Wang Dang Doodle
"Wang Dang Doodle" | ||||
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Single by Howlin' Wolf | ||||
B-side | "Back Door Man" | |||
Released | 1961 | |||
Recorded | June 1960 | |||
Studio | Chess, Chicago | |||
Genre | Blues | |||
Length | 2:20 | |||
Label | Chess | |||
Songwriter(s) | Willie Dixon | |||
Producer(s) |
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Howlin' Wolf singles chronology | ||||
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"Wang Dang Doodle" is a
Composition and lyrics
"Wang Dang Doodle" was composed by Willie Dixon during the second part of his songwriting career, from 1959 to 1964.[5] During this period, he wrote many of his best-known songs, including "Back Door Man", "Spoonful", "The Red Rooster" (better-known as "Little Red Rooster"), "I Ain't Superstitious", "You Shook Me", "You Need Love" (adapted by Led Zeppelin for "Whole Lotta Love"), and "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover".[5] In his autobiography, Dixon explained that the phrase "wang dang doodle" "meant a good time, especially if the guy came in from the South. A wang dang meant having a ball and a lot of dancing, they called it a rocking style so that's what it meant to wang dang doodle".[5] Mike Rowe claimed that Dixon's song is based on "an old lesbian song" – "The Bull Daggers Ball" – with "its catalogue of low-life characters only marginally less colourful that the original".[6] Dixon claimed that he wrote it when he first heard Howlin' Wolf in 1951 or 1952 but that it was "too far in advance" for him and he saved it for later.[7] However, Wolf supposedly hated the song and commented, "Man, that's too old-timey, sound[s] like some old levee camp number":[8]
Tell Automatic slim, to tell razor totin' Jim
To tell butcher knife totin' Annie, to tell fast talkin' Fannie ...
We gonna pitch a wang dang doodle all night long[9]
Howlin' Wolf recorded the song in June 1960 in Chicago during the same sessions that produced "Back Door Man" and "Spoonful".
Koko Taylor version
On June 30, 1964, Willie Dixon brought
Recognition and legacy
In 1995, Taylor's rendition was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in the "Classics of Blues Recording – Singles or Album Tracks" category.[17] The Foundation noted that the song was the last blues single produced by Dixon to reach the record charts, and "became Koko Taylor's signature crowdpleaser, inspiring singalongs to the 'all night long' refrain night after night".[17]
Taylor's version of "Wang Dang Doodle" was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry in 2023.[18]
In 1971, a version by Savoy Brown was recorded for their album Street Corner Talking. It was the group's first album after a nearly complete lineup change and their rendition was described in an album review as one of the "solid examples of the group's blues-rock power ... a slick cover".[21]
Notes
- ^ Rowe 1973, pp. 170–173.
- ^ a b Whitburn 1988, p. 404.
- ^ Herzhaft 1992, p. 477.
- ^ "Library of Congress adds 25 new recordings to its National Recording Registry". NPR. April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
- ^ a b c Dixon 1989, p. 143.
- ^ Rowe 1973, p. 172.
- ^ Dixon 1989, p. 149.
- ^ Dixon 1989, p. 88.
- ^ Dixon 1989, p. 120.
- ^ Shurman 1989, p. 29.
- ^ Surman 1991, p. 29.
- ^ Shurman 1991, p. 29.
- ^ Whitburn 1988, p. 198.
- ^ Shurman 1991, p. 27.
- ^ Koda, Cub. "The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions – Review". AllMusic. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
- ^ Chess Blues 1947–1967 (CD notes). Various artists. MCA Records/Chess Records. 1992. CHD4-9340.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ a b Blues Foundation (November 10, 2016). "1995 Hall of Fame Inductees: Wang Dang Doodle – Koko Taylor (Checker, 1965)". The Blues Foundation. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
- ^ "2023 National Recording Registry selections". Library of Congress. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
- ^ "Willie Dixon "Wang Dang Doodle" tribute". Rockhall.com. 1994. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
- ^ Dougan, John. "Love Sculpture: Blues Helping – Review". AllMusic. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
- ^ DeGagne, Mike. "Savoy Brown: Street Corner Talking – Review". AllMusic. Retrieved March 5, 2022.
- ^ Whitburn 1988, p. 331.
References
- ISBN 0-306-80415-8.
- Herzhaft, Gerard (1992). "Wand Dang Doodle". Encyclopedia of the Blues. Fayetteville, Arkansas: ISBN 1-55728-252-8.
- Rowe, Mike (1973). Chicago Blues. ISBN 0-306-80145-0.
- Shurman, Dick (1991). Howlin' Wolf: The Chess Box (Box set booklet). Howlin' Wolf. Chess/MCA Records. CHD3-9332.
- ISBN 0-89820-068-7.