Great Googly Moogly
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Great Googly Moogly is a phrase which has been used in popular music lyrics (particularly Rhythm & Blues) by various artists dating back to the 1950s [1].
Known examples include Frank Zappa's Nanook Rubs It (1973) and Howlin' Wolf's recording of St. Louis Jimmy Oden's Going Down Slow (1962). There is some evidence (unverified) of earlier uses by other musicians:
At the very least, R&B legend Screamin' Jay Hawkins uttered it as an exuberant exclamation of extreme excitement in "Person to Person" (1957): the line in question finding SJH extolling his far-away (cheerbabe?) girlfriend to "bring your big fine foxy great googly moogly lord-look-at-that self on home." I’ve got some vague recollection that SJH used the phrase in other tunes – and I know Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper lovingly borrowed it on a track or two of their first few albums in the mid-1980s. --Gil R.
More recently, the phrase has moved into the non-musical world, being used:
- in a 1990s television commercial for Snickers [2],
- in the 1980's Television show Moonlighting, uttered by Bruce Willis's character David Addison
- in the British TV show The Unpleasant World of Penn & Teller,
- in strip 131 of the webcomic VG Cats,
- in the derrickcomedy skit He Really Gave it To Me,
- in the Drawn Together episodes Terms of Endearment & Spelling Applebee's,
- in a recent episode of "Two and a Half Men" on CBS (uttered by housekeeper Berta).
- in a comic of "Power Rings" at www.wizard-alcove.net
- in the Food Network show Good Eats, often used as an exclamation by host Alton Brown.
More examples of contemporary (2005) use include the Nick Jr. program Maggie and the Ferocious Beast; Beast says it several times per episode. Don't forget, it was used in the song "Ball of Confusion" by The Temptations. and it was used by the charactor Grady in the hit TV show Sanford and Son.
- in the comicbook "Liberty Meadows", by Ralph, the midget circus bear.
- in the song, "Genius in France", by "Weird Al" Yankovic.
- A variation is "Good Googly Moogly".
- The exclamation is repeated in the chorus of "Good Googly Moogly" by Project Pat in Crook By Da Book: The Fed Story.
- The phrase is used by MF Doom in the song "Change the Beat" from the album Twisted Metal: Pt.1.
- "Great Googa Mooga", a variation, was said by Orlando Jones in the 2002 movie Evolution.
