Yes indeed. Surprising, no? You’d think it was just some kind of nonsense song.
But before we get to the story told by the lyrics, a word about the fabulous Andrews Sisters who performed the original song in the 1941 Abbott and Costello movie Buck Privates. They really were sisters, with the original last name of “Andreos.” Their career started in the 1920’s, with their first big hit in 1937 when Patty, the youngest and the lead, was 19, having been seven when the act started. Radio success and record sales led to their being offered a movie contract by Universal Pictures, and they ended up appearing in three movies with Abbott and Costello.
But wait a minute, you may say. America didn’t enter World War II until after Pearl Harbor, and that was at the end of 1941. Why was a film being made about American soldiers before that? You may not realize this, and I sure didn’t until I did the research on this song, but there was a peacetime draft, the first in American history, enacted in 1940. Every male between the ages of 21 and 35 had to register, and draftees were chosen from this pool by lottery and put in training for 12 months. So Buck Privates is set in one of those training camps, with the Andrews Sisters showing up to lift morale. One of the songs they perform is BWBB.
Now we get to the story in the lyrics. A famous trumpet man from Chicago, whose boogie style can’t be imitated, is drafted into the army. He gets really depressed because he can’t jam any more with his band. So his Captain, a sympathetic guy, goes out and drafts some jazz musicians to play with him, and now he’s happy because he can play, and the soldiers he’s performing for really like how things are, too. They get put to sleep with boogie every night and have a great time every morning, clapping their hands and stamping their feet, as he plays reveille. All ends happily.
Several servicemen have claimed to be the actual bugle boy who inspired the song, and there are a couple of them whose stories fit the lyrics pretty well. I guess we’ll never know for sure. One thing we can know for sure, though, is that the only version worth watching is the original below. (At least I hope you can watch it–sometimes it shows up as “video unavailable,” but if you try again you can probably get it.)
And a small bonus: What does “eight to the bar” mean?
Many songs of this era include this expression, which seems to have been used for the first time in “Beat Me, Daddy, Eight to the Bar,” a song about a honky-tonk piano player who can play “any way you like it” but whose favorite style is the one in the title. The BWBB plays that way. In “Chattanooga Choo Choo” the whistle on the train blows it. It simply refers to a fast dance rhythm that is in 4/4 time with eight eighth notes per measure, or bar. There. Aren’t you glad to know that? Here are the Andrews Sisters singing “Beat Me”–you’ll be able to hear a strong resemblance to BWBB–both are by the same songwriting team:
Here are the lyrics:
He was a famous trumpet man from out Chicago way
He had a boogie style that no one else could play
He was the top man at his craft
But then his number came up, and he was gone with the draft
He’s in the army now, a-blowin’ reveille
He’s the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B
They made him blow a bugle for his Uncle Sam
It really brought him down because he couldn’t jam
The captain seemed to understand
Because the next day the cap’ went out and drafted a band
And now the company jumps when he plays reveille
He’s the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B
A-toot, a-toot, a-toot-diddleyada-toot
He blows it eight-to-the-bar, in boogie rhythm
He can’t blow a note unless the bass and guitar is playin’ with him
He makes the company jump when he plays reveille
He’s the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B
He was our boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B
And when he plays boogie woogie bugle, he was buzy as a ‘bzz’ bee
And when he plays, he makes the company jump eight-to-the-bar
He’s the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B
Toot-toot-toot, toot-diddleyada, toot-diddleyada
Toot, toot, he blows it eight-to-the-bar
He can’t blow a note if the bass and guitar isn’t with him
A-a-a-and the company jumps when he plays reveille
He’s the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B
He puts the boys asleep with boogie every night
And wakes ’em up the same way in the early bright
They clap their hands and stamp their feet
Because they know how he plays when someone gives him a beat
He really breaks it up when he plays reveille
He’s the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B
Da-doo-da, da-doo-da-da, da
Da-doo-da, da-doo-da-da, da
Da-doo-da, da-doo-da-da, da
Da-doo-da, da-doo-da-da
A-a-a-and the company jumps when he plays reveille
He’s the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B!
© Debi Simons
