Everyone who was alive in the 60’s has heard Wooly Bully by Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs. They also did a memorable song in 1966 called Little Red Riding Hood, one of my personal favorites.
They were the Tex-Mex band of the 1960s following up where Ritchie Valens left off. Sam The Sham And The Pharaohs began in Dallas, Texas where Domingo “Sam” Samudio was born and raised. (Rumor has it that he’s working the supply boat to the oil rigs gig in the Gulf of Mexico and doesn’t want to be part of the music world any more.) Wooly Bully was so big that it kept Mr. Tambourine Man by The Byrds out of 1st place on the charts in 1965.
And it was easy to play and a crowd pleaser. It started out with, “Uno, Dos, Tres, Quattro!” The portable organ (probably a Vox Continental) played cheesy-sounding chords in 8th notes and the hardest part of the tune was the bass which holds the song together
But it was his car that intrigues me. In the mid-60’s super-heroes, and the not so super-heroes, had great cars: Herman Munster, James Bond, Batman. So it stands to reason that a band should have a special car too. In fact before George Barris (Munster cars, Batmobile) built the Monkee-mobile Sam the Sham had his hearse, hauling his equipment around in a 1952 Packard hearse complete with maroon velvet curtains. (Yes, that’s right, he had a hearse. And I think this is where Neil Young got his inspiration to have his own hearse, Mortimer.)
The lyrics of Wooly Bully were hard to understand, and some radio stations banned it. The song was originally called “Hully Gully.” When told by the record company that they couldn’t use that phrase, Sam changed the words to the name of his cat - Wooly Bully. It became the first American record to sell a million copies during the onslaught of the British Invasion, and was nominated for a Grammy Award.
Despite the rumors of an oil boat Sam is still involved in music. He received critical acclaim for his work with Ry Cooder on the soundtrack for the film The Border. Today he writes poetry, music, and makes occasional live appearances.