"Tennessee Wig Walk" (also "The Tennessee Wig-Walk") is a
popular song
Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Funk ...
by the American composer
Larry Coleman, with lyrics by
Norman Gimbel
Norman Gimbel (November 16, 1927 – December 19, 2018) was an American lyricist of popular songs, television and movie themes. He wrote the lyrics for songs including "Killing Me Softly with His Song", " Ready to Take a Chance Again" (both with ...
.
![Music, sheet (AM 1999](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Music%2C_sheet_%28AM_1999.155.96-6%29.jpg)
The sheet cover was published by
Francis, Day & Hunter Ltd. in 1953. The lyrics include the refrain "Doin' the Tennessee wig walk" and the song was used as dance music.
The song was recorded by
Bonnie Lou
Mary Joan Okum (née Kath; October 27, 1924 – December 8, 2015), known by her performing name Bonnie Lou, was an American musical pioneer, recognized as one of the first female rock and roll singers. She is also one of the first artists to gain ...
in 1953 under the
Parlaphone record label.
The recording was in ''
The Billboard
The Billboard () is a massive granite monolith in the Sarnoff Mountains of the Ford Ranges of Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica, standing just west of Mount Rea between Arthur Glacier and Boyd Glacier. It was discovered in November 1934 by a Secon ...
'' Top Country & Western Records US ''National Best Sellers'' top ten list during 1953, reaching
number 6.
In the same year, it was released as a single on the
Decca Decca may refer to:
Music
* Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label
* Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group
* Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label
* Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...
label by the American big band
Russ Morgan And His Orchestra
Russell Morgan (April 29, 1904 – August 7, 1969) was an American big band leader and arranger during the 1930s and 1940s. He was best known for being the one of the composers of the song "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", with Larry Stock ...
"Music In The Morgan Manner"* as "The Tennessee Wig-Walk".
Later,
Lena Zavaroni
Lena Hilda Zavaroni (4 November 1963 – 1 October 1999) was a Scottish singer and a television show host. At ten years of age, with her album ''Ma! (He's Making Eyes at Me)'', she was the youngest person in history to have an album in the top ...
included the song on her second album (''
If My Friends Could See Me Now
"If My Friends Could See Me Now", with music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by Dorothy Fields, is a song from the 1966 Broadway musical ''Sweet Charity''. In the musical the character of Charity, played in the original New York cast by Gwen Verdon, ref ...
'', 1974) and third album (''
Lena Zavaroni in South Africa'', 1975). The song was re-released on a
CD compilation album of
Bonnie Lou
Mary Joan Okum (née Kath; October 27, 1924 – December 8, 2015), known by her performing name Bonnie Lou, was an American musical pioneer, recognized as one of the first female rock and roll singers. She is also one of the first artists to gain ...
songs entitled "Doin' The Tennessee Wig Walk: The Best Of The King Years" in 2000 on the
Westside label.
See also
*
1953 in country music
References
External links
*
*
*
1953 songs
1953 singles
Country pop songs
Songs with music by Larry Coleman
Songs about Tennessee
Bonnie Lou songs
Parlophone singles
Decca Records singles
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