Great googily moogily

[Benjamin Zimmer]

Michael Quinion:
>A WWWords subscriber from Poland asks me about "great googily
>moogily". Can somebody put both him and me out of our respective
>miseries and tell us where it comes from?

John Baker:
>I would say it goes back to the song "Good Googa Mooga," which I believe
>was by the Magic Tones in 1953.  It seems to be best-known for Frank
>Zappa's use in "Nanook Rubs It," There's a discussion of the term at
>http://www.1960sailors.net/05c1_googamooga.htm.

As that website notes, "great googly moogly" appeared in Howlin' Wolf's
"Goin' Down Slow" (1961).  It's in a spoken part by Willie Dixon:

-----
http://www.furious.com/perfect/wolf/lyrics1.html

Now looky here.
I did not say I was a millionare.
But I said I have spent more money than a millionare.
Cause if I had kept all of the money I had already spent,
I'd woulda been a millionare a long time ago.
And women? Well, great googly moogly.
-----

The "great googa mooga" variant also appeared in the Cadets' version of
the Jayhawks' "Stranded in the Jungle" (1956) and in the Temptations'
"Ball of Confusion" (1970).


--Ben Zimmer