R&B

The song was written by Broadway actor and singer Avon Long and jazz pianist, composer, singer and bandleader Lil Hardin. (She was married to Louis Armstrong at one time.) The Jive Bombers had a hit with the song in 1957. It rose to #7 on the U.S. R&B chart and #36 on the U.S. Billboard pop chart.

There have been a number of covers of the songs. Artists with versions include The Escorts, Mink DeVille, Ringo Starr, Sha Na Na, and more. The song was featured in the 1990 John Waters film Cry-Baby.

The Jive Bombers were an R&B group that formed in New York City from two previous vocal groups, which were Sonny Austin & The Jive Bombers and The Palmer Brothers. They first recorded in 1949 as The Sparrows, but they changed their name (and record label from Coral Records to Citation Records) in 1952. The group consisted of Earl Johnson, Al Tinney, William “Pee Wee” Tinny, and Clarence Palmer. Clarence was known for his scat-singing in the lead vocals, which you can hear  in “Bad Boy” when he sings the song’s title.

Here are the lyrics to “Bad Boy” by The Jive Bombers:

I’m just a bad boy,
(boy)
All dressed up in fancy clothes
I’m takin’ the trouble
To blow my bubbles away
Bad boy
(boy)
Life is just a bowl of cherries
I’m takin’ the trouble
To turn my nights into days
The hot, blazin’ sun (doo-doo, doo-doo)
Won’t hurt my head (doo-doo, doo-doo)
`Cause you’ll always find me (doo-doo, doo-doo)
Right there in the shade (doo-doo, doo-doo)
I can see all the folks (doo-doo, doo-doo)
They’re laughin’ at me (doo-doo, doo-doo)
`Cause I’m just naturally crazy
Bad boy
(boy)
All dressed up in fancy clothes
I’m takin’ the trouble
To blow my bubbles away
The hot, blazin’ sun (doo-doo, doo-doo)
Won’t hurt my head (doo-doo, doo-doo)
`Cause you’ll always find me (doo-doo, doo-doo)
Right there in the shade (doo-doo, doo-doo)
I can see all the folks (doo-doo, doo-doo)
They’re laughin’ at me (doo-doo, doo-doo)
`Cause I’m just naturally hazy crazy
Bad boy
(Lahh)
All dressed up in fancy clothes
I’m takin’ the trouble
To blow my bubbles away
(BAD BOY!)

For More Golden Oldies Music                                

The Daily Doo Wop Rec Room has daily featured doo wop music, rock and roll hits, R&B, or rockabilly songs that were hits during the first era of rock and roll (that is, from about 1952 until the British invasion in 1964). After a song is featured, it then goes into the juke box. You are welcome to listen to any of the 40+ selections there. Every weekend, there is a Golden Oldies Juke Box Saturday Night, and the juke box is full of song requests from the 1950s and 1960s.

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