Writing songs with hooks that are just sounds, without literal meaning, is a special talent, one I greatly admire. These songs have always been, and I suspect will always be, part of the great tradition of popular song.
Since I believe that songs are ultimately all sound anyway, there’s something about (when it works) leaving the content and meaning behind and getting down to music’s most basic, primitive appeal – rhythm, melody, sound… feeling.
When asked about writing ‘De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da’ for The Police, Sting said it well. “I was intrigued with why songs like that worked. Why ‘Da Do Ron Ron’, why ‘Doo Wah Diddy’, why ‘Be-Bop-A-Lula’, why ‘Tutti Frutti’ worked. I came up with the idea that they worked because they were totally innocent. They weren’t trying to tell you anything or distort your vision – it was just a sound.”
What got me going on this was hearing the immortal classic from the late 1950s, ‘Don’t You Just Know It’ by Huey ‘Piano’ Smith and the Clowns (play below). It’s complete nonsense and completely great. Not only does it have a great New Orleans Rock n Roll groove, check out these lyrics (not that you can really understand most of the the Verses when sung anyway):
I can’t lose with the stuff I use
(Don’t you just know it?)
Baby, don’t believe I wear two left shoes
(Don’t you just know it?)
Ah-ha-ha-ha (ah-ha-ha-ha)
Ay-ay-oh (ay-ay-oh)
Gooba-gooba-gooba-gooba (gooba-gooba-gooba-gooba)
Ah-ha-ha-ha (ah-ha-ha-ha)
Ah-ha-ha-ha (ah-ha-ha-ha)
Ay-ay-oh (ay-ay-oh)
Hey pretty baby, can we go strollin’?
(Don’t you just know it?)
You got me rockin’ when I oughta be rollin’
(Don’t you just know it?)
Ah-ha-ha-ha (ah-ha-ha-ha)
Ay-ay-oh (ay-ay-oh)
Gooba-gooba-gooba-gooba (gooba-gooba-gooba-gooba)
Ah-ha-ha-ha (ah-ha-ha-ha)
Ah-ha-ha-ha (ah-ha-ha-ha)
Ay-ay-oh (ay-ay-oh)
Baby, baby, you’re my blue heaven
(Don’t you just know it?)
You got me pushin’ when I oughta be shovin’
(Don’t you just know it?)
Kind of says it all, know what I mean?
Paul McCartney wrote ‘Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da’ because he had a friend who “had a few expressions, one of which was ‘Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da, life goes on, bra’. I used to love this expression.” So, naturally, Sir Paul used it in a song.
There are many songs that come into being like this. There are always phrases around us that are fun, meaningless, racy, stupid… Or, like in ‘Da Doo Run Run’ or ‘Sussudio’, meaningless phrases that start as dummy lyrics and never get replaced because they feel right. Anything with a catchy sound can become a song.
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