"Clap for the Wolfman", written by Burton Cummings, Kurt Winter, and Bill Wallace, was released fifty-two years ago this month. The song peaked at #6 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, where it spent a total of 16 weeks.
Wolfman Jack dropped into the studio to do some overdubs. (An initial recording had been cut with Burton doing Wolfman’s voice.) At first, Wolfman refused, but he agreed to have Burton come to his hotel suite and play the song for him. After hearing the track he asked how soon he could get into the studio to record.
Many of the lines were already laid out for Wolfman, but he added some ad-libs, such as “…everybody’s talkin’ about the Wolfman’s pompatus of love,” borrowing from Steve Miller’s line, “Cause I speak of the pompatus of love,” from his song The Joker, which was popular at the time.
Photo credit: John Rowlands