Sam The Sham And The Pharaohs
Newspaper Reports, Articles & Reviews

"Wooly Bully" Mystery--Why's It Successful? (Derek Taylor, KRLA Beat, 2 June 1965)

Who buys "Wooly Bully?" Here, staring us in the face and outselling the Beatles in Los Angeles, is this first major chart disc for the unknown Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs leaping up every national chart and top of the (KRLA) Tunedex for four weeks.

As far as I can see there was no sustained advertising campaign to launch the record; the group is not particularly handsome; the name is old-fashioned and cumbersome.

So what is selling the record:

It's pure rock 'n' roll content. It has the pounding beat which has dominated the record scene for 11 years, and for many fans -- both in their teens and 20's -- it is a welcome return to the raw shouting of the early rockers. A throwback to Little Richard, Carl Perkins or, if you like, Elvis in the good old days.

Times are gentler now with Herman singing "Mrs. Brown" and the Beatles writing songs like "If I Fell" and "Yes It Is."

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Twentieth Century Pharoah [sic]: A Texan Named Sam The Sham (Louise Criscione, The BEAT, December 1966)

"Wooly Bully" and a beard. Turbans and sheet-like outfits. The whole thing seems like years ago but actually isn't. Since "Wooly Bully" Sam The Sham and the Pharoahs [sic] have seen movies, mobs, hit records, practically the whole world and a million cubby holes affectionately (though erroneously) tabbed dressing-rooms.

The beard has come and gone and come again. The turbans and sheets have been discarded and reclaimed. One never knows what tomorrow will bring--least of all Sam. "Wooly Bully" was one of the biggest rock records of the year. It seemed impossible that the group who made it would have to wait almost an entire year to find a follow-up as big as "Wooly Bully." And yet they did.

Finally

Fair-sized hits and fair-sized bombs came their way readily but that really big one--that partner to "Wooly Bully" failed to materialize until someone had the sense to dream up a song with the crazy title, "Lil' Red Riding Hood." And finally they had it--their second smash.

It is really something of a wonder that Sam and his Pharoahs [sic] are still intact. The anxiety and frustrations of not releasing hit records usually results in some sort of a major group split. And Sam was reported to be leaving the group. Fact is, several months ago The BEAT got it straight from their publicity office that Sam had already flown.

We thought it was a definte character-switch for Sam. He's so determined--we couldn't see him giving up. And through the whole thing--the hit, the concerts, the screams, the excitement, the flash bulbs--Sam hadn't changed. He never became swell-headed, never assumed the role of "star."

Down-Home

He's big and you can't imagine him ever losing. His black hair and eyes, his strong jaw and broken nose resemble a Roman Emperor. Yet, he is everyone's idea of a cowboy. Probably because he has the soft and gentle manner associated with the South or West. His drawl is thick and his adjectives are strictly down-home. "Shaving my beard was like scraping a hog's hide," said Sam. City people just have to guess what he's talking about. Country people know.

Sam takes likfe in stride. He looks and he laughs. I doubt if he's ever cried. He's Texas. But his ideas of what constitutes a man and a woman are definitely Latin. To Sam, a man is not a big mouth, not someone who laughs so loud or speaks with such a tremendous volume that he can be heard all over the room.

Sam's a gentleman. Not phony, just natural. Only Sam's idea of a gentleman isn't someone who merely opens doors and lights ciragrettes [sic] for ladies. He's a man, too. And a fighter. Sam will jump into any fight to help a friend. He'll fight for himself too--make no mistake about it.

Yet, I suspect that he doesn't enjoy hurting. He's not above it; he just doesn't particularly dig it. Sam boxed at Arlington State College and lost only one match and that was by a decision. He stands six feet one inch and weighs in at 165 pounds. Which means that if he really lost his tempter and hit someone--that someone would hurt bad.

Singin' Opera

So, he looks like a Roman Emperor or a cowboy ... depending. He's a gentleman and a fighter. He specializes in hard rock and yet he wants to be an opera singer. His biggest ambition is to sing at the Metropolitan Opera House and his dark eyes light up as he tells you "No one can beat Jussi Bjorling ... he was the greatest."

Funny, but Sam's most memorable moment was not when he found "Wooly Bully" perched at the top of the nation's record charts. It was when they played with James Brown and did so well that Brown had to work to get his audience back. "They under-estimated us," said Sam frankly. And that's a mistake in anybody's book. You never under-estimate a man like Sam. If anything, you over-estimate him.

The formation of Sam and the Pharoahs [sic] isn't anything unusual. They just happened to be in the same place at the same time and decided to form a group. And the name? "All the others were taken," they chorus.

Life should be so easy.

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Die "ewige" Zeite (from: Bravo, nr. 42 (10. Oktober 1966), p. 16.

Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs haben einen neuen Spitznamen. Mann nennt sie nun "Die beste Nummer 2-Gruppe der Welt." Das ist nicht asl Beleidigung gemeint, sondern als Kompliment. "Wooly Bully" war ein fabelhafter Bestseller und angeblich sogar die meistverkaufte amerikanische Schlagerplatte von 1965. Trotzdem kam die Scheibe nie auf Platz 1 der Hitparade. Heuer passierte das gleiche. Auch "Lil' red Riding Hood" wurde nur zweiter Sieger. Auf dem Papier, wohlverstanden. Beide Aufnamen erreichted Auflagen von weit über einer Milion. Sagt Sam: "Wenn man so schön kassiert, kann man ruhig darauf verzichten, als Spitzenreiter registriert zu werden!" Und sein nächster Erfolg ist ihm sicher. "The Hair on my chinny Chin Chin" klingt haargenau nach einem Knüller!

Sam & Pharaohs Host Press : Minus Beard And Turbans (Louise Criscione, The BEAT, 26 February 1966)

HOLLYWOOD-Press conferences for pop artists are getting to be a welcome habit around here. Of course, press conferences have been going on for ages but it wasn't until the Beatles hit our shores that pop stars began getting into the action in a big way.

Since then, all of the big English groups have held conferences in practically every major city in which they've stopped. And now the American groups are beginning to follow suit.

Yesterday, a cleanly shaven Domingo Samudio, better known as Sam The Sham, and Butch Gibson, David Martin, Jerry Patterson and Ray Stinnett-collectively known as The Pharaohs hosted a breakfast for a few chosen members of the press.

Sam and his Pharaohs went way out for the breakfast which was held in the Hollywood Room of the Knickerbocker Hotel. Hours before Sam et al. Showed up red jacketed waiters were busily setting up the two long tables and making at least a hundred cups of coffee while the chiefs were even busy cooking breakfast for the starving reporters.

About 9 o'clock (middle of the night for me!)the invited guests began arriving, the networks began setting up their cameras and then shortly before 9:30 Sam and the Pharaohs made their entrance. Early!

There had been some speculation that Sam would not show up. Reportedly, Sam had had some illness in his family and had flown straight on to Texas instead of coming into Los Angeles from the group's smash European tour.

However, Sam was very much present and looking a million times better with his beard completely gone. As you read in The BEAT, Sam hated his beard and decided to do away with it. However, one slight problem occurred. His German fans were waiting anxiously to see the famous beard so Sam was forced to reluctantly grow it back.

But he swore that before he left Germany he would be beardless once more. And when he walked into the Hollywood Room he was true to his word-beardless!

The Pharaohs felt that if Sam could shave off his beard they ought to be able to throw away their robes and turbans which they had acquired a distinct disliking for. But again the German fans objected so the boys rummaged through their wastebaskets and donned the robes and turbans for the last time.

"Wooly Bully" had been such a monstrous hit all over the world that Sam and the Pharaohs had the distinction of being named the top U.S. rock 'n' roll group in Germany.

And, unfortunately for the group, the only pictures which their German fans had ever seen of them had them all rigged out in their Egyptian attire. But now everything is okay, they've been seen minus robes etc. And they hope that they will never have to wear those outfits again.

Sam told me how the whole thing had actually started as a joke. "We were playing a club," said Sam, "and we put on those things for a joke. But it caught on."

That was an accident but their show business careers were anything but an accident. Sam's brother who is a surgeon opposed his becoming an entertainer. He had even offered to pay Sam's way through law school. It was a tempting offer, you may be sure. It would have meant a steady and assured income and the kind of security which is missing in the world of music.

But Sam is determined-quiet but determined. He didn't want to be a lawyer-he wanted to be a singer. Naturally, his family was a little upset with Sam's decision. Actually, they were more worried than anything else.

Now, of course, they are quite proud of him but for awhile it was tough going. Sam learned the hard way that there are no short cuts in life and only hard work pays off.

If he had one which in this world it would probably to sing at the Metropolitan Opera House. It's his biggest ambition in life. Although he has made a large dent in the pop field he admits, "I would still like to sing at the Met."

Sam is ambitious and competitive. It doesn't scare him, in fact, it has helped him. He won't stop at just being a pop entertainer-he'll go on. Not only to the Met, but to motion pictures if he can possibly manage it.

He has already appeared on the movie screen but not in the kind of film which he would like to do. He wants to be a serious actor, preferably in westerns.

He'd be great in westerns, too, they'd suit him. He looks typically cowboy with his black eyes and equally black hair. He speaks slowly and with a definite drawl. He's more of an observer than anything else-he would never be heard above the roar of a large crowd. He states frankly, but with a twinkle in his dark eyes, "I don't have any philosophy. I just enjoy life."

Sam is American born but very Latin in his ways. He has an enormous amount of dignity and takes for granted that when he has something to say people will listen. When he was a young boy he went out and bought himself a copy of "Manners For Millions" which he memorized and never seems to have forgotten. He's been described as a Latin gentleman-and he is.

Paul Gibson, nicknamed Butch, also ran into opposition from his family when he informed them of his decision to go into show business. They wanted their son to be a doctor but like Sam's family, they shrugged their shoulders and let him go ahead with his ambition.

He admits to being the slightest bit shy. "If a woman isn't aggressive I'd never have the courage to talk to her," Butch grins.

Dave Martin, another Texan, has the wildest sense of humor in the group and seems to be laughing all the time. Jerry Patterson plays drums for the group and rather typical of Southerners, Jerry speaks very hesitantly but at some length once he gets started.

Jim Stinnett, christened Ray by his cohorts, is the smallest member of the group. But his red hair, freckles, and blue-green eyes make him stand out. He seems very shy and always thinks before he speaks. His ambition is simply "to keep going."

Breakfast finished, Sam and the Pharaohs broke into a few verses of "In The Still Of The Night" and then raced for a piano which as stationed in the corner and let out with a wild version of "Wooly Bully."

Performance completed, they walked slowly to the door. Behind them lay a tiring but satisfying tour of Europe-ahead of them stretched a ten day stint at a lock Hollywood club, a series of television appearances and a tour of the Mid-West.

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Entry for "Sam The Sham" in Special Pop, 1-numero special (Paris : Editions Albin Michel, 1967)

"Wooly bully"

Les createurs de "Wooly bully" firent leurs premieres armes a Memphis, capitale de la musique dans le Tennessee.

Sam The Sham, alias Domingo Samudio, est ne a Dallas dans le Texas. Apres avoir passe quatre ans dans l'armee, il consacre de plus en plus de temps a sa passion, la musique. Excellent chanteur, il se produit tous les soirs dans des granges avec de petits groupes locaux. Les nombreux amis qui assistent a son spectacle ont deja discerne en lui les qualites d'une grande vedette. Petit a petit, Sam passera du poste de chanteur a celui d'organiste, car l'orgue le fascine. Apres avoir joue dans differents groupes, il decide d'avoir sa propre formation, les Pharaohs, avec David Martin a la basse, Ray Stinnet a la guitarre, et Jerry Patterson a la batterie. Remarques par un directeur artistique de la Penn Records, ils se rendent dans leur corbillard (qui est toujours leur moyen de locomotion favori) au studio pour passer une audition. Le contrat est signe tout de suite apres, et on enregistre "Hounted house" (mai 1964). L'annee suivante, "Wooly bully" sera numero un au Billboard, et connaitra un succes mondial pendant l'ete 1965. Les Pharaohs, qui se presentent toujours vetus de costumes arabes traditionnels, ont maintenant un soliste important, le saxo-tenor Butch Gibson.

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Is Sam The Sham Dead? -- Or is at All a MGM Hoax?
by "Uncle Russ" Glib, Disc-Jockey and Promoter of Teen Age Concerts

I never imagined in a million years I'd be writing this article with the information I now present. But, I can't keep this to myself any longer. What must surely be the biggest controversy in pop history is now raging, and I can neither take full credit or discredit, as the case may be... but one must admit, the facts presented by myself certainly enable the reader to draw some very vivid conclusions.

One evening, I was doing my radio program on WKNNR-FM, or "Keener Radio" as we call it. Now, Our station is one of those underground type, that is, we play a lot of real heavy music, like Led Zeppelin, Iron Butterfly, real heavy-business groups, you know, groups that are going somewhere, groups like Banana and the Peels, Li'l Sudzie and the Soapers, and others. It was going along real heavily when my listener request-phone line lit up. I thought it was the usual request to hear Napoleon XIV, so I told the person at the other end that I'd be sure to comply with the request soon, before he could even get a word in!

About thirty seconds later, he called back, and this time, I listened to him. He had some very nerve-shattering words to speak. I dropped the receiver as the most startling words I have ever heard came over the phone...' 'Sam the Sham is Dead!" I was quite shocked! How could this person make such an accusation about our beloved rock and roller from New Orleans? He went on to explain that he was a junior at the University of Michigan, and president of the Sam the Sham Resurrection Society, Inc. He claimed that he and his friends had dug up some very interesting information regarding Sam, and wanted to tell me more about it. I put on Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" a true mark of originality if ever there was one, and let him tell his tale. My mind was deeply moved as he came across with little odds and ends that I hadn't realized before! He wove a small pattern out of Sam The Sham's musical accomplishments, and accented his theory with information pertaining to Sam's album covers. And by the end of his conversation, I knew he was on to something... something BIG... something that the record company execs weren't telling the PEOPLE! The next thing I found myself doing was interrupting the heavy drum solo to announce publicly that I had information that Sam The Sham might be deceased or seriously ill. I then told my listeners of the clues I had received from the young man, who, incidentally, called himself merely, "Todd".

According to Todd. Sam the Sham supposedly passed away sometime between the release of his historic first album "WOOLY BULLY" and his second album, which is very uniquely titled, "THEIR SECOND ALBUM. SAM THE SHAM AND THE PHAROAHS Ju Ju Hand." He pointed out the distinct album covers and the significance in the covers relating 'to death. (SEE ACCOMPANYING PHOTOGRAPHS.). On the back of the first album, Sam and his band are pictured standing around a black hearse ... as if getting ready to enter it for the last big mile before one enters the "Fillmore In-The-Sky." Some of the songs contained on the first album were also secretly devised "messages." Two such clue-givers were "Haunted House" and "Juimenos" ("Let's went") I knew that Todd was certainly on to something, so I informed my listeners to phone in any information or clues they might discover from Sam The Sham's other albums.

The rumors of Sam's apparent death spread like wildfire. For weeks, around the clock, the telephones were ringing . . . people all over the nation were (phoning in clues. I attempted to choose the most reasonable clues and piece them together. I knew that once word of this got out, all hell would break loose. And it did!

Sam supposedly released a total of seven albums. I will attempt to go through them one by one, and list the clues and rumors about the album covers and s6ngs, all relating to the allegations that Sam is dead. Many of these clues were phoned in my very loyal listeners.

Of course, the first album, WOOLY BULLY started it all. If one takes a good long look at the front of the album, he will notice that Sam is wearing a BLUE COAT with a turban. Then, if one compares this to the cover on THEIR SECOND ALBUM, he notices Sam is dressed in BLACK, and has a BLACK TURBAN on! The rest of the group is standing around some type of cauldron and the background is in BLOOD RED! But, that's not all! All one need do is to glance at the position of Sam's hand in the picture. It is clearly in the DEATH HAND POSITION! Why is there an alligator and a toad on the cover?

The album cover isn't the only clue offered by the second platter. Many think that the songs in this record are the MAIN KEYS to unlocking the entire Sam the Sham mystery. The entire LP deals with--THE OCCULT! The songs include, "The Gypsy," "Magic Man," "Ju Ju Hand," "Witchcraft," and lines such as, "I've got a Voo Doo Doll ... and guess whose face it looks like . . . YOU" and "I've got a black cat bone and a mojo too," and others too numerous to mention. This album is a clue-hunter's delight.

The second album is the most definite indication that Sam the Sham might be dead, and a cover up is in progress. But by no means does it end there. The third album, by title, indicates that Sam the Sham is "somewhere else." The name of the disc? "ON TOUR." On Tour where? To Rock 'n' Roll heaven, of course! Look at the picture on the cover of the album. WHERE IS SAM THE SHAM? Can you find him? Where is the turban, the beard and mustache? Many speculate that the person thought to be Sam on the cover is really his brother, or a look-alike that MGM records hastily found to quell the growing rumors that Sam was gone. And, we cannot overlook the important clues on the songs on this record. One song includes the line, "The funeral home will have your business that day." Is this a reference about the deceased one made the imitator - Sam?

Notice also that for the first time in a Sam the Sham record, there is a song in which Sam does not participate vocally. A line in the song goes, "You don't come around like you used to ... you don't talk to me like you used to." The hard-core clue seekers argue that this is the band paying tribute to their departed leader. But the clue-quest goes on to the next album, LIL RED RIDING HOOD.

On the cover, Sam (or his lookalike,) has a beard again. This album came out after ON TOUR with sufficient time for the look-alike to grow a beard. A very subtle clue is dropped here. On the cover, all the rest of the band is dressed in red, while Sam (or his stand-in), stands apart from them. Notice his shoes - they are BLACK ... another sign of mourning. The songs in the album reveal even more ... "The Phantom Strikes Again" ... could this be the Phantom of Death? It is in this album that we have the biggest supporting clue yet. Preceding the song Pharaoh A-Go-Go," we hear an abrupt SCREAM, OHHHH, SOMEBODY HELP ME!" Is this the GHOST of Sam reincarnated on this disc? And at the end of the same tune, we hear, "WHY DOES THIS- HAVE TO HAPPEN TO ME?"

On the very same album, the tune GRASSHOPPER indicates to some that Sam has been reincarnated as a little grasshopper. The proof given is the line, "Make me be... a little grasshopper." The song supposedly tells how Sam was reincarnated several times, from a bottle-stopper to a sea-gull, and finally, to a grasshopper.

If this information presented was not conclusive enough, there is still more! When one looks at the GREAT HITS album, suspicions have to be confirmed. On the back cover, Sam and the boys are all looking up towards the Heavens ... wishfully. There's no need to point the obvious inference here And the greenery they dance on resembles grass ... and grass grows in a cemetery! It all ties in, doesn't it.

There are again, many omens to be found in the next album, THE SAM THE SHAM REVUE (or on some copies, THE SAM THE SHAM REVIEW). The cover picture is very blurry and fuzzy. One cannot distinguish Sam from anybody else on the cover. Is MGM attempting to hide something here? The songs are quite important in this album. Listen to "Black Sheep" with the line, "Just layin' up here dead . . . like he knew something was -happening all along." Other songs that tell good clues are "Wanted-Dead -or Alive," and at one point, we hear a haunting Sam the Sham voice tell us, "You Can't Turn Me Off." What does he mean here? Obviously, Sam is -relating the message that his power won't stop because he is deceased! He further points out that "My Day's Gonna Come," and if he isn't dead, why does he plea, "Love Me Like Before." (Before he was dead???).

Finally, on the last Sam the Sham album, TEN OF PENTACLES, we find smacks of black magic and death all over! Notice the Tarot cards on the cover, and the death position they are in. Why is the back of the album printed in black with white print? Listen to some of the songs and their verses ... "I'm In Oblivion," or "I've Got No Place To Hide."

These clues represent only a handful of the dozens one can find. Many people have joined me in the hunt for clues. People have called me up with tapes played backwards. Although I cannot tell you in print what these tapes sounded like, I can tell you how to hear it yourself. Take the tune, JU JU Hand, featured on THEIR SECOND ALBUM. Play it backwards at 45 rpm, and many theorize you hear the words, "He a dead man in the coffin... I shot -Sam." This is an obvious example. Play any Sam the Sham organ solo backwards at a slower speed . . . what does it sound like ... RIGHT ... A FUNERAL!!!

Naturally, MGM Records denies every bit of this. On different occasions, I have telephoned MGM and they refused to discuss it at all. One time, I received a reply that astounded me. One person told me the Sam no longer worked for MGM Records. They would not say why. I asked, "Is this because he is no longer alive?" The answer ...a sharp, "I'm sorry, that is the only information I can give you."

As hard as I tried, I could not come up with many more clues. And I could never get MGM to admit it. To my surprise, yet another Sam record was released, this one called SAM: HARD AND HEAVY. It came out on Atlantic (posthumously?). It is still available in the finer Bargain-Bins and cutout racks of this country. But it represents a very radical departure from the other LPs ... there isn't one single solitary clue that SAM THE SHAM is dead. In fact, he has changed his name to SAM SAMUDIO on this LP! Could this be SAM ... totally reincarnated?

I will leave the conclusions to you, the reader. I still firmly believe that MGM was trying to hide something from the record public. But, I guess we'll never really -know the true story here. Meanwhile, I just happen to have about five mint copies of each album for would be clue-seekers. Minimum bids start at $100.00 each.

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Entry for "Sam The Sham And The Pharaohs" in Million Selling Records From The 1900s To The 1980s, by Joseph Murrells. New York : Arco Publishing, Inc., 1984.

WOOLY BULLY Penn (released) MGM [USA]. Sam the Sham (real name Domingo Samudio) was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. After graduation he joined the U.S. Navy for four years, and decided to devote himself to music upon his discharge. He then worked on building sites and saved enough money for the entrance fee to Arlington State College in Texas, and bean singing with various groups. Seeking a distinctive sound for a group, he taught himself to play the organ and saved enough to buy one. Organists being scarce, he found no difficulty in getting work. Moving to Louisiana, he joined a friend's band which became popular in many clubs in and around Memphis until its leader returned home. Sam and the bass player David Martin stayed on, added guitarist Ray Stinnet and drummer Jerry Paterson, and later saxophonist Butch Gibson, adopting the name Sam The Sham and The Pharaohs. Stan Kessler, a producer for Penn Records, invited them to the studios for an audition. They arrived in their black hearse which they used for transportation. Their first disc was (May 1964) 'Haunted House'. Then came 'Wooly Bully', written by Sam in 1964-a thudding beat number with a tongue-twisting chorus and nonsense lyrics, which when released on the MGM label became a big hit, reaching No. 2 in the U.S. charts in June 1965 with 18 weeks in the bestsellers, and an eventual two million sale with another million abroad. It was No. 11 in Britain with 15 weeks in the bestsellers.

Sam explains the term 'sham' as rhythm-and-blues jargon for shuffling, twisting or jiving around to music. Before he started playing the organ, Sam 'shammed' while he sang. The group wore wild clothing, Sam a jewelled jacket and feathered turban, and the Pharaohs special costumes including Arab dress. All were aged 23 or 25 when this disc was made.

Gold Disc award, R.I.A.A., 1965.

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Sam the Sham: Wooly Bully Revisited by James Porter. Goldmine, March 15, 1985

One of the most exciting, creative years in pop music was 1965: Cannibal & the Headhunters, the Gentrys, the Sir Douglas Quintet, the Beau Brummels, the Lovin' Spoonful, the Byrds, Barry McGuire, the McCoys, Paul Revere & the Raiders, the Castaways, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and several Motown artists ran neck-and-neck on the charts with each English import.

Some were one-hit wonders, some average American Joes trying to pass for English (the Sir Douglas Quintet, the Beau Brummels). But America rock was rolling again.

One of those groups was Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs, best remembered for "Wooly Bully" and "Li'l Red Riding Hood." Even now, with groups such as the Fleshtones and the Chesterfield Kings reviving the garage-band spirit, the magic that was Sam the Sham remains underrated. "Wooly Bully" might have been, to some, another "Ahab The Arab"--or "Purple People Eater"--type novelty, but it and its follow-ups were solid examples of '60s southern punk, not unlike the music of Sir Doug Sahm, but with a strong rhythm 'n' blues influence. No Sam the Sham album remains in print in the United States.

The story goes back to Arlington College in Texas, where young Domingo Samudio was studying. He'd joined Tony G. and the Gypsies as organist, and when the leader quit, Samudio took over and changed the name to Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs. ("Sam" was a condensation of Samudio and "sham" was slang for cut-up.)

The group soon released its first single, a cover of Jumpin' Gene Simmons' "Haunted House," for the local Dingo label. While it didn't hold a candle to the original, it had a great guitar solo and was included on the first album.

The rock classic "Wooly Bully" came next, instantly wiping out memories of its predecessor. That echoed count-off grabbed your attention immediately: "Uno, dos, tres, quatro!," followed by a chugging rhythm track and monster-movie lyrics concerning Hattie, Mattie, and the person who made this garage-punk chestnut possible, Mr. Bully himself. The flip, "Ain't Gonna Move," was mean post-rockabilly that sounded as tough as its title.

"Bully" was a hit, inspiring the MGM label to pick it up' it only went to No. 2, kept from the top by another MGM group, Herman's Hermits.

The album wasn't long in coming. The cove showed Sam, in a king-sized turban and tuxedo, and his Pharaohs, resplendent in long, flowing Arabic robes. The back showed them with the funeral hearse they drove to dates. besides "Wooly Bully" and "Haunted House," the album consisted of surprisingly strong rhythm 'n' blues covers of such obscure hits as Billy "the Kid" Emerson's "Every Woman I Know" and the Falcon's "I Found a Love." (It would be two years before one-time Falcon Wilson Pickett would recut the latter in a more relaxed vein, and push it to No. 32 on the pop charts.) It also sported an excellent version of Johnny "Guitar" Watson's "Gangster of Love."

The originals, by Samudio, bass player Dave Martin, and producer Stan Kesler, were just as good, including the Bo Diddley-influenced "Go-Go Girls" and the Mexican novelty "Juimonos." There's even a cover of Junior Walker's "Shotgun," with lead vocals obviously not by Samudio.

That same summer, MGM released the single of "Ju Ju Hand." Lyrically, the tune resembled Muddy Waters' "Got My Mojo Working," but musically, it showed the group hadn't learned to leave well enough alone. The song relied on the same formula as "Bully": the screams, the one-note organ. The flip, "Big City Lights," was a nice, mid-tempo ballad that later surfaced on the On Tour album. "Ju Ju Hand" did moderately well, and a concept album was built around it.

Their Second Album (named Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs on the label, Ju Ju Hand on the spine), sported liner notes that said "the whole idea behind the LP is one of mystery and magic with a beat." So there were songs about voodoo, ranging from "Ju Ju Hand" to "That Old Black Magic" and "Hoochie Coochie Man." The tacky cover showed the group around a cannibal stewpot, with all sorts of plastic "marble" animals, cooking up a brew.

The music remains credible. In includes a rockabilly gem on the second side called "Witchcraft"; written by Carolyn Leigh and Cy Coleman, it simply doesn't let up, and should have been released after "Ju Ju Hand."

The remaining songs run the gamut. Many of the MOR-oriented ones rock hard, such as "Magic Touch," "That Old Black Magic" and "The Gypsy." There is only one clinker, "Medicine Man." The liner notes include Samudio's reflection on success: "While I'm very happy and pleased with the way things are going for us, I know that they can change overnight. I also know that a lot of hard work made 'Wooly Bully' possible ... There's lots more hard work coming to make this album and succeeding singles popular with the people, but I think we've got the sound that will reach them and stay with them."

There also was a news clipping that revealed Samudio's intellectual bent: "I'd like to do many things in many fields. Life is so short--people going around the world at 17,000 miles an hour. Today the speak of traveling in space in light years, and here on Earth we have a span of only, say, 65 years. I guess that's why I never settled down.

In November 1965, "Ring Dang Doo" made the charts. Like "Ju Ju Hand," it was patterned after "Wooly Bully"; the one-note organ and King Curtis-styled saxophone solo were still there, though in a new key. The story concerns a long search for a "ring dang doo," and toward the end, it's revealed that "I don't know what it looks like or what it can do/I keep lookin'' for that ring dang doo." The solid rocker reached No. 33.

In 1966, the studio album On Tour was released. It was the most straightforward, serious disc the group ever spawned. One fine tune was "Can't Make Enough," like "Go-Go Girls" a solid rocker. There also were excellent versions of Billy Emerson and Billy Lee Riley's "Red Hot" (covered by rockabilly revivalist Robert Gordon in the '70s), the Drifters' "Save The Last Dance For Me," the ballads "Please Accept My Love" and "Big Blue Diamonds" and "Like You Used To," which featured the mystery vocalist of the earlier "Shotgun."

The LP seemed very different from the two earlier ones, in songs and image; the cover shows the band has traded their Arab togs for regular American Mod clothes. Samudio even shaved his beard (he's at upper left) and looks a dead ringer for Ry Cooder. A 1973 Robert A. Hull piece on On Tour said: "Nothing tasteless here, folks. It's too perfect to cut down."

If On Tour was a 180-degree turn-around, Li'l Red Riding Hood was a real doozy. The title track was the only Sam/Pharaohs' single besides "Wooly Bully" to make the Top 10, like its predecessor hitting No. 2. On the album cover Samudio's beard is back. But the original Pharoahs [sic] (Ray Stinnet, guitar; Jerry Patterson, drums; Butch Gibson, saxophone; and Dave Martin, bass) have been replaced. To quote Hull's Creem article again: "Sam has cleaned himself up a bit and they all look like restaurant owners." The music was different, too: the organ isn't as dominant, and the group's version of the title track has the big bad wolf in sheep's clothing hitting up Red Riding Hood ("Li'l Red Riding Hood/You sure are looking good/You're everything a big bad wolf could want.")

They followed their raunchy recasting of the old fairy-tale with "The Hair On My Chinny Chin Chin," in which Sam plays the fairy-tale aspect to the hilt: the wolf, apparently failed in his effort to get next to Li'l Red, has been forced to blow her house down to get a response. The B side, "I'm In With The Out Crowd," was a parody of Dobie Gray's "The In Crowd" and should have been a hit on its own.

In 1967, a best-of album featured an assortment of hits and misses, along with a few new tracks: A John D. "Tobacco Road" Loudermilk composition, "I Wish It Were Me"; "Standing Ovation," showcasing female backups the Shamettes; the return of the one-note Farfisa; and a remake of Jay and the Techniques' "Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie," called "Ready Or Not."

Their other 1967 release, The Sam the Sham Revue (called Nefertiti on the label, it appears under the latter title in the Osborne price guides), featured Sam, the Pharaohs and the Shamettes. It started with the moralistic "Black Sheep," a kind of parable about greed; the rest of the album, while fair, was dominated by novelty numbers, such as the spoken-word "The Cockfight."

Samudio started 1968 with Ten of Pentacles, credited to him alone (the Pharaohs were noted on the label). The music sounded like that of an updated Ray Stevens or Sheb Wooly -- for a bubblegum audience. It again featured a prominent rhythm 'n' blues influence, with Stax-Volt-styled horns. Though its title sounded progressive, the disc was a mixture of novelties and rockers, including covers of "Yakety Yak," "Poison Ivy," and "Let It Be Me." [sic]

In a year of such hits as "Pictures of Matchstick Men," "Hey Jude," "Sunshine Of Your Love," "Born To Be Wild" and Blue Cheer's heavy-metal take of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues," Samudio's Top 40 bid was "Old MacDonald Had A Boogaloo Farm." His new music seemed closer in spirit to that of the 1910 Fruitgum Co. than to any of the R&B heavies: The album didn't do as well as its predecessors, and Sam the Sham took a year off.

A 1968 interview in Jazz & Pop showed a Samudio sick and tired of the "scum percent of people who make the business a bumkick." He told the magazine his latest musical pleasure was playing the blues with "undiscovered heavy" Andy King; he had wanted to do so earlier, he said, but the record company hadn't let him.

Finally, in 1970, new product appeared. He'd changed back to his real name -- Sam Samudio -- and had a new label, Atlantic. The album, Sam Hard and Heavy, is a trivia enthusiast's delight: It featured Duane Allman on guitar, the Dixie Flyers and the Memphis Horns, and Samudio won a Grammy award for it for best liner notes. But it failed commercially.

The next time Samudio "surfaced" was in 1974, when an April "Random Notes" section of Rolling Stone reported he was working with a new band. In 1979, Gary Lewis mentioned that Lewis had been working the oldies circuit, appearing on bills with the likes of the Drifters, the Coasters -- and Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs. In early 1982, Samudio appeared on Ry Cooder's The Border soundtrack, singing and writing two Spanish songs and playing organ.

The Border soundtrack, on the Backstreet label, is Samudio's latest domestic appearance on vinyl; French MGM has issued an album called Wooly Bully that features the original title and cover, but also includes "Ju Ju Hand" and "Li'l Red Riding Hood"; and a track from his 190 solo Atlantic album remains in print, on a Duane Allman compendium called An Anthology, Vol. II.

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LIFE AFTER WOOLY BULLY

Or how do you top the greatest party song of all time?

SAM (I am no longer) THE SHAM

By Bill Minutaglio

(from: Dallas Life Magazine, The Dallas Morning News, June 29, 1986)

People used to tell Sam the Sham that karma was going to get him if he didn't get off the highway. "Yeah, what?" Sam replied. "I am karma." He loved the open road feeling, the wind whistling past his turban, making his hoop earring rattle and puffing up his cape until it seemed like he was flying even though he was sitting down.

Sam liked it even after the highway reached up into his hearse - Man, it was, well ... a Bela Lugosi type of thing, you know? ... it was a big old black thing with curtains - and yanked him out onto the asphalt at 60 m.p.h.

Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs had wrapped up another fun run across South Texas and Louisiana, playing in places where Sam kept a bayou gladiator shield by his organ. The garbage can lid deflected beer bottles from people who didn't agree with Sam's playing. So did his gun: The inside pocket of Sam's snappy purple coat was lined with masking tape; the .38 he used to collect the hand's fees had forced open the scams.

The hearse was a traveling board-room, bedroom and equipment truck. It was, said Sam, the Van of Madness. The night the highway came for him, Sam got up from a nap in the back, where the bodies were normally housed, and crawled through the guitars. He looked through the sliding glass door separating the rear from the front seat. He told the bass player to keep it down to 60 m.p.h. - at 80 m.p.h. the Packard began to drink oil. He slid the window shut and laid down to sleep.

Wham! The back door whipped open and the head pharaoh was sucked out onto Highway 35. He hit the road moving. Sam laid his hands across his chest and decided to enjoy the trip. Cars passing by saw a big genie sliding into eternity, his head raised a bit to watch the hearse blend into the horizon.

After a few minutes, somebody In the hearse realized Sam wasn't aboard. They backtracked and took him to a hospital. Sam felt like the Wolf Man in the third stage of the change. The attendants looked at the bass player's long teeth,, the black hearse and then back to Sam.,, They finally unloaded him and put a cast on his broken leg. He cackled and asked for a tetanus shot, antibiotics and a red marking pen. Then he checked out with a cast painted like a giant peppermint stick. It was Christmas and Sam had- to take the highway to Memphis.

Three years later, the highway delivered Sam behind the curtain at The Ed Sullivan Show. Not long after he had dropped out the back of the Packard, the band had gone national. In West Dallas, Sam's old friends watched Wooly Bully go up the charts in 1965; it was the same stuff Sam used to play on Industrial Boulevard. He still played six hours in a row, still jumped off the drumstand, touched his toes in mid-air and grabbed the microphone. Still made up nonsensical mixtures of Tex-Mex, blues and rock music. Still made people sweat and dance. Still he acted mad -when he made money he told everyone he was "going uptown," and he traded in the Packard for a Pontiac hearse.

Now his old friends were waiting for Domingo "Sam" Samudio on TV, waiting to hear him scream out the famous introduction to the song: "Uno, Dos, Tres, Cuatro. . . "

Sam stood in the wings thinking that if his band was mad, then he was the master madman. He tugged at his turban and glanced at the other performers backstage - 50 Fiji Island dancers wearing grass skirts and carrying spears. They all stared back at the bearded man with the silk jacket and wraparound hat.

'What is it that you do?" one of the natives asked through an interpreter.

There was a moment of silence Then the islanders began chanting, rustling their grass outfits and shaking their spears. They said it faster and faster until it was one long word: Woolybully, Woolybully, Woolybully. Onstage, Ed Sullivan was vaguely aware of a backstage commotion.

"This is really crazy," Sam said to himself.

Reading his Bible at home in Memphis

Sam doesn't love the highway anymore. He loves Jesus. And when his friend Jimmy Velvet called from Dallas and said he was putting on an "oldies but goldies" show - and wanted him to appear - he said no way- Velvet insisted. Sam relented. But only if he could sing gospel tunes. No way he was going to sing Wooly Bully. Forget Lil' Red Riding Hood. No turbans, capes, hearses. No old stuff.

Sam grew up at about where Denton meets Maple Avenue. He wanted to be a boxer, singer or actor. He wound p being a ditchdigger and spent four years in the Navy and a couple more at Arlington State. By 1962, be was singing with different bands. He left for Louisiana and then Memphis with friends. They called themselves Pharaohs. They happened to be big movie fans: "You know The Ten Commandments? Man, we thought Ramses was cool."

Sam wasn't a virtuoso on the organ. Hiding behind the keyboard, he twisted, shook and screamed to look like he knew what he was doing. He shammed his way through the tunes and Domingo Samudio became Sam the Sham -- the wailing imam of the Animal House sound. From 1965 to 1968, he toured the world with a string of simple, thumping hits. At airports, people would run up to the plane and reverently ask the high priest of the mystic beat if The Beatles were a threat to American musical superiority. "Hey Jack, we invented the music, didn't we?" Sam would answer.

The hits stopped. He tried songwriting. Record producers said they liked his music but what they would really like was another "funny" party song. He tried acting school in New York. He tried other bands in California. In the early 1970s, while lying on his back and staring out the window at the Hollywood Hills, he decided to go anonymous.

He went back to Memphis and then to Texas. At night, at a crossroad, he picked the path to the Sabine Pass- He hired out as a deckhand on boats shuttling back and forth to the offshore oil rigs. There were close calls and quiet moments on the water. Sam got religion.

Now, he splits time between the Gulf Coast and a home in Memphis. The on-shore jobs are different every week--unloading dog food from a truck, behind the counter in an antique store, interpreting Spanish in local courtrooms. And there is the gospel music 'group that plays on street comers, in nursing homes and prisons.

"You want to know what pressure is?" asks Sam in his laid-back, rocking-chair voice. "Pressure is trucking into a maximum-security prison and announcing that you're going to sing about Jesus." He is sitting in the downtown Hilton Hotel in Fort Worth. The oldies show starts in an hour. Until this tour, Sam hadn't been up on a concert stage in a decade.

In the cocktail lounge in the lobby, other stars from the past are gathering: Little Anthony and The Imperials, Chubby Checker, Martha Reeves. There are a dozen acts. Each of them has been hired to play their hits for a few minutes, each of them accompanied by the same back-up band hired to travel with the show. A lot of the talk centers on Chuck Berry, the star of the show. Some of the performers have heard Berry is locked up in his room, refusing interviews, refusing to perform. Berry, they say, is waiting for an armored truck to deliver the money be is owed for the performance the night before in Norman, Okla. - as well as the money for the upcoming dates in Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin.

"You know, It's strange. Most of these people knew me when I was really nuts, when I was doing more tricks than a monkey on a 40-foot vine," offers Sam. He flops down on his hotel bed, adjusts his bifocals and pores over three pages of looseleaf paper covered with musical notation. The gospel song is called This World Is Not My Own. "Man, I haven't done a concert like this in 10 years. But I won't do Wooly Bully anymore," insists Sam. "I'm into a different thing now."

Last night, in Norman, he hadn't played the song. Instead, he went on for his alloted 10 minutes and did religious music. The audience politely applauded. Sam wondered if they even knew who he was. "I've got to lay Jesus on 'em," says Sam, nodding his head and slipping into a black T-shirt. The words "Sam I Am" are printed in white on front. There is no turban.

He travels by car to the Tarrant County Convention Center. With him are his five fresh-faced Memphis musicians known as Gideon's Few and Charity. One of them, a young, slender singer - married to the tambourine player - was seeing her first rock concert during the tour. None of them has ever heard him do Wooly Bully. When someone shows them pictures Sam in '65 looking like Omar Sharif at a toga party - they titter.

Backstage, on the way to a low-ceilinged, concrete dressing room, Sam is stopped over and over again. "Honey, I want you to meet Sam the Sham," bellows a reed-thin man in a Western shirt and a ballpark cap. He is dragging a woman in high heels toward Sam. "'This is Mr. Wooly Bully. That's the song that made me fall in love with you." Sam smiles as the man clutches his arm.

"You gonna do Wooly Bully tonight?" the man asks. "Well, we're gonna have fun tonight," Sam says with a smile. The man laughs and Sam moves into the basement dressing room.

Other bands are already appearing onstage. Sam wants last-minute rehearsal time He strums a guitar and the group softly sings Jesus is the answer ... Oh, Lord our leader . . this world is not my own. Overhead, the ceiling reverberates. The Marcels are shouting . . , ain't too proud to beg, sweet darlin'. . .

Sam and the group step upstairs and walk toward the stage. People reach out to pat him on the back and shake his hand. Couples pass their cameras to strangers and ask for a shot of themselves standing with Sam. His musicians stand to one side and fold their hands in silent prayer. The emcee is announcing: "He did songs like Wooly Bully and Lil' Red Riding Hood . . . " A wall of applause lifts up and toward the top of the arena. The house is full.

Sam, holding his guitar, walks to the lights at center stage. The crowd quiets,

"This is the real me I'm wearing glasses," he laughs into the microphone. "You know what's hard? Serving Jesus and getting old." A few people clap. "I really love you," says Sam, his voice echoing in the back of the cavernous hall. "I just got tired one day and I went to the Lord."

He looks over his shoulder at his musicians sandwiching themselves among the members of the road band. To his right, his two singers shuffle nervously and pat their dresses, Sam looks back at the audience: "I want you to all sing along," he shouts.

Uno, Dos... Uno, Dos, Tres, Cuatro . . The oldies band organ player breaks into a wide smile and stabs at his keyboard, punching out the chords. In the front rows, couples in their 30S and 40s slide into the aisles and begin to dance. A saxophone player steps forward and grinds out a solo. Thousands of people punctuate every chorus: Wooly Bully, Wooly Bully. Sam rears back his head - Watch it now, watch it now ... come and learn to dance.

When he's through, more people join the ones already standing. They applaud and whistle. "I'm from Dallas, Fort Worth and the Trinity River bottoms," announces Sam with a grin. "I used to chase rabbits and howl at the moon."

Sam introduces three religious numbers. When he's finished a few more people stand up to do their clapping. Backstage, Sam receives congratulations from the other musicians. "I prayed about it and decided to do Wooly Bully," shrugs Sam, "That way they'll know who I am. Then I can get them with Jesus."

A man in a checkered shirt pushes his son forward and politely asks Sam to sign the boy's souvenir oldies T-shirt.

Sam grabs the black felt pen and writes: If Jesus can change me, He can do anything - Love, Sam I Am No Longer The Sham.

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Newspaper Reports

Boston Globe 17 April 1988

Sam Samudio who gained fame during the 1960s as leader of Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, says he fled rock 'n' roll to work anonymously in offshore oil fields because fast living had drained him. Today, the 51-year old composer and performer of the 1965 hit "Wooly Bully" preaches on the streets of Memphis. "God is not in the throwaway business. He's in the renewal business," Samudio said this week. "We have a little trailer we pull behind a pickup and we just pick a corner." Samudio spends Sundays at a shelter for transients, visits convicts in prison and preaches with a loosely organized group called Gideon's Few, comprised largely of former drug users, law-breakers and ruffians.--compiled from wire reports

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Sam The Sam Uncensored : Excerpts from Jeff Jarema's interview in Here 'Tis #7

Jeff Jarema caught up with Sam to do a one-page interview with him to tie-in to the release of the tribute album Turban Renewal. His conversation turned into a much longer piece that appeared in Here 'Tis #7. Excerpts from that article appear here, with permission from the publisher. Here 'Tis is available from Sundazed Music, Inc.)

On the forming of the "Wooly Bully" group of Pharaohs and moving to Memphis:

SAM THE SHAM: … So he [David Martin] and Andy [Anderson] formed a band and they went to Louisiana. It was a four-piece band and then one of my Pharaohs, the drummer of the band [early 1960's ] that had disbanded, went down there with them. And then they lost their organ player. I didn't even know how to play the organ; not a chord. I'd owned one for three days and they gave me a call. They'd heard that I'd purchased an organ and asked me if I wanted a job. I says, "Man, I don't even know the songs. I just bought this three days ago." But they knew I could sing… that's why they called me the Sham, 'cause I was always frontin' and emceein'. There was never a dull moment.

[In a motel on Highway 171 in Louisiana]: Every night I would come in and David was my roommate and he'd be sitting' off in the dark side of the room and all I could see was his cigarette glowing in the dark. He'd be sittin' up when I'd come in at night and one night when I was sitting at the table and there was a bare light bulb in the hall shining on the table and I'd just finished making me a baloney sandwich. I was eatin' that sandwich and I said "David, what are you thinking about? Every night I come in, what are you thinkin' about?" He got out of bed and came over to the table and leaned right in my face and he says, "Do you know that while we sit in this rathole, eatin' baloney sandwiches, there's people out there making thousands of dollars a night and they're not half as good as we are." I thought he'd snapped.

But the thing is that David, when he got in my face and he said that, I just looked at him and said, "What does it take to get that kinda money?" And he said, "One gold record." So, I said to him, "Let's go and get one, let's us go get one." And he looked at me and he said, "I'm not joking", and I said, "I'm not joking, either." So, we shook on it and I guess if anybody had heard us, they probably would've put us in straightjackets (laughter). But he said, "We'll have to go to Memphis. All we do is practice here and get good and we're goin' to Memphis. I said, "We're goin'."

That was in the Spring [ca. '63]. By the summer, we had a tight band [Andy and the Nightriders] and we were on our way to Memphis. We came up here cold and in five days, we had a job. We took the town by storm. They weren't ready for us. When we hit town, we were playin' … in other clubs in the town, Willie Mitchell was back up the road from us, the Mar-Keys were just across the road and down a little bit, Jerry Lee Lewis was playing the Hi Hat on Highway 61 and Bill Black's Combo was playing somewhere else. There were bands all over the place and we just took the place by storm. You know, we got covered twice. [Sam's version of Haunted House was covered and made a hit by Jumpin' Gene Simmons]. We got real educated (laughter)!

On forming the "Wooly Bully" group of Pharaohs:

SAM THE SHAM: [After Andy Anderson left the group and returned to Louisiana]. He [David Martin] said "You remember what we said, that this is it?" I said, "Who's gonna lead the band?" and he says, "You lead the band". I say, "How am I gonna lead the band? I can't even play an organ." You know, I chord. I have my own technique and use it as a rhythm instrument. That's another reason musicians call me the Sham, 'cause they knew I couldn't take any rides on the organ or anything. It had a unique sound, the way I played it. I says, "How am I gonna tell musicians to do something on their (instruments) when I don't know how to do anything on mine?" He says, "I'll handle the music, I'll handle the musicians, you just front; you just be the leader. And when I say 'leader', I mean go collect the money (laughter)." I'd been working construction and I was lean and (laughter) I had no fat on me. I was a lean, hungry dog.

But I ran my band like a ship. I mean, I didn't hang out 'n' jam at night, after hours. My own band would say, "Man, do you think you're too good for us? How come you don't come out and go sit in at other clubs?" I'd tell 'em … Freddy King used to say this-he was a friend of mine-He'd say, "I came to play, not to stay." To that, I added, "I came to play, not to stay. I'm gonna do my bit, then I'm on my way." I didn't come here to jam. If they want to hear me, they're gonna have to come here at a certain hour. I'd say, "You go on and jam. I'm just passin' through." I said, "If you're not careful, you might be gone ten years, you come back and the same guys who are still alive'll still be jammin' and still be drinkin'" I said, "If we're gonna drink, let's drink, but let's don't mess up the music," and I'd tell 'em, "Man, I don't care what you're doin', but when that first beat kicks off, you better be standin' tall and straight." That's the way it's done. Later on, I got into drugs. "Well, I'm gonna do drugs (so) I'm gonna quite everything else." Don't do anything half-steppin'. But that's just the way it happened and it was real.

On "Wooly Bully" and The Beatles:

SAM THE SHAM: I guess "Wooly Bully" was more or less intended for dance rock 'n' roll music and then when we did "Ring Dang Doo", they may call it novelty and all that but … "Wooly Bully" is still valid today as far as rhythm and impact. It's simple and danceable.

"Wooly Bully" is great and I love it and it's afforded me a lot of things and it's made history, I understand. Somebody told me that it was the first American-one of the first, if not the first-to sell a certified million during the onslaught of the British groups. I guess it's not a light thing, but I didn't dwell on it 'cause I expected more than that. I remember when we landed in New York once and the press met us at the airport, on the tarmac as we were getting into our hearse.

Somebody said, "Do you concede to the Beatles?", and I said "No", and people thought I was insane. My own band said, "Man, you're crazy. The Beatles? You don't concede to them?" I said then as I say now, I knew where rock 'n' roll came from. It didn't come from England (laughter).

JEFF JAREMA: How did you come up with the (all-time classic) count-off [to "Wooly Bully]?:

SAM THE SHAM: That's just … I used to goof off. We're talkin' Tex-Mex … David and I. We're half-Spanish and half-English. We'd gone to the same high school and we'd just shuck 'n' jive back 'n' forth, half-Spanish and half-English. So, I counted it off in Tex-Mex. I didn't intend for that to stay there and Stan Kessler, the producer, said, "Man, that's wild. Let me leave that on there." I said, "Naw, man, don't leave that on there", and we argued and he won the argument. I'm kinda glad he did (laughter).

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Ry Cooder Interview

National Public Radio broadcast an interview by Leanne Hansen with Ry Cooder on 20 August 1995 on the release of his new 2-CD album entitled "Film Music." The following excerpt recalls Cooder's work with Sam Samudio in 1982.

LH: I have to ask you about music for your 1982 movie :"The Border." Is Sam Samudio on organ and vocals ... now is this Sam The Sham, who with a band The Pharaohs did Wooly Bully?

RC: It is ... Right ... Think about it!

(an excerpt from Wooly Bully plays in the background)

RC: Sam Samudio as Sam The Sham was of course a great American, to me a great American, pop music figure. I mean this was a guy who dreamed up this cross identity, music identity and put a bedspread on as a robe and a towel for a turban. I mean this man was on to it! And sang great songs and had a hell of a persona. And then fell through the cracks somehow.

I found him working on a boat in the Gulf of Louisiana servicing these oil rigs offshore. I don't know how it was I found him. I mean ... obviously made some calls. And he called me from some pay phone down there and said 'Are you looking for me' and I said 'yeah man' and I said 'Here's the story and you know something about this.' I said 'I need you here just to do whatever you can do cause its gonna be good.' And he jumped on a plane and he came out with a couple of songs that he'd written in Spanish for the story cause I'd explained it to him. All of a sudden you had Sam The Sham, Freddy Fender, and Flaco Jimenez meeting for the first time in the same room. You know, and that's it as far as I'm concerned. That's payback! I mean these things don't happen but once in awhile and when they do you feel, you know, ah ... I've seen something, I've propelled something into existence here and its just, its just really great!

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Legends Of Rock 'n' Roll Concert

Sam gave a rare concert performance in an oldies show called The Legends of Rock and Roll at the Greek Theatre in Hollywood, California on October 5, 1996. The program consisted of ten acts, each of whom performed between one and four songs, except for The Teenagers and Lou Christie, who were allotted time for a few extra numbers. Music for all of the acts except The Chantays was provided by The Monte Carlos, a competent, professional group that did a commendable job.

The Chantays
The Archies
Doris "Just One Look" Troy
The Teenagers
Lou Christie

Sam, wearing a jeweled turban befitting a Pharaoh, opened his set with his warm, sly country humor and launched into L'il Red Riding Hood. The hithertofore attentive and appreciative audience came alive. He proceeded on to a hot version of Ring Dang Doo, with the audience participing by providing "Hey" on Sam's cues. Sam will not perform unless he is allowed to do some of the Christian music that provides meaning to his life today. His third number was the inspirational I Know Someone. The audience was out for a party-filled night of rock 'n' roll, yet Sam held them throughout this powerful track. When he began the opening count-down for his last number, Wooly Bully, the crowd shot to their feet and clapped and danced in the aisles. The band was cookin' on this number. None of the previous acts could match Sam's energy and crowd appeal.

Sam The Sham was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. He went to the same high school as Trini Lopez. They performed together a couple of times at their school. He spent some time in the Navy and took up boxing, but music won him over. He formed a group in late 1959, early 1960 with Sam playing the harmonica. The group eventually split up and he went on to buy a Wurlitzer organ with a Leslie speaker. He joined up with some friends and traveled to Memphis and took the city by storm. The group went into Phillips' recording studio and recorded the song that would bring Sam The Sham to the top of the charts. The song of course was "Wooly Bully." It went all the way up to number 2 and was picked by Billboard magazine as the record of the year for 1965. Other hits followed including "Li'l Red Riding Hood"-number 2 in mid 1966 and "The Hair On My Chinny Chin Chin"-number 22 in late 1966.

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Sam The Sham's Chile Pie Recipe (from Road Stories And Recipes, by Don Nix. New York : Macmillan, 1997)

Sam The Sham's Chili Pie

3 cups corn chips
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 can chili with beans
Sour cream and black olives (optional)

Layer 2 cups of corn chips, onion, half the cheese, and chili in casserole dish. Top with remaining corn chips. Bake in 375F oven about 20 minutes. Top with remaining cheese and bake 5 minutes more.

Garnish with sour cream and/or black olives. Serves 3-4.

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