At The Green House. . .

It’s Wednesday. . . “Hump Day”. . .  a good day to let yourself get a little silly and groove any tune that may float in to your head.

Mantis is taking his role as a sensei seriously and not letting Wormy see his fun side. . . at least not yet.  I think if he did start banging out a tune by the Rivingtons, he’d find Wormy shaking his tail, finding his groove and most likely doing “The Worm.”

Seriously, who could meditate with that song in your head? Now here’s the real music geek insider stuff. . . The Rivington’s started out as a group called The Sharps and had a hit with a cover of the song, “Little Bitty Pretty One” in 1957. After a name change, in 1962 they had a big hit with a silly titled song, “Pa Pa Oom Mow Mow.”  They followed that quickly with another hit- a song with perhaps an even stranger title, “The Bird’s The Word.” Then, they tried recreating the “Oom Mow Mow Magic” by recording a follow up, “Mama Oom Mow Mow.” Not such a big hit. . .

To make the strange even stranger, in 1963, a group from Minnesota called The Trashmen, put “Pa Pa Oom Mow Mow” and “The Bird’s The Word” together as a new song called, “Surfin’ Bird.” Believe it or not, my older brothers, Joe & Mike owned this 45 and I played it a lot. The whole thing gets sillier as The Trashmen recorded the song, never crediting The Rivingtons for their input, which was basically the whole song. They later were threatened with legal action and gave the Rivingtons writing credit. Wow. . .  Wednesday’s are fun, aren’t they? I’ve been deliberating over which version to share with you, but I think you need to see The Trashmen’s version first. . . (yes, there actually is a video of a live performance of this song) and if you think the whole concept is weird,  you’re right- but watch the video anyway!  Then imagine Mantis breaking into the “final dance.”   Steve Wahrer was the group’s drummer, not lead singer, but his vocals and performance here may have inspired many future legends. . . David Byrne  comes to mind.

For the purists, The Rivingtons version is just below (along with another surprise!).

 

Ah, at least these guys have some real vocal talent! But, it doesn’t end here. . . Family Guy loves the song too. . .

And I hope to never, ever, ever top this as the strangest blog post ever. You’re welcome!  Share this if you dare. . .

 

 

 

Share this: Twitter | StumbleUpon | Facebook | reddit | LinkedIn