In the song, the singer asks a witch doctor for romantic advice, the witch doctor responds in a high-pitched squeaky voice with a nonsense incantation which creates an earworm. The technique developed in this song for the voice of the witch doctor was later used for the creation of the voices of the Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Composition and recording
David Seville wrote the song, inspired by a book titled Duel with the Witch Doctor on his bookshelf. In the song, the narrator asks a witch doctor for advice on what to do because he has fallen in love with a girl, and the witch doctor replies with a gibberish line: "Oo-ee, oo-ah-ah, ting-tang, walla-walla bing-bang".[2]
Seville had spent 200 dollars, a significant sum at that time, on a tape recorder,[3] and he conceived of the idea of recording himself at different speed to create a dialogue between him and the witch doctor. He sang in his own voice as normal, and then overdubbed the song with the voice of the "witch doctor", which is in fact Seville's own voice sung slowly but recorded at half speed on the tape recorder, then played back at normal speed (the voice was therefore sped up to become a high pitched squeaky one).[2][4] Seville recorded the music first, and then experimented with the process for creating the singing voice for two months before recording it in the studio.[2][5] It was said that when Si Waronker from the financially-troubled Liberty label heard the resulting song, they released it to reach the shops within 24 hours.[6]
The same technique used for creating the voice of the witch doctor was used in Seville's next song "The Bird on My Head", and then more significantly the highly successful Chipmunks (also known as Alvin and the Chipmunks) beginning with "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" released for the Christmas of 1958.[4] Initially released under David Seville alone, "Witch Doctor" was also released under the name of David Seville and the Chipmunks, and re-recorded under the name Alvin and the Chipmunks. The technique was also imitated by other recording artist such as Sheb Wooley in "The Purple People Eater",[5] and The Big Bopper, who parodied both songs on "The Purple People Eater Meets The Witch Doctor", which was originally released as a single, but it was its flip-side "Chantilly Lace" that became the hit.[7]
Chart performance
The song peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 100, the predecessor to the Billboard Hot 100. The single was considered a major surprise hit on the chart, where it became Seville and Liberty Records' first No. 1 single, and stayed in the position for three weeks. The single also peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart even though it is not a R&B song – this is due to the R&B chart being a trade category at the time, reflecting the popularity of the song with black radio stations and customers.[8] The single had sold 1.4 million copies in the United States by December 1958.[9]Billboard ranked it as the No. 4 song for 1958.[10]
In 2007, a DeeTown remix cover featuring Chris Classic was recorded for the live-action/CGI Alvin and the Chipmunks film.[16] This version reached No. 62 on Billboard Hot 100 in January 2008.[17] In 2012, they released a duet cover with the Chipettes entitled "Witch Doctor 2.0" available for digital download on the iTunes Store (although iTunes only credits the Chipmunks).[citation needed]
Danish band Cartoons covered "Witch Doctor" for their 1998 debut album, Toonage. Released on October 26, 1998, their version charted well in Europe, reaching the top 40 in several countries, including peaking at No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart in March 1999.[18] A Spanish version and an Italian version both appear on the album Toontastic, while an Italian version also appears on the album More Toonage.[citation needed]
An accompanying music video was produced, featuring both live-action and 2D animation, depicting the band members visiting a witch doctor. Lead singer Toonie urges the rest to see him, but they are all reluctant. After the witch doctor gives them the famous nonsense lyric, the group enter the house and follow the witch doctor into a TV and out the back where they all fall off a cliff, but miraculously land unharmed on the ground. The band follow the witch doctor into a ship shaped like a giant microphone and fly through the sky, underwater, and in space. The witch doctor transforms into Elvis Presley who drops them off atop a building with a sign reading "Toonie-Wood", before he declares his love for the band and says goodbye.[19]
Don Lang recorded a version similar to David Seville's recording. This version reached No. 5 on the UK chart in June 1958.[38]
The new wave band DEVO recorded a version for the soundtrack of The Rugrats Movie. Although the title, chorus and tune are the same, the verses were changed to be about how monkeys have more fun than humans, a fitting theme for both the film's monkey characters and DEVO itself.[39]
