Papa Chew!

Tom & Jerrio - Boo-Ga-Loo

James Brown had the Popcorn, Rufus Thomas had the Dog, and Jerry Murray (aka "Jerrio" or "Jerry-O") had the Boogaloo. I will defer to this excellent article to cover the biography and discography of Jerry-O and his productions. Jerry-O's records were almost literally a party spread over both sides of his funky 45s, with Murray playing the part of the emcee/DJ, encouraging listeners to do the boogaloo (or the Twine or the Pearl or whatever dance was featured on the record) and just getting into the groove with interjections of "heeeeeeeey-eyyyyy" and "papa chew!"

Today's selection was the first of the "boogaloo" records Jerry-O would commit to wax throughout the '60s. Joined by Tommy Dark, "Boo-Ga-Loo" was released on the Jerry-O label and was picked up nationally by ABC-Paramount, where it was billed as by "Tom and Jerrio" and it became a big hit in 1965. The duo's "lyrics," if you can call them that, barely refer to that dance at all, as they also encourage people to do the Twine, the Barracuda, and other dances. Fortuantely the awesome instrumental track saves the record from total tomfoolery. (Les McCann would resurrect the tune, absent the vocals, as a soul jazz masterpiece.) The flip of the record, "Boomerang," is the same track, featuring different chants and calls. You can really get down to both sides of this 45!

More "boogaloo" 45s would follow after "Great Googa Mooga," the follow-up to "Boo-Ga-Loo" (on which Jerry-O exhorts, "don't pour no water on me; just let me BURN!"), was released, most notably the Jerry-O solo efforts "Funky Boo-Ga-Loo" and "Karate Boo-Ga-Loo." All of them are good records worth seeking out also.

(EDITOR'S NOTE - I plan to get the new episode of the podcast online sometime this week.)