Released June 1986 Recorded 1985 | Format 7" Single, 12" Single Genre Pop | |
Length 3:31 (7" mix)
3:58 (12" mix) Label Hansa Records (FRG)
Carrere (UK) | ||
"Bang Bang Lulu" is a traditional American song with many variations. It derives from older songs most commonly known as "Bang Bang Rosie" in Ireland, "Bang Away Lulu" in Appalachia, and "My Lula Gal" in the West. The form "Bang Bang Lulu" became widespread in the United States from its use as a cadence during the World Wars. The song uses the tune of "Goodnight, Ladies".
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Traditional song
All versions concern a woman and her various lovers. The early forms were sometimes very directly crude, violent, or infanticidal. Published versions probably drastically understate the song's popularity, particularly since the first mentions allude to 78 or 900 additional verses unfit for printing. Robert Gordon, the first head of the Library of Congress's Archive of American Folk Song, included his variants of Lulu among the "Inferno" section which was excluded from the library's general collection for its "bawdy and scatological subject matter".
One verse appeared in Owen Wister's 1902 novel The Virginian:
If you go to monkey with my Looloo girl, I'll tell you what I'll do: I'll cyarve out your heart with my razor, AND I'll shoot you with my pistol, too—Nine appeared in Carl Sandburg's 1927 American Songbag among its "Railroad and Work Gangs" songs, including Wister's and:
Sandburg credited many of the verses he knew as derived from the 17th-century Scotch song "Way Up on Clinch Mountain", now usually known as "Rye Whiskey".
Roy Acuff and his Crazy Tennesseans recorded "When Lulu's Gone" under the pseudonym of the Bang Boys in 1936. Another version—"Lulu"—was recorded by Oscar Brand on his 1958 Old Time Bawdy Sea Shanties. Verses from this song also developed into "Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms", recorded by Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs and many others after them.
Military cadences
Most military cadences suggested explicit rhymes but skipped back to the chorus rather than complete them:
Ska
A Calypso version of the military cadences was recorded by The Merrymen on their 1967 album Sing And Swing With The Merrymen. From there, the song was recorded by early Ska musicians like Lloyd Charmers in the 1970s and then later covered by various pop artists including Goombay Dance Band and Boney M.
Bang Bang Lulu were also a Ska and Soul revival band in the UK. They formed in 2005 and released the album Ska Wars.
Boney M.
"Bang Bang Lulu" was a 1986 single by the German band Boney M. It was taken from their final album, the 1985 Eye Dance. The single failed to chart, and the group—having disbanded after their 10th anniversary—didn't promote it. It was originally intended for Liz Mitchell to sing, but she found the lyrics vulgar and refused to do it. Instead, Reggie Tsiboe did the lead vocals, backed by session singers Amy & Elaine Goff.