Allen Richard "Dick" Penner (born 1936 in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

– 24 September 2024) is an American retired professor of English, who, while in college in 1955, co-composed, with Wade Lee Moore, "Ooby Dooby", which was recorded and released by Wade Moore and Rod Barkley. The song was later given away and became a

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...

hit for

Roy Orbison Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist known for his distinctive and powerful voice, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. Orbison's most successful periods were ...

. Penner also had been a singer, guitar player, and recording artist. In 1956, Penner switched from country music to rock and roll. That same year, he and Wade Moore (born November 15, 1934, in

Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Potter County, Texas, Potter County, though most of the southern half of the city extends into Randall County, Texas, Randall County ...

) formed a duo and recorded for

Sun Records Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee on February 1, 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Jo ...

. The duo was known as "Wade & Dick—The College Kids". Wade & Dick recorded three songs (with guitarist Don Gililland), "Wild Woman", "Don't Need Your Lovin'", and "Bop Bop Baby", which was included on the album ''

Walk the Line ''Walk the Line'' is a 2005 American biographical drama film directed by James Mangold. The screenplay, written by Mangold and Gill Dennis, is based on two autobiographies by the American singer-songwriter Johnny Cash: '' Man in Black: His Own ...

'', the soundtrack of the eponymous film biography of

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

. Penner recorded four on his own (with guitarist "Gypsy" Bob Izer). All four songs exhibited a hard, youthful edge that was targeted towards the then new teen market. Penner's four singles — (i) "Move Baby Move", (ii) "Fine Little Baby", Sun 615a, and (iii) "Cindy Lou" and (iv) "Honey Love" Sun 282 consisted of both rockabilly and ballads. The songs did not rise to the popularity of "Ooby Dooby"; which reached a formidable level on the national charts in Orbison's hands and, eventually, became regarded as a classic of the genre. Moore was in business following his college graduation. After receiving his M.A. from North Texas State, Penner earned a Ph.D. from the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...

. He was a professor of English at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

for 32 years until his retirement in 1990. Penner authored three academic books, his favorite being ''Fiction of the Absurd.'' Dick died on September 24, 2024 of a heart attack suffered on August 23 of that year.

Compositions

By Dick Penner & Wade Moore * "Ooby Dooby," Allen Richard Penner & Wade Lee Moore ( BMI) (written February 1955) * "Bop Bop Baby," Allen Richard Penner & Wade Lee Moore ( BMI) By Dick Penner * "Cindy Lou," Allen Richard Penner ( BMI) (1957) * "Your Honey Love," Allen Richard Penner ( BMI) (1957) * "Someday Baby," Allen Richard Penner * "Don't Need Your Lovin' Baby," Allen Richard Penner ( BMI) * "Move Baby Move," Allen Richard Penner ( BMI) * "Fine Little Baby," Allen Richard Penner ( BMI) * "When Will You Love Me?" ( BMI) * "Wild Woman" ( BMI)

"Ooby Dooby"

In 1954, Penner had enrolled at the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public university, public research university located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its main campus is in Denton, Texas, Denton, with a satellite campus in Frisco, Texas, Frisco. It serves as the ...

where he met Wade Moore. They composed "Ooby Dooby" in February 1955. Penner and Wade had taken a six-pack of beer onto the flat roof of their Lambda Chi fraternity house and wrote "Ooby Dooby" in a matter of minutes. Wade Moore later recorded a version of "Ooby Dooby" with Rod Barkley. After the recording of "Ooby Dooby" Rod Barkley quit the music business and moved back to his hometown of Gruver, Texas. Roy Orbison, then a student at North Texas and friend, became aware of the song and, sometime late in 1955, recorded a demo of it, together with " Hey, Miss Fannie", with his band, the Wink Westerners, at the Jim Beck Studio in Dallas, and sent it to

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

. Columbia was not interested in Orbison, but pitched the song to Sid King and the Five Strings, a band from

Denton, Texas Denton is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Denton County, Texas, Denton County. With a population of 139,869 as of 2020, it is the List of cities in Texas by population, 20th-most populous city in Texas, the List of Un ...

, who recorded it on March 5, 1956, in Dallas. A second recording of "Ooby Dooby" by Orbison took place at the

Norman Petty Norman Petty (May 25, 1927 – August 15, 1984) was an American musician, record producer, publisher, and radio station owner. He is considered to be one of the founding fathers of early rock & roll. With Vi Ann Petty—his wife and vocalist—he ...

studios in

Clovis, New Mexico Clovis is a city in and the county seat of Curry County, New Mexico. The population was 38,567 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Clovis is located in the New Mexico portion of the Llano Estacado, in the eastern part of the state. A ...

, and according to the authorised biography of Roy Orbison, this recording was Orbison's first record, released on Je-Wel 101 in March 1956. On March 20, 1956, a Roy Orbison session was set at Sam Phillips' Sun Studio, 706 Union Avenue, Memphis and "Ooby Dooby" was released yet again on Sun 242. By June 1956, the single had climbed to number 59 on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

and soon thereafter, sold over 250,000 copies. In 1986, Orbison recorded another version of the song and this version was featured in the movie '' Star Trek: First Contact'' as the favorite song on the jukebox of Zefram Cochrane ( James Cromwell); played by Cochrane while meeting with the Vulcans who landed on Earth after detecting his first warp flight, the song is the first element of human culture shared with an alien race. The song has been covered by several other artists, including

Creedence Clearwater Revival Creedence Clearwater Revival, commonly abbreviated as CCR or simply Creedence, was an American Rock music, rock band formed in El Cerrito, California. The band consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty, h ...

, on their album '' Cosmo's Factory''.

Selected discography

Wade & Dick – The College Kids :1)

No. 269 (released May 27, 1957) ::"Bop Bop Baby" ( BMI U-250) ::backed with ("bw") "Don't Need Your Lovin' Baby" ( BMI U-251) :2)

(released 1956) ::"Bop Bop Baby" (alternate version) ( BMI U-250) ::backed with ("bw") "Wild Woman" Dick Penner :1)

No. 615 (1957) :: "Move Baby Move" ( BMI) :: backed with ("bw") "Fine Little Baby" ( BMI) :2)

No. 282 :: "Your Honey Love" ( BMI U-278) "Recordings of "Ooby Dooby" * Single – Wade Moore & Rod Barkley with the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

, "When Will You Love Me" (1955) * Album – '' Roy Orbison at the Rock House'',

(1961) : Track list includes "Ooby Dooby" * The Teen Kings (1956) * Janis Martin (1956) *

(1970) * Charlie Feathers (1977) * Elizabeth Mitchell (December 2002)

Audio samples

Education

Penner graduated from Sunset High School (1954) in the North

Oak Cliff Oak Cliff is an area of Dallas, Texas, United States that was formerly a separate town in Dallas County; established in 1887 and annexed by Dallas in 1903, Oak Cliff has retained a distinct neighborhood identity as one of Dallas' older establ ...

area of

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. Penner earned a Bachelor of Arts in English (1958) and a master's degree in English (1967) from the

. In 1957, while working on his undergraduate degree, Penner was inducted into Blue Key, a national honor fraternity. After earning his master's degree, Penner taught English at North Texas. In the fall of 1961, Penner began teaching English at the

University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a Public university, public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a Federated state, state, it is the fla ...

. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree in English from the

in 1965, whereupon, he became an instructor of English at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

Family

First marriage : On June 10, 1961, Penner married Janice Carolyn Gilley in

.''Mr. Penner, Bride Go to New Boulder Home'', ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation in 2022 of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885, by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ' ...

'', June 11, 1961 Janice was born January 2, 1937, in

, and died October 26, 2004, in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

. : Dick and Jan have two sons, Richard Lee Penner of Charlotte, NC and Gregory Joseph Penner of

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

Academic publications

* Allen Richard Penner, PhD, '' Fielding and

Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra ( ; ; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 NS) was a Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelists. He is best known for his no ...

: The Contribution of "

Don Quixote , the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is of ...

" to "

Joseph Andrews ''The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and of his Friend Mr. Abraham Adams'', was the first full-length novel by the English author Henry Fielding to be published and among the early novels in the English language. Appearing in 1742 ...

" and " Tom Jones" (dissertation) University of Colorado at Boulder (1965) * Allen Richard Penner, '' Alan Sillitoe'', Twayne Publishers (1972) * Allen Richard Penner, ''Fiction of the Absurd; Pratfalls in the Void – a critical anthology'',

New American Library The New American Library (also known as NAL) is an American publisher based in New York, founded in 1948. Its initial focus was affordable paperback reprints of classics and scholarly works as well as popular and pulp fiction, but it now publi ...

(1980) * Allen Richard Penner, ''Countries of the mind: the fiction of

J. M. Coetzee John Maxwell Coetzee Order of Australia, AC Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, FRSL Order of Mapungubwe, OMG (born 9 February 1940) is a South African and Australian novelist, essayist, linguist, and translator. The recipient of the 2003 ...

'',

Greenwood Press Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. (GPG) was an educational and academic publisher (middle school through university level) which was part of ABC-Clio. Since 2021, ABC-Clio and its suite of imprints, including GPG, are collectively imprints of B ...

(1989) * Allen Richard Penner, ''Illuminations''

(2001)

References

External links

Dick Penner biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Penner, Dick 1936 births 2024 deaths Songwriters from Illinois Musicians from Chicago University of North Texas alumni Music of Denton, Texas People from Oak Cliff, Texas Roy Orbison