What the heck was "The Boogie"?
April 9, 2022 1:03 AM   Subscribe

When I was young, back in the 90s, I dated two girls of South Korean descent. One was American-born and artsy and weird, while the other had been born in South Korea and was shy and business-minded. They were very different girls, but one of the things they had in common was that the mere mention of a song called The Boogie would send them into total hysterics. Their friends and relatives had a similar reaction. What the heck was this song? (More info and a wav of me whistling the song within!)

I never heard the original song but I sure heard people singing it a lot. I know I asked what the deal was with The Boogie, but I can't quite remember what they told me. I think they usually said something like, "Never mind, you wouldn't get it. It's... The Boogie!" I got the feeling it was an older song that had been a hit in South Korea, and maybe when they were growing up their parents had listened to it. The Boogie was this weird thing in my life for a few years, then when I stopped seeing those girls I never heard about it again. Just once I'd like to actually hear The Boogie myself, and maybe find out its story.

The lyrics seemed to be, "Boooo-gie, boo-gie, boogie boo-gieee... Boooo-gie, boo-gie, boogie boo-gieee... Boooo-gie, boo-gie, boogie boo-gieee... It's the boo-boogie!" (So naturally trying to search for the lyrics doesn't get me far.) Everybody sang it in this weird, high, kind of ghostly voice. I won't subject you to my singing but I have uploaded a short wav file of me whistling the song here.
posted by Ursula Hitler to Media & Arts (8 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Must've been Taste of Honey's Boogie Oogie Oogie.
posted by mono blanco at 5:40 AM on April 9, 2022 [2 favorites]


Bunny Girls' version of Yes Sir I Can Boogie?

This was originally a European hit for Baccarat, but Bunny Girls were a Korean duo and this was a hit for them in the 1970s.
posted by essexjan at 10:19 AM on April 9, 2022 [2 favorites]


기타부기 [guitar boogie]?
posted by boudicca at 11:45 AM on April 9, 2022 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Definitely not Taste of Honey or the Bunny Girls, but maybe Guitar Boogie. The melody isn't super far off, he says "boogie" a lot and the guy's voice sounds like it may have been the one people were imitating. Everybody ended the chorus with "It's the boo-boogie" though, and this song doesn't. Also, the song people were singing had kind of a different feel. It's hard to describe, but something about it sent people into hysterics and I'm not sure if this one would. I'd call this maybe a 65% match for the song in my head. Maybe somebody did a goofier cover version?
posted by Ursula Hitler at 12:41 PM on April 9, 2022


Best answer: From a brief search, Yoon Il-ro kept performing this song, indeed his obituary describes him as Guitar Boogie Yoon Il-ro. His first recording was in 1959 but here he is on Korean tv in 2007 (aged 72) still singing this song. He appeared on tv variety shows during your friends' childhoods. Note that here it sounds like he is singing "it a boogie" though, as per the on-screen lyric, he's singing "guitar boogie".
posted by boudicca at 1:29 PM on April 9, 2022 [5 favorites]


Response by poster: Boudicca, that's IT! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
posted by Ursula Hitler at 1:55 PM on April 9, 2022 [4 favorites]


Hoorah! Here's a version with subtitles in case you wondering what the verses are about (very little!). The distinctive singing style is trot and a record review I read noted that boogie-woogie arrived in Korea from America but via Japan as that article explains.
posted by boudicca at 2:09 PM on April 9, 2022 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Yep, it's Guitar Boogie. Maybe exactly that version I just linked, or maybe from Yoon Il-ro performing it on variety shows when the people I knew were growing up. That kind of brassy, echoe-y take with the quavering voice is 100% it.

It's so weird to finally have a real song to go with this second-hand earworm that's been burrowing around in my brain for decades. My long-suffering girlfriend has heard plenty about "The Boogie" over the years, so I'll have to play this for her too.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:09 PM on April 9, 2022 [4 favorites]


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