Single:
Back off Boogaloo entered the Australian singles chart* on 24 April 1972 and peaked at #14. The song was #94 on the Top 100 of 1972.
Songwriter:
Richard Starkey
Producer:
George Harrison
Record label of Australian release:
Apple
*Kent Music Report / Australian Chart Book. See About.
BONUS BELOW – Ringo talks about the idea for the song coming from Marc Bolan of T.Rex
Wikipedia:
Ringo Starr’s former Beatles bandmate George Harrison produced the recording of Back off Boogaloo and helped Starr write the song. Recording took place in London shortly after the pair had appeared together at Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh shows in August 1971.
Ringo Starr identified his initial inspiration for Back Off Boogaloo as having come from Marc Bolan, the singer and guitarist with the English glam rock band T Rex. In a 2001 interview with Mojo editor Paul Du Noyer, Starr described Bolan as “a dear friend who used to come into the office when I was running Apple Movies, a big office in town, and the hang-out for myself, Harry Nilsson and Keith Moon”. Over dinner one evening at Starr’s home outside London, in 1971, Bolan had used the word “boogaloo” so often that it stuck in Starr’s mind, after which the beat and melody for the song came to him overnight.
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_Off_Boogaloo
Personnel:
These musicians played on this original version of Back Off Boogaloo:
Ringo Starr – vocals, drums, percussion, backing vocals
George Harrison – slide guitars, acoustic guitar
Gary Wright – piano
Klaus Voormann – bass, saxophone
Madeline Bell, Lesley Duncan, Jean Gilbert – backing vocals
Lyrics:
Back off boogaloo,
I said, back off boogaloo,
I said, back off boogaloo, boo.
Back of boogaloo,
What d’yer think i’m gonna do?
I got a flash right from the start.
Click for full lyrics
This song is also on our Spotify playlist Bang a Gong – the 70s
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BONUS
Ringo talks about the song
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