Who Put the Bomp (in the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)

"Who Put the Bomp (In the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)" is a Doo-wop style hit song from 1961 co-written (with Gerry Goffin) and recorded by Barry Mann. He was backed up by The Halos, who had previously backed up Curtis Lee on the song "Pretty Little Angel Eyes". The song was originally released as a single on the ABC-Paramount label (10237).

In this song, Mann sings about the frequent use of nonsense lyrics in Doo-Wop music, and how his girl fell in love with him after listening to several such songs.

Examples of the type of song referred to include the Marcels' version of "Blue Moon" (in which they sing "Bomp bomp ba bomp, ba bomp ba bomp bomp" and "dip-de-dip-de-dip") and the Edsels' "Rama-Lama-Ding-Dong", both of which charted earlier the same year. The spoken part is a reference to the song "Little Darlin'" by The Diamonds.

The song inspired the title of a music magazine, called "Who Put the Bomp".

The song fits into the category of "self-referential" songs. Rock songs are often about rock, reggae songs about reggae, rap songs about rap, etc. In this particular song that aspect is accentuated by the fact that Mann is a songwriter singing about songwriters.

It is also an ironic, lightly self-mocking song, a frequent phenomenon in popular music, M's "Pop Muzik" being another example.

Chart performance

The single debuted on Billboard's Hot 100 on August 7, 1961, and remained for twelve weeks, peaking at # 7. Mann's version did not chart in the UK, though a cover version by the Viscounts reached # 21 there in September, 1961, and another version by Showaddywaddy charted at # 37 in August, 1982.

In popular culture

The song has been covered by:

• Jan and Dean (who claim "We put the bomp...")
• The Viscounts (on the album Who Put the Bomp—The Pye Anthology)
• Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (on the album Blow in the Wind)
• Showaddywaddy
• Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers with response song "I Put The Bomp" in which Lymon was the man "who put the bomp."
• Sharon, Lois & Bram on their 1995 album Let's Dance!
• The Heebee-jeebees (on their live album Surgical Strike)
• The Real Group (on their album Debut)
• Le Tigre (on their self-titled album Le Tigre with Deceptacon as title)
• The Wurzels

The song was parodied by Bob Rivers as "Who Put the Stump?", involving, from the perspective of an angel on top of a Christmas tree, the tree being inserted up the angel's rectum. The lyrics include "Who put the stump in my rump ba-bump ba-bump".

Bentley Rhythm Ace had a track called "Who Put the Bom in the Bom Bom Diddleye Bom" on their debut album.

The song "We Go Together" in the Broadway musical and subsequent film Grease includes a similar mix of nonsensical lyrics. The versions of "We Go Together" on the 1993 London cast recording and movie soundtrack include a bit of "Who Put the Bomp" sung in counterpoint at the end.

A parody titled "Who put the Bomb in Tehran, Tehran, Tehran" was produced by political satirists Capitol Steps and included in their book Sixteen Scandals and the accompanying CD. An earlier parody, "Who'll Put a Bomb on Saddam Saddam Saddam" was introduced in the Capitol Steps' 1990 album, Sheik, Rattle and Roll.