"Wig-Wam Bam" is a song by British

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on diver ...

band

The Sweet The Sweet (often shortened to just Sweet), are a British glam rock band that rose to prominence in the 1970s. Their best known line-up consisted of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bass player Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott, and drummer Mic ...

, written by songwriters

Nicky Chinn Nicholas Barry Chinn (born 16 May 1945) is an English-American songwriter and record producer. Together with Mike Chapman he had a long string of hit singles in the UK and US in the 1970s and early 1980s, including several international number- ...

and

Mike Chapman Michael Donald Chapman (born 13 April 1947) is an Australian-American record producer and songwriter who was a major force in the British pop music industry in the 1970s. He created a string of hit singles for artists including The Sweet, Suzi ...

, released as a single in September 1972. It was the first Sweet single on which the band members actually played their instruments, as previous singles featured producer

Phil Wainman Philip Neil Wainman (born 7 June 1946, West London, England) is an English record producer and songwriter, primarily active in the 1970s. He is noted for his work with Sweet, XTC, Dollar, Mud, and the Bay City Rollers. His greatest chart succes ...

on drums, and session musicians John Roberts and

Pip Williams Philip Malcolm "Pip" Williams (born 7 October 1947) is a record producer, arranger and guitarist, best known for producing albums for Status Quo and The Moody Blues and acting as well as supervising the orchestra parts and orchestra arrangem ...

(later producer of

Status Quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, political, religious or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the current state of social structure and/or values. W ...

albums) on bass and guitars respectively.

Lyrics

The song's lyrics are inspired by

Henry Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely transl ...

's ''

Hiawatha Hiawatha ( , also : ), also known as Ayenwathaaa or Aiionwatha, was a precolonial Native American leader and co-founder of the Iroquois Confederacy. He was a leader of the Onondaga people, the Mohawk people, or both. According to some account ...

'' poem from 1855. The poem tells the legend of a Native American warrior Hiawatha and his lover

Minnehaha Minnehaha is a Native American woman documented in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1855 epic poem ''The Song of Hiawatha''. She is the lover of the titular protagonist Hiawatha and comes to a tragic end. The name, often said to mean "laughing wat ...

. The lyrics also refer to Running Bear and his lover Little White Dove, two characters from the 1959 song "

Running Bear "Running Bear" is a teenage tragedy song written by Jiles Perry Richardson (a.k.a. The Big Bopper) and sung most famously by Johnny Preston in 1959. The 1959 recording featured background vocals by George Jones and the session's producer Bill ...

" written by Jiles Perry Richardson.

Music

The song featured a significant change in the band's sound, and is often considered the band's first glam rock single. Also, this was the first Sweet single with bass player

Steve Priest Stephen Norman Priest (23 February 1948 – 4 June 2020) was an English musician who was the bassist (and, later, lead vocalist) of the glam rock band The Sweet. Biography Priest was born in Hayes, Middlesex. He made his own bass guitar and be ...

singing some parts of the lead vocal: the "try a little touch, try a little too much" line at the chorus. This became an important part of Sweet's later style; on most of their later singles they also used this technique, with Priest singing some lines of the song. After the song became a hit, Sweet adopted a glam image, starting to wear glitter and makeup. The band appeared on BBC's ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'', performing the song, three times in 1972: on 14 September, on 21 September and on 5 October, with Priest wearing an extravagant Native American feathered headress.

Personnel

Brian Connolly Brian Francis Connolly (5 October 1945 – 9 February 1997) was a Scottish singer-songwriter, musician and actor, best known as the lead singer of glam rock band The Sweet between 1968 and 1979 and renowned for his charismatic stage presence ...

- lead vocals *

- bass guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals * Andy Scott - guitar, backing vocals *

Mick Tucker Michael Thomas Tucker (17 July 1947 – 14 February 2002) was an English musician, best known as the drummer and backing vocalist of the glam rock and hard rock band Sweet. Biography Mick Tucker was born on July 17, 1947, in Kingsbury, North W ...

- drums, backing vocals

Chart performance

The song reached No. 4 in the UK singles chart in September 1972.

Cover versions

* In 1986 a cover by English pop band

Black Lace Black Lace are a British pop band, best known for novelty party records, including their biggest hit, "Agadoo". The band first came to the public eye after being selected to represent the UK in the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest, in which they f ...

was released as a single and reached #63 on the UK music charts. * In 1989 a cover by English pop musician

Damian Damian ( la, links=no, Damianus) may refer to: *Damian (given name) *Damian (surname) *Damian Subdistrict, in Longquanyi District, Chengdu, Sichuan, China See also *Damiani, an Italian surname *Damiano (disambiguation) *Damien (disambiguation) *Dam ...

was released as a single and reached #49 on the UK music charts. * In 2000 all-female rock band

The Donnas The Donnas were an American rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1993. The band consisted of Brett Anderson (lead vocals), Allison Robertson (guitar, backing vocals), Maya Ford (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Torry Castellano (drums ...

recorded a cover (with different, suggestive lyrics and no references to ''Hiwawatha'') for the compilations '' Runnin' on Fumes!/The Gearhead Magazine Singles Compilation'' and ''Blockbuster: A 70's Glitter Glam Rock Experience''. It was later released as a single in 2002. * In 2000 Swedish Band Star/Starz!?, under Starz!? released a cover on their album ''Party'', and on Enhanced Single ''Wig Wam Bam''. * In 2010 all-female Finnish hard rock band Barbe-Q-Barbies released a cover on the album ''All over You''.

In other media

The song was featured in the 2023 Hulu series

Welcome to Chippendales ''Welcome to Chippendales'' is an American biographical drama miniseries created by Robert Siegel inspired by the book ''Deadly Dance: The Chippendales Murders'' by K. Scot Macdonald and Patrick MontesDeOca. It stars Kumail Nanjiani as Somen "St ...

.Soundtracki.com, Welcome to Chippendales, Episode 3.
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References

{{Authority control 1972 songs 1972 singles The Sweet songs Songs about Native Americans Songs written by Mike Chapman Songs written by Nicky Chinn Song recordings produced by Phil Wainman RCA Records singles