# Wooly Bully
"Wooly Bully" is a 1964 novelty rock and roll song recorded by the Texas band [Sam the Sham](https://www.edgepedia.org/sam-the-sham) and the Pharaohs and written by the band's frontman, Domingo "Sam" Samudio (born in Dallas in 1937). Built on a standard 12-bar blues progression and mixed with Mexican-American conjunto (Tex-Mex folk music style with accordion) rhythms, it became the band's first and biggest hit, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1965 and ending the year as Billboard's number-one song despite never topping the weekly chart[1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVDztdYhoeA) • [2](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/sam-the-sham-and-the-pharaohs).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Written by | Domingo "Sam" Samudio, frontman of Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs[2](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/sam-the-sham-and-the-pharaohs) |
| Recorded | 1964 at Sam C. Phillips Recording Studio, 639 Madison Avenue, Memphis; the only recording made at the studio to achieve national success[1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVDztdYhoeA) |
| Release | Small Memphis-based XL label (#906) in 1964; picked up by MGM in 1965[1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVDztdYhoeA) |
| Peak position | No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 (June 5–12, 1965), behind The Beach Boys' "Help Me, Rhonda" and The Supremes' "Back in My Arms Again"[1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVDztdYhoeA) |
| Year-end standing | Billboard's number-one song of 1965 despite never reaching No. 1 on a weekly Hot 100[1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVDztdYhoeA) |
| Sales | Approximately three million copies, including one million in Europe; RIAA gold certification on August 5, 1965[2](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/sam-the-sham-and-the-pharaohs) • [1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVDztdYhoeA) |
| Honors | Grammy Award nomination (1966, Best Contemporary R&R Performance, Group); Grammy Hall of Fame induction in 2009[3](https://www.grammy.com/artists/sam-sham-and-pharoahs/7843/) • [4](https://www.grammy.com/awards/hall-of-fame-award/) |
## Origin and recording
Samudio, who performed in a turban and robe and drove a 1952 Packard hearse, based the song on "Hully Gully Now", a 1962 recording by Big Bo and The Arrows written by Big Bo and Little Smitty; only the original refrain was kept[5](https://americansongwriter.com/behind-the-song-wooly-bully-by-sam-the-sham-the-pharoahs/) • [6](https://www.histoiredeschansons.com/sam-the-sham-and-the-pharaons-wooly-bully/). Samudio said he replaced the rhyming title "Hully Gully" with the name of his cat: "The name of my cat was 'Wooly Bully', so I started from there"[5](https://americansongwriter.com/behind-the-song-wooly-bully-by-sam-the-sham-the-pharoahs/). In the lyrics, a conversation takes place in which Mattie tells Hattie about a thing she saw, something with two big horns and a wooly jaw[7](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/363761146_Do_you_know_the_Wooly_Bully_Testing_era-based_knowledge_to_verify_participant_age_online).
The band, which had failed the year before with its recording of "Haunted House" for Dingo Records, entered the [Sam Phillips](https://www.edgepedia.org/sam-phillips) studio in Memphis in the summer of 1964[2](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/sam-the-sham-and-the-pharaohs) • [8](https://memphismusichalloffame.com/inductee/samtheshamsamudio/). Samudio later described the session: the song was done in three takes, and all three were different, with the lyrics made up as the band went along on a three-track machine where everything had to be played at the same time[9](https://www.classicbands.com/SamTheShamInterview.html). According to one band history, there were three takes with three completely different sets of lyrics, and producer Stan Kesler kept the third[10](https://nostalgiacentral.com/music/artists-l-to-z/artists-s/sam-sham-pharaohs/).
The record first appeared on the small Memphis-based XL label in 1964 and was picked up by MGM in 1965; MGM leased it and bought the group out of their independent contract with Memphis-based Pen Records[1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVDztdYhoeA) • [11](https://encyclopedia-loadbalancer-1-1782916326.us-west-2.elb.amazonaws.com/arts/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/sam-sham-pharaohs).
## Chart performance
"Wooly Bully" peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, with sources dating the peak weeks as June 5–12, 1965, while the Handbook of Texas places its ascent to No. 2 in May 1965[1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVDztdYhoeA) • [2](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/sam-the-sham-and-the-pharaohs). It reached No. 31 on the Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart and No. 2 on the Canadian CHUM Charts[1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVDztdYhoeA). In Britain it was the No. 11 hit, where it was a bestselling single for fifteen weeks[2](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/sam-the-sham-and-the-pharaohs). In [West Germany](https://www.edgepedia.org/west-germany) it topped the singles chart for three weeks in October 1965[12](https://tsort.info/music/scua59.htm) • [13](https://www.rebeatmag.com/it-was-50-years-ago-today-wooly-bully-by-sam-the-sham-the-pharaohs/).
**Chart staying power.** The song spent 18 weeks on the Hot 100, the longest time for any song in 1965; the Handbook of Texas gives fourteen weeks on [Billboard](https://www.edgepedia.org/billboard-magazine)[1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVDztdYhoeA) • [2](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/sam-the-sham-and-the-pharaohs). That sustained performance, rather than a single peak week, put the song at No. 1 on Billboard's year-end Hot 100 ranking for 1965, even though 25 different songs topped the weekly chart that year[1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVDztdYhoeA) • [14](https://nutanica.com/Popular_Music_1965). The same feat, a year-end No. 1 that peaked at No. 2 weekly, was later achieved by [Faith Hill](https://www.edgepedia.org/faith-hill)'s "Breathe" in 2000, Lifehouse's "Hanging by a Moment" in 2001, and [Dua Lipa](https://www.edgepedia.org/dua-lipa)'s "Levitating" in 2021[1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVDztdYhoeA).
Sales reached approximately three million copies, about one million of them in Europe, and the single was certified gold by the RIAA on August 5, 1965[2](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/sam-the-sham-and-the-pharaohs) • [1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVDztdYhoeA). It was the first American record to sell a million copies during the [British Invasion](https://www.edgepedia.org/british-invasion)[1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVDztdYhoeA).
## Sound and style
AllMusic's review describes a deliberately rough performance: Samudio counts off the tune "one, two, three, four" in a mix of English and Spanish, and an organ-sax-guitar combo lays down a wobbly three-chord R&B rhythm behind his foggy vocals and inscrutable improvised-sounding lyrics, with "let's not be L7" the most famous of them[15](https://www.allmusic.com/song/wooly-bully-mt0059738347). The song is placed in the company of [The Kingsmen](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-kingsmen)'s "Louie Louie" among mid-1960s American garage rock classics; one retrospective calls it rawer still, with a one-chord verse, a two-word chorus, and a 15-bar structure[15](https://www.allmusic.com/song/wooly-bully-mt0059738347) • [13](https://www.rebeatmag.com/it-was-50-years-ago-today-wooly-bully-by-sam-the-sham-the-pharaohs/).
The Handbook of Texas characterizes it as "a thudding beat number with a tongue-twisting chorus and nonsense lyrics", and the band's Tex-Mex rhythms set it apart from the British acts dominating the American pop charts in early summer 1965[2](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/sam-the-sham-and-the-pharaohs).
## Afterlife
The band followed the single with minor hits including "Ju Ju Hand" and "Ring Dang Doo", and returned to the Hot 100 [Top 40](https://www.edgepedia.org/top-40) in January 1967 with "Oh That's Good, No That's Bad"; "Lil' Red Riding Hood" also reached No. 2 in 1966[8](https://memphismusichalloffame.com/inductee/samtheshamsamudio/) • [16](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-09-08-ca-2713-story.html). The Recording Academy nominated "Wooly Bully" for the 1966 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary (R&R) [Performance](https://www.edgepedia.org/performance), Group (Vocal or [Instrumental](https://www.edgepedia.org/instrumental)), and in 2009 inducted the 1965 MGM release into the Grammy Hall of Fame[3](https://www.grammy.com/artists/sam-sham-and-pharoahs/7843/) • [4](https://www.grammy.com/awards/hall-of-fame-award/).
**Covers.** The song has been periodically covered since 1965 by acts ranging from [Los Lobos](https://www.edgepedia.org/los-lobos) and [Bad Manners](https://www.edgepedia.org/bad-manners) to [Freddy Fender](https://www.edgepedia.org/freddy-fender) and Joan Jett; Bruce Springsteen has performed it more than sixteen times with the E Street Band[15](https://www.allmusic.com/song/wooly-bully-mt0059738347) • [5](https://americansongwriter.com/behind-the-song-wooly-bully-by-sam-the-sham-the-pharoahs/). It also appears frequently in film; Samudio reported in 1991 that the song had been used in eight movies in recent years[16](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-09-08-ca-2713-story.html).
The song's cultural reach extends into research methods: a 2022 study in *Behavior Research Methods* titled "Do you know the Wooly Bully?" used era-based knowledge questions, drawing on cultural touchstones such as the song, to verify the self-reported ages of online survey participants, with self-reported age correlating strongly (mean r = .8) with instrument performance across six studies[7](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/363761146_Do_you_know_the_Wooly_Bully_Testing_era-based_knowledge_to_verify_participant_age_online).
## References
1. [WOOLY BULLY – Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs {Stereo} 1965, YouTube (Smurfstools Oldies Music Time Machine)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVDztdYhoeA)
2. [Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, Handbook of Texas Online (Teresa Palomo Acosta)](https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/sam-the-sham-and-the-pharaohs)
3. [Sam The Sham And The Pharoahs Grammy Awards and Nominations, Recording Academy](https://www.grammy.com/artists/sam-sham-and-pharoahs/7843/)
4. [Grammy Hall of Fame Award, Recording Academy](https://www.grammy.com/awards/hall-of-fame-award/)
5. [Behind the Song: "Wooly Bully" by Sam The Sham & The Pharoahs, American Songwriter](https://americansongwriter.com/behind-the-song-wooly-bully-by-sam-the-sham-the-pharoahs/)
6. [Sam the Sham and the Pharaons – Wooly Bully : histoire de la chanson](https://www.histoiredeschansons.com/sam-the-sham-and-the-pharaons-wooly-bully/)
7. [Hartman, Moss, Rabinowitz, et al. (2022). Do you know the Wooly Bully? Testing era-based knowledge to verify participant age online. Behavior Research Methods.](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/363761146_Do_you_know_the_Wooly_Bully_Testing_era-based_knowledge_to_verify_participant_age_online)
8. [Sam "The Sham" Samudio, Memphis Music Hall of Fame](https://memphismusichalloffame.com/inductee/samtheshamsamudio/)
9. [Gary James' Interview With Sam The Sham, Classic Bands](https://www.classicbands.com/SamTheShamInterview.html)
10. [Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, Nostalgia Central](https://nostalgiacentral.com/music/artists-l-to-z/artists-s/sam-sham-pharaohs/)
11. [Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs, Encyclopedia.com](https://encyclopedia-loadbalancer-1-1782916326.us-west-2.elb.amazonaws.com/arts/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/sam-sham-pharaohs)
12. [Song title 704 – Wooly Bully, tsort.info](https://tsort.info/music/scua59.htm)
13. [It Was 50 Years Ago Today: "Wooly Bully" by Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs, REBEAT Magazine](https://www.rebeatmag.com/it-was-50-years-ago-today-wooly-bully-by-sam-the-sham-the-pharaohs/)
14. [Popular Music 1965, Nutanica](https://nutanica.com/Popular_Music_1965)
15. [Wooly Bully – Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs, AllMusic (Richie Unterberger)](https://www.allmusic.com/song/wooly-bully-mt0059738347)
16. [Look Who We Found: SAM the SHAM, Los Angeles Times (1991)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-09-08-ca-2713-story.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Compositions and songs › Pop, rock, and metal songs › Doo-wop and early rock and roll songs*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license