Origins: Here we go Looby Loo

Subject: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: GUEST,Deborah Hooper
Date: 06 Feb 03 - 06:51 AM

Does any one know the origins and history of this song? Is it American, or did it come to the US from the UK? When was it first sung in the US?

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: Trevor
Date: 06 Feb 03 - 08:16 AM

You mean Andy Pandy may not have been the first?!

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: charlie mudslinger
Date: 06 Feb 03 - 10:36 AM

are we talking here we go loop de loop if so see below

Chris

Shake a Tail Feather
Written by - Verlie Rice, Otis Hayes & Andre Williams
Well I heard about the girl
You've been dancing with
All over the neighborhood
Tell me why didn't you ask me baby?
Or didn't you think I could?

Well I know that your partner will never step aside
I've seen you do the Jerk all night
Why didn't you ask me baby?
I would have shown you how to do it right
Do it right, do it right, do it right
Do it right, do it right, do it right, do it right

Ahhhh! Twist it
Shake it, shake it, shake it baby
Here we go loop de loop
Shake it up baby
Here we go loop de la
Bend over and let me see you shake a tail feather
Bend over and let me see you shake a tail feather
Bend over and let me see you shake a tail feather
Bend over and let me see you shake a tail feather
Well, you bend over and let me see you shake a tail feather
Well, you bend over and let me see you shake a tail feather
All right

Repeat

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: Declan
Date: 06 Feb 03 - 10:52 AM

I knew we'd had this one before.

A previous thread here

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Feb 03 - 11:40 AM

Thanks for all of this. In fact, I am trying to establish the origins of the song BEFORE it was used in Andy Pandy. It is certainly known in the US (is listed in various places as a traditional folk song) but I wondered if it had come to the UK from there, or vice versa. All ideas welcomed!

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 06 Feb 03 - 11:55 AM

The final message in the previous thread was from Bruce Olson, and contained information which you will want to follow up.

There is also a Scottish text (published 1847) in the DT, with useful notes:

HINKUMBOOBY

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: masato sakurai
Date: 06 Feb 03 - 09:16 PM

Origins seem to be complicated. See the Opies' The Singing Game (Oxford, 1985, pp. 391-398, s.v. Okey Kokey).

~Masato

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: GUEST,Deborah
Date: 07 Feb 03 - 08:14 AM

Thanks to you both, Malcolm and Masato, for pointing me in the right direction. Have ordered the Opie book from Amazon...

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: Shonagh
Date: 07 Feb 03 - 03:47 PM

I always sang here we go loopy lou....
Lou must have seemed crazy to me somehow!

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: Sorcha
Date: 07 Feb 03 - 05:16 PM

This is not "Here we go looby lou, here we go looby, (something somehting) all on a Saturday night"?

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 07 Feb 03 - 06:46 PM

That's the one.

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: Chip2447
Date: 08 Feb 03 - 08:40 AM

We always sang it as the chorus to the hokey pokey, I.E.;

You ut you left foot in,
you take your left foot out.
You put you left foot in
and you shake it all about.
You do the hokey pokey,
and you turn yourself around.
thats what its all about.

Here we go loopty loo,
here we go loopty lye.
here wr go loopty loooooo.
All on a saturday night.

Chip2447

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: vindelis
Date: 08 Feb 03 - 10:38 AM

EH? You must use a different tune for the Hokey Cokey Verse. The tune I know to Looby Lou has a diffent tempo to that of the tune for the Hokey Cokey, and the two would not 'gel'. But that is what evolution in folk music is all about.

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: DMcG
Date: 08 Feb 03 - 10:52 AM

I have a version of this on a 45rpm sung in pop fashion by Frankie Vaughan. It is ... well .... different

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: GUEST,Meadowmuskrat
Date: 28 Jan 10 - 03:39 PM

I think it was a hit song recorded by Johnny Thunder some time in the 50's or early 60's. I saw him perform it at the late lamented Champagne Towers in Lodi NJ where I worked parking cars when in High school. About 1966.

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 28 Jan 10 - 11:39 PM

The words of the Hokey Cokey are generally ascribed to the great lyricist Jimmy Kennedy [1902-1984], who wrote words of such all-time greats as Red Sails in the Sunset, South of the Border, Hang Out the Washing on the Siegfried Line, Teddy Bears Picnic, & dozens more [see Wiki].

But in case of Hokey Cokey, less original than usual, as they are pretty well identical to verses of subject of this thread. Whether orig UK or US I offer no opinions; but can definitely take it right back to my pre-WWii London childhood. We would often do it as a round dance at Woodstock School, Golders Green, N London, which I attended aged 5-7, 1937-39. Standing in a circle holding hands, we would progress in & out line-by-line singing the chorus

Here we go Looby-Loo
Here we go Looby-Light
Here we go Looby-Loo
Upon a Saturday night.

Then, breaking hold with appropriate actions

You put your right hand in
You put your right hand out
You put your right hand in
And shake it all about

Rejoin hands for chorus, & then etc.

I am absolutely confident of accuracy of these recollections and the dates I have given.

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: GUEST
Date: 31 Mar 10 - 03:41 PM

loubylu sounds like Я люблю (I love) Yaa lyoo-beel-you. I think it is therefore a Russian song.

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 31 Mar 10 - 05:00 PM

Can't find references off hand but the line of descent is I think The Continent(probably France)to Britain and then to America.

Jimmy Kennedy did indeed crystallise the version of the Hokey Cokey now widely used. I have the original sheet music, but I believe it was already in use in Canada before the war. As it is so different to Lubin Lou in metre and tune it could have developed from another continental strain of Lubin Lou, in which case probably a French variant.

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: EBarnacle
Date: 31 Mar 10 - 05:26 PM

I recall it as a playground game. We sang it as Loopdy Lou, etc. Don't have any recall of seeing in on TV in my formative years.

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: GUEST,John J
Date: 01 Apr 10 - 11:37 AM

That's because you're so young!

I remember it from the late 1950s - early 1960s.

JJ

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: EBarnacle
Date: 01 Apr 10 - 12:20 PM

I learnt it in the early 50's on the streets of Hoboken.

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 07 Aug 11 - 01:35 AM

"Late 50s - early 60s"; "Hoboken early 50s" ~~ my recollections above, 28 Jan 10, take Looby Loo back to late 1930s Golders Green, N London, well before either Frankie Vaughan [DMcG, 8 Feb 03] or Andy Pandy {whose girlfriend, I take it, was named from his scriptwriter's recollection of the song}. Neither this thread nor the one linked above by Declan, 6 Feb 03, goes back further than that. {The related, in actions tho not tune, Hokey Cokey, goes only back in popularity to Kennedy's 1940s reworking, tho Wiki article "Hokey Cokey" relates its origins to a Shaker song of the 1850s & says Kennedy got the idea from some Canadian servicemen.}

Can anyone take a personal recollection of Looby Loo any further back than mine?

~Michael~

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Nov 11 - 03:29 PM

I grew up in the north of england in the 60's and I recall the phrase 'youre going loopy' meant you're going crazy. I think it's play on the french word for wolf (Loup)and Loupe de garou (sp?) meant a werewolf. I was always told to be careful of 'loopy people' especially near a full moon. BUT the actions of the song are similar to Hokey Pokey AND I believe both of them are talking about 'St Vitus Dance' or what we today know as Parkinson Disease. My Grandad told me that HIS mother had said the song couldve started after soldiers affected by mustard gas in WWI couldnt control their limbs and they would shake.

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: Paul Davenport
Date: 15 Nov 11 - 12:11 PM

Any connection to 'Saturday Night' as sung by Celia Costello? The tune and rhythms are similar and of course the 'Saturday Night' line. Just a thought.

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 15 Nov 11 - 12:35 PM

Acc to Partridge's Slang Dictionary, "loopy" for mildly mad derives from "looby", meaning an idiot since C14. I cannot feel that the game derives from such an association: particularly not a connection to loup-garou; and I find the suggestion that St Vitus Dance or mustard gas would have had an influence an example of that determination to find a rational irrationality to explain every folkloric manifestation [cf Ring-a-Roses and the Plague!] ~~ an example of the phenomenon the late Peter Opie once described to me in an interview as a determination to create "folklore about folklore".

~M~

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: GUEST,Caroline
Date: 24 Feb 14 - 05:05 PM

Apparently first printed in Halliwell's 'Popular Music of England', 1898. I haven't checked this source.

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 24 Feb 14 - 06:56 PM

This seems to go round and round, two threads. There are many variations, including the 'Hokey Pokey' variations.

It first appeared in Popular Rhymes, J. O. Halliwell, 1849, p. 129.
"Now we dance looby, looby, looby,
Now we dance looby, looby, light.
Shake your right hand a little,
And turn you round about."

Quoting from the Opies, pp. 396-398, "the actions accumulate until the last verse, the dancers shake their right hands, left hands, right feet, left feet, and heads."
Manchester, 1870-
Here we dance Lubin, Lubin,
Here we dance Lubin light,
etc.

From Boston, c. 1820-
Put your right elbow in,
Put your right elbow out,
Shake yourselves a little,
And turn yourselves about;
followed by left elbow, ears and feet.

In Cincinnati, 1908-
Let us dance, Luby, Luby,
Let us dance Luby light,
Let us dance Luby, Luby,
All on a Saturday (or whatever) night.

"A 'looby' is a clumsy, stupid fellow; Lubin is a generic name for a country bumpkin."

Iona and Peter Opie, 1985, "The Singing Game," Oxford University Press.

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 24 Feb 14 - 07:12 PM

More from the Opies, p. 394-

"It would seem likely, for the dance was known at least as early as 1745, when it was used as the basis for a political song "In and Out and Turn About: A new C-----t Dance. To the tune of John Bob'd In and John Bob'd Out, or...."
The song sheet is headed One TOOL In, The Other TOOL Out, And so they DANCE LOOBY round about.
he 11th verse...
Mhe Pl-m-s cut clean
(B---h danc'd so high,
He soon tumbl'd down,
With one Foor In,
And the other Foot out,
But yet he hops
Looby round about &c.

In France the song is "La Mistenlaire...
Also in Germany, etc.

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 25 Feb 14 - 04:09 AM

As I remembered as a child Looby Loo could only come out to dance to Here we go Looby Loo in secret when Andy Pandy and Teddy were elsewhere. Other than that I recall that she had to stay silent! I was only 4 at the time but it is surprising how damaging that was to a small girl. That is the reason why I enjoyed having a crafty listen to Frankie Vaughan's version which was around about the same time.

Subject: Looby Loo from loup garou? (re replies 14/1)
From: GUEST,Annemieke
Date: 28 May 17 - 03:55 AM

I am not interested in folksongs, nor in their history. I only looked at this forum because I had to play Looby Loo on my accordion and, having heard the song before, wondered where it came from.
Now I am Dutch, and as such more versed in strange countries like France than you Brits. And I have always associated Looby Loo with the French 'loup' and 'loup garou'. So in my feelings the connection is not so far fetched, MGM-Lion!

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 28 May 17 - 10:25 AM

You perhaps ought to read the rest of the thread, Annemieke, particularly Q's posts.

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 28 May 17 - 01:37 PM

The scripts and music for the Andy Pandy series were credited to Freda Lingstrom and Maria Bird respectively. They also were instrumental inthe setting up of children's television through a production company Westerham Arts, based at Chartwell Cottage, now a National Trust property. I visit to Chartwell might reveal some references to the version used in the show.

Subject: ADDPOP: Loop de Loop
From: Joe Offer
Date: 29 May 17 - 02:32 AM

I'm not sure I feel good hearing this song referred to as a children's song. This was a seminal song in my young adulthood. I suppose I heard it most often in the 1963 recording called "Loop de Loop" by Johnny Thunder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mTX2om49EE. It was also recorded by Frankie Vaughan in 1963.

LOOP DE LOOP
(Freddie Hart & Ann Lucas)
[Frankie Vaughan version]

Are you ready? (yea, yeah)
Well, let's go! (yea, yeah)
Woo

Here we go loop de loop
A-here we go loop de lie
A-here we go loop de loop
On (yea, yeah) a Saturday night (loop de loop, loop de loop)

Oh, we're havin' a party (yea, yeah)
Everybody's havin' a great, great time (yea, yeah)
All the gang's here and a-dancin', yeah
I'm a-loopin' with a baby of mine

Hear me now!

Here we go loop de loop
A-here we go loop de lie
Here we go loop de loop
On (yea, yeah) a Saturday night (loop de loop, loop de loop)

Darlin', are you ready (yea, yeah)
To loop, a loop, a loop with me? (yea, yeah)
Start right there!
Just wait a minute until I count to three: "1-2-3"

(Here we go loop de loop) Loop de loop de loop
(Here we go loop loop de lie) Loop, loop, loop de lie
(Here we go loop de loop)
Yeah, on a Saturday night

Now, let's hear the girls.

(Here we go loop de loop) Loop de loop de loop
(Here we go loop loop de lie) Loop, loop, loop de lie
(Here we go loop de loop)
Yeah, on a Saturday night

Now, the fellas. Come on, boys!

(Here we go loop de loop) Loop de loop de loop
(Here we go loop, loop de lie) Loop, loop, loop de lie
(Here we go loop de loop)
Yeah, on a Saturday night (yea, yeah)

One more time, now!
(Here we go loop de loop) Yeah.
(Here we go loop de lie) Yeah.
(Here we go loop de loop) M-mm.

On (yea, yeah) a Saturday night (yea, yeah)
On (yea, yeah) a Saturday night (yea, yeah)
On (yea, yeah) a Saturday night (loop de loop, loop de loop, loop de loop, loop de loop)
Yea, yeah.

Source: http://www.song-database.com/song.php?sid=43500

Frankie Vaughan recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJL7FJtozm4

Harry Nilsson Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuDiYXuYveE

And a Hokey-Pokey children's version: https://vimeo.com/79305666

And since this is a folk music forum, here's Pete Seeger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXvVmyOHAFE

I still like Johnny Thunder best.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: here we go loopy loo
From: BobL
Date: 29 May 17 - 03:22 AM

Stirred up from the sluggish pits of my memory comes a recollection of an instrumental recording under the title "Sally the Satellite", presumably released in 1958 or thereabouts. Must be the Ron Goodwin version.

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: Annemieke
Date: 30 May 17 - 03:07 PM

Re my stubborn insistence that Looby Loo is connected with a French werewolf: I found a link, deeply hidden the recesses of a well-known search engine: www.collagemama.com/2008/02/werewolf-bath-maneuvers.html?m=1
Good enough for me ....

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: Joe Offer
Date: 30 May 17 - 09:45 PM

I dunno, Annemieke, I still think it has to do with taking a bath on a Saturday night. Remember when baths were once a week, whether you needed one or not? And all five Offer siblings used the same tub of water. I tried to get in first, because I suspected my brother of peeing....
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: Annemieke
Date: 12 Jun 17 - 04:24 AM

Pee is good for your skin. xA

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 12 Jun 17 - 03:05 PM

Hardly an authoritative source, Annemieke.

Check out your own country's 'De Zevensprong' which is the Dutch version. It is well-known in France, Germany and Holland as well as English-speaking countries. The Opies (The Singing Game) trace British versions at least as far back as 1745, and conjecture it is much older. In their lengthy authoritative article p391-8 they make no mention of werewolves.

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Dec 20 - 06:56 PM

I agree with Stve Gardham, only I played it as a party game. It's almost as if the Hokey Pokey and Loobdy Loo are combined. The fact that I heard Odetta sing it and combine it with Rock Island Line makes me wonder if it were ever an American Folk song of some sort.

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: Mo the caller
Date: 12 Dec 20 - 09:12 AM

And there's even a version of the game to the tune Lily Bolero. http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/folk-song-lyrics/Hinkumbooby.htm

I remember Looby Loo from my 50s London childhood, but I don't think it was a spontaneous playground game

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 12 Dec 20 - 02:44 PM

'playground game' More of a party game than a playground game, but traditional ne'ertheless. There must surely be American versions, it was so widespread, and the Hokey Cokey variant came from Canada.

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 12 Dec 20 - 03:18 PM

For what it's worth I heard it from the farming family that we were living with when we were evacuated to Norfolk close to the border with Suffolk in the 1940s. They used to sing it at week-end parties in the Parish Hall at Brome Street and at Mellish.

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Dec 20 - 03:37 PM

' HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

“Here We Go Looby Loo” is a singing game which first appeared in print in 1898 Halliwell’s
Popular Rhymes of England. A similar version of the game, called “Lubin,” was played in Scotland
and Ireland. The game became popular in America and has evolved into another game with the
same actions called “The Hokey Pokey.” It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 5032. '

from

http://www.musicexpressmagazine.com/bin/FolkSongPartnersMA.pdf

Subject: RE: Origins: Here we go Looby Loo
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 12 Dec 20 - 06:14 PM

Halliwell's PRE is 1849, but the Opies take it back in England to 1745 and opine that it is much older with earlier references around Europe, France, Germany etc.