"Bomb Iran" (or "Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran") is the name of several parodies of the Regents' 1961 song "

Barbara Ann "Barbara Ann" is a song written by Fred Fassert that was first recorded by the Regents as "Barbara-Ann". Their version was released in 1961 and reached number 13 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. The more famous version was recorded by the ...

", originally written by

Fred Fassert Fred Fassert (born 1935) is most famously known as the writer of the popular song "Barbara Ann," which was originally written for the band he was in at the time, The Regents. In 1961, the song reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was ...

and popularized in a "party" cover version by

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...

in 1965. The most popular of the parodies was recorded by Vince Vance & the Valiants in 1980. "Bomb Iran" gained a resurgence in notoriety in 2007 during John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign.

Origins

In reaction to the

Iran hostage crisis On November 4, 1979, 52 United States diplomats and citizens were held hostage after a group of militarized Iranian college students belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, who supported the Iranian Revolution, took ove ...

which began in November 1979, the first publicly known version of this parody was recorded by a group called "the Baritone Dwarfs" and aired on the radio in Boston in December 1979. A second version, with different lyrics, aired on KIXS-FM (now

KGSR KGSR (93.3 FM broadcasting, FM, "Lucy 93.3") is a radio station city of license, licensed to Cedar Park, Texas, and serving the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area. Owned by Sinclair Telecable Inc. Trade name, d/b/a Waterloo Media Group, it br ...

) in

Killeen, Texas Killeen is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. According to the 2020 census, its population was 153,095, making it the 19th-most populous city in Texas and the largest of the three principal cities of Bell County. It is the principal city ...

(which broadcasts to the military institution

Fort Hood Fort Hood is a United States Army post located near Killeen, Texas. Named after Confederate General John Bell Hood, it is located halfway between Austin and Waco, about from each, within the U.S. state of Texas. The post is the headquar ...

) for a single weekend in January 1980. At least five more "Bomb Iran" songs were written and copyrighted in 1980. The lyrics have the line "Went to a mosque, gonna throw some rocks...Tell the Ayatollah...'Gonna put you in a box!'", which refers to

Ayatollah Ayatollah ( ; fa, آیت‌الله, āyatollāh) is an Title of honor, honorific title for high-ranking Twelver Shia clergy in Iran and Iraq that came into widespread usage in the 20th century. Etymology The title is originally derived from ...

Ruhollah Khomeini. In addition to these parodies, another version of "Bomb Iran" was written by radio personalities Dana Michaels and Tom Rivers. This version of the song was produced by Rivers and performed by Michaels (guitar and vocals), Ernie Norris (guitar and vocals), John Rode (guitar and vocals), Mark Lewis (vocals), and Tony Blake (vocals), who called themselves the "Not Current in This Time Zone Singers".Kossen, Bill. "Not Current in This Time Zone Singers". ''Anchorage Daily News'', Aug. 3, 1980. It was first aired on

KFQD KFQD (750 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Anchorage, Alaska known as "News Talk 750 and 103.7 KFQD." It broadcasts a News/Talk radio format and is owned by Alpha Media LLC. The studios and offices are on Arctic Slope Avenue in Anch ...

Radio (where Rivers was program director) in

Anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S ...

on April 25, 1980,Skok, Mark. "The drums of war heard in Anchorage". ''Anchorage Daily News'', April 26, 1980. immediately after an attempt to rescue the American hostages in Tehran failed. Rivers later wrote in ''

Billboard Magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...

'', "the phones lit up like a Christmas tree. We logged more than 20,000 calls in three days...and they were 97 percent positive."Rivers, Tom
"From Michigan to Alaska: PD Tom Rivers"
''Billboard Magazine'', July 19, 1980. Because of the song’s popularity in Australia and New Zealand,

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...

called Rivers to discuss a possible recording contract and tour. Another version of "Bomb Iran" was recorded in 1980 by a group called "J.C. & the B-1 Bombers".

Vince Vance & the Valiants

The most popular version of "Bomb Iran" was recorded by Vince Vance & the Valiants in 1980. The single was popular and frequently requested on the radio, but never charted because it lacked distribution and the rights to the music were not properly acquired. The song threatening Iran with nuclear annihilation also provoked retaliatory death threats and other altercations against the lead singer. However, after some legal wrangling, the single was finally re-released by Paid Records in September 1980. After its second release, the song reached number 101 on the ''Billboard''

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

chart. The 1980 recording, along with a 1987 remix, was eventually included in the band's album ''I Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans'', released in 1996. One year after the original single release, in 1981, the band released another parody on the same topic called "Nuke Iran", to the tune of

Gene Chandler Gene Chandler (born Eugene Drake Dixon; July 6, 1937) is an American singer, songwriter, music producer, and record-label executive. Chandler is nicknamed "the Duke of Earl" or, simply, "the Duke." He is best known for his most successful son ...

's "

Duke of Earl "Duke of Earl" is a 1962 US number-one song, originally recorded by Gene Chandler. It is the best known of Chandler's songs, and he subsequently dubbed himself "The Duke of Earl". The song was penned by Chandler, Bernice Williams, and Earl Edwa ...

". In 2005, they created a similarly themed parody of

the Coasters The Coasters are an American rhythm and blues/rock and roll vocal group who had a string of hits in the late 1950s. Beginning with " Searchin'" and " Young Blood" in 1957, their most memorable songs were written by the songwriting and producin ...

' song "

Yakety Yak "Yakety Yak" is a song written, produced, and arranged by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller for the Coasters and released on Atco Records in 1958, spending seven weeks as #1 on List of number-one rhythm and blues hits (United States), the R&B chart ...

", this time with

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

as the target, called "Yakety Yak (Bomb Iraq)". Foreshadowing this, ''

The Rush Limbaugh Show ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'' is an American conservative talk radio show hosted by Rush Limbaugh. Since its nationally syndicated premiere in 1988, ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'' became the highest-rated talk radio show in the United States. At its ...

'' in 1990 featured a parody of "Barbara Ann" called "Bomb Iraq" following the start of the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

John McCain controversy

The parody lived on and became political fodder when, on April 17, 2007, in Senator John McCain's (R-AZ) campaign for the 2008 presidential election, at an appearance in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, he responded to an audience question about military action against Iran by referring to "that old Beach Boys song, 'Bomb Iran'", then singing the parody chorus, "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, anyway, ah ..." McCain later claimed he was only joking, but his opponents used his comments against him throughout the 2008 campaign.

References

{{Iran–United States relations, state=collapsed 1980 songs Vince Vance & the Valiants songs Black comedy music Musical parodies Novelty songs Political songs Songs about Iran Obscenity controversies in music Anti-Iranian sentiments John McCain 2008 presidential campaign Cultural depictions of Ruhollah Khomeini The Beach Boys Iran–United States relations

Origins

Vince Vance & the Valiants

John McCain controversy

See also

References