Sam The Sham And The Pharaohs - Wooly Bully b/w Li’l Red Riding Hood, 1965, Polydor Records, Band Of Gold Series

Watch it now, here it comes!!! An all time favorite, “Wooly Bully” is a song that was initially a tribute to the “Hully Gully” dance. However, due to fear of legality (another song with similar title), Domingo “Sam The Sham” Samudio rewrote the lyrics, changing the name to “Wooly Bully.” Sam says, “The name of my cat was ‘Wooly Bully’, so I started from there.“ 

Basically, “Wooly Bully” is a song about two people, Matty and Hatty, talking about how they want to learn how to dance. Somehow a bull or bison (or a cat for this matter), who apparently is very wooly, is involved.

Uno, dos, one, two, tres, quatro

Matty told Hatty about a thing she saw 
Had two big horns and a wooly jaw
Wooly bully, wooly bully
Wooly bully, wooly bully, wooly bully

Hatty told Matty, Let’s don’t take no chance
Let’s not be L7, come and learn to dance
Wooly bully, wooly bully 
Wooly bully, wooly bully, wooly bully  

Matty told Hatty, That’s the thing to do 
Get you someone really to pull the wool with you 
Wooly bully, wooly bully 
Wooly bully, wooly bully, wooly bully

Interesting facts:

1) This recording was the first take of three. 

2) The ‘Tex-Mex’ count down, and most of the lyrics (Here it come! Watch it! He get ya!), are Sam The Sham riffing.

3) “Wooly Bully” was the first American record to sell a million copies during the “British Invasion.”

Listen