"Woo Hoo" is a

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...

song, credited to Virginia country music DJ and music store/recording company George Donald McGraw and originally released by

The Rock-A-Teens The Rock-A-Teens were a short-lived United States rockabilly group from Richmond, Virginia, active in the late 1950s, led by Vic Mizelle. The Rock-a-Teens were one-hit wonders whose lone hit record was " Woo Hoo", written by George Donald McGra ...

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

. It is also the title track of The Rock-A-Teens 1959 album featuring the songs: "Woo Hoo"; "Doggone It Baby"; "I'm Not Afraid"; "That's My Mama"; "Dance to the Bop"; "Story of a Woman"; "Twangy"; "Janis Will Rock"; "Pagan"; "Lotta Boppin'"; "Oh My Nerves"; and "I Was Born to Rock".

Original version

The song is distinctive for its lack of lyrics apart from its title words, which gave it popularity around the world as it is not subject to language barriers. It makes use of the

twelve-bar blues The 12-bar blues (or blues changes) is one of the most prominent chord progressions in popular music. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics, phrase, chord structure, and duration. In its basic form, it is predominantly based on ...

chord progression, further adding to its accessibility. The song is featured in the end credits of

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his Cinema of Transgression, transgressive cult films, including ''Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), ''Pink Flamin ...

's film '' Pecker''.

Musicians

*Vic Mizelle (vocals, guitar) *Bobby "Boo" Walke (guitar) *Bill Cook (guitar) *Eddie Robinson (sax) *Paul Dixon (bass) *Bill Smith (drums)

Cover versions

It was later

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

by the Scottish

rock band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...

, The Revillos, (under the name "Yeah Yeah"), under the same title by the French

psychobilly Psychobilly is a rock music fusion genre that fuses elements of rockabilly and punk rock. It's been defined as "loud frantic rockabilly music", it has also been said that it "takes the traditional countrified rock style known as rockabilly, ram ...

(or as they say themselves, "

yé-yé ''Yé-yé'' () (''yeyé'' in Spanish) was a style of pop music that emerged in Western-Southern Europe in the early 1960s. The French term "''yé-yé''" was derived from the English "yeah! yeah!", popularized by British beat music bands such as ...

-punk") band

Les Wampas Les Wampas () are a French punk rock/psychobilly band, who refer more exactly to their music as " Yé-yé-punk". The band was formed in Paris in 1983. History :''See also Discography'' The band's first album, ''Tutti Frutti'' was released in 1 ...

on their 1988 album, ''Chauds, sales et humides'', by the Japanese girl band

The 5.6.7.8's The 5.6.7.8's are a Japanese rock band from Tokyo. They first started performing as a quartet in Tokyo, and recruited guest performers during their Australian tour. They became a trio in 1992, before touring Australia. Members The 5.6.7.8's fo ...

on their 1996 album ''

Bomb the Twist ''Bomb the Twist'' is an EP by the Japanese rock band the 5.6.7.8's, released on January 11, 1996. The song " Woo Hoo" was featured in the 2003 film ''Kill Bill Volume 1'', directed by Quentin Tarantino and was subsequently featured in Vonage co ...

'' and as a dance/electronica track in 2005 by the American act The Daltronics. It was also covered by

Showaddywaddy Showaddywaddy are a rock and roll group from Leicester, England. They specialise in revivals of hit songs from the 1950s and early 1960s, while also issuing original material. Showaddywaddy spent 209 weeks on the UK Singles Chart, and had 10 T ...

. The Replacements have also performed it in concert on several occasions. The 5.6.7.8's version gained cult popularity when it was featured and performed by them in

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...

's 2003 movie '' Kill Bill: Vol. 1'' and appears on its

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

. Additionally, it appears in the movie ''

Glory Road ''Glory Road'' is a science fantasy novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, originally serialized in ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (July – September 1963) and published in hardcover the same year. It was nominated for t ...

''. In 2004, after appearing in ''Kill Bill: Vol. 1'' and an advertisement for Carling beer, the cover peaked at No. 28 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

,5,6,7,8's
at Official Charts a rare Western singles chart appearance for a Japanese band. The song is also used, in part, in a

Vonage Vonage (, legal name Vonage Holdings Corp.) is an American cloud communications provider operating as a subsidiary of Ericsson. Headquartered in Holmdel Township, New Jersey, the organization was founded in 1998 as ''Min-X'' as a provider of resi ...

advertising campaign in the United States. It is also used in the soundtrack of the 2013 video game

Rayman Legends ''Rayman Legends'' is a platform video game developed by Ubisoft Montpellier and published by Ubisoft. It is the fifth main title in the ''Rayman'' series and the direct sequel to the 2011 game ''Rayman Origins''. The game was released for Micr ...

called Gloo Gloo.

References

{{Authority control 1959 singles 1959 songs The Rock-A-Teens songs Roulette Records singles