dead Man's Curve". In 1969, the song's distinctive titular nonsense lyrics appeared as a similarly-sung chorus in Giorgio Moroder's first single "Looky Looky" and the Oak Ridge Boys' 1981 hit "Elvira" has an "oom-papa-mow-mow" chorus, an element that existed in songwriter Dallas Frazier's 1967 original version of the song. Al Frazier was a member of The Rivingtons and is listed as a co-author of "Papa Oom Now Now". It has been erroneously reported over the years that he and Dallas Frazier were the same person. The title of the song is quoted in background lyrics of the song "Summer Nights" from the musical Grease. Garage rock bandNobunny added the song's lyrics at the end of "I Am a Girlfriend". In 2010, heavy metal artist Rob Zombie repeatedly uses the song's title in the chorus of his song "Burn", which is the 8th track off of his solo album Hellbilly Deluxe 2. The "papa oom mow mow" lyric appears in the repeating refrain of Neil Sedaka's 1975 single "The Queen Of 1964".
