Great googily moogily

[Paul Johnston]

And Lloyd Price's (1962?) version of Misty--which the Temps copped their
"Great googa mooga, dontcha hear me talkin to ya" from.

Paul Johnston

On Thursday, March 24, 2005, at 01:00  PM, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Great googily moogily
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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
>