"Wig-Wam Bam" is a song by British

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was primarily defined by the flamboyant clothing, makeup, and hairstyles of its musicians, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists d ...

band

The Sweet Sweet (known as the Sweet until the early 1970s) are a British glam rock band who rose to prominence in the 1970s. Their best-known line-up consisted of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bassist Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott and drummer ...

, written by songwriters

Nicky Chinn Nicholas Barry Chinn (born 16 May 1945) is an English-American songwriter and record producer. Together with Mike Chapman he had a long string of hit singles in the US and UK in the 1970s and early 1980s, including several international record c ...

and

Mike Chapman Michael Donald Chapman (born 13 April 1947) is an Australian record producer and songwriter who was a major force in the British pop music industry in the 1970s. He created a string of hit singles for artists including The Sweet, Suzi Quatro ...

, released as a single in September 1972. It was the first Sweet single on which the band members actually played their instruments, as previous singles featured producer

Phil Wainman Philip Neil Wainman (born 7 June 1946, West London, England) is an English record producer and songwriter, primarily active in the 1970s. He is noted for his work with Sweet, XTC, Dollar, Mud, and the Bay City Rollers. His greatest chart succes ...

on drums, and session musicians John Roberts and

Pip Williams Philip "Pip" Williams (born 7 October 1947), sometimes spelt Phillip, is an English record producer, arranger, and guitarist. He is best known for producing albums for Status Quo and The Moody Blues, but has also worked with a large number of we ...

(later producer of

Status Quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, economic, legal, environmental, political, religious, scientific or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the curren ...

albums) on bass and guitars respectively.

Lyrics

The song's lyrics are inspired by

Henry Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include the poems "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to complet ...

's ''

Hiawatha Hiawatha ( , also : ), also known as Ayenwatha or Aiionwatha, was a precolonial Native American leader and cofounder of the Iroquois Confederacy. He was a leader of the Onondaga people, the Mohawk people, or both. According to some accounts, he ...

'' poem from 1855. The poem tells the legend of a Native American warrior Hiawatha and his lover Minnehaha. The lyrics also refer to Running Bear and his lover Little White Dove, two characters from the 1959 song "

Running Bear "Running Bear" is a teenage tragedy song written by Jiles Perry Richardson (a.k.a. The Big Bopper) and sung most famously by Johnny Preston in 1959. The 1959 recording featured background vocals by George Jones and the session's producer Bill ...

" written by Jiles Perry Richardson.

Music

The song featured a significant change in the band's sound, and is often considered the band's first glam rock single. Also, this was the first Sweet single with bass player

Steve Priest Stephen Norman Priest (23 February 1948 – 4 June 2020) was an English musician who was the Bass guitar, bassist (and, later, co-lead vocalist) of the glam rock band The Sweet. Early life Priest was born in Hayes, Hillingdon, Hayes, Middlese ...

singing some parts of the lead vocal: the "try a little touch, try a little too much" line at the chorus. This became an important part of Sweet's later style; on most of their later singles they also used this technique, with Priest singing some lines of the song. After the song became a hit, Sweet adopted a

glam Glam is a shortened form of the word glamour. Glam or GLAM may also refer to: Film * ''Glam'' (film), a 1997 experimental drama film Institutions * University of Glamorgan, founded in 1913 and merged into the University of South Wales in 2013 ...

image, starting to wear glitter and makeup. The band appeared on BBC's ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

'', performing the song, three times in 1972: on 14 September, on 21 September and on 5 October, with Priest wearing an extravagant Native American feathered headress.

Personnel

Brian Connolly Brian Francis Connolly (5 October 1945 – 10 February 1997) was a Scottish singer-songwriter, musician and actor, best known as the lead singer of glam rock band Sweet between 1968 and 1979 and known for his charismatic stage presence and di ...

- lead vocals *

- bass guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals * Andy Scott - guitar, backing vocals *

Mick Tucker Michael Thomas Tucker (17 July 1947 – 14 February 2002) was an English musician, best known as the drummer of the glam rock and hard rock band Sweet. Personal life Mick Tucker was born on 17 July 1947 in Kingsbury, North West London, the s ...

- drums, backing vocals

Chart performance

The song reached No. 4 in the UK Singles Chart in September 1972.

Cover versions

* In 1986, a cover by English pop band

Black Lace Black Lace are a British pop band, best known for novelty party records, including their biggest hit, "Agadoo". The band first came to the public eye after being selected to represent the UK in the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest, in which they f ...

was released as a single and reached number 63 on the UK Singles Chart. * In 1989, a cover by English pop musician

Damian Damian () may refer to: *Damian (given name) *Damian (surname) *Damian Subdistrict, in Longquanyi District, Chengdu, Sichuan, China See also *Damiani, an Italian surname *Damiano (disambiguation) *Damien (disambiguation) *Damon (disambiguation) *Da ...

was released as a single and reached number 49 on the UK Singles Chart. * In 2000, all-female rock band

The Donnas The Donnas were an American rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1993. The band consisted of Brett Anderson (lead vocals), Allison Robertson (guitar, backing vocals), Maya Ford (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Torry Castellano (dr ...

recorded a cover (with different, suggestive lyrics and no references to Hiawatha) for the ''Runnin' on Fumes!/The Gearhead Magazine Singles Compilation'' and ''Blockbuster: A 70's Glitter Glam Rock Experience''. It was later released as a single in 2002. * In 2000, the Swedish band Starz!? released a cover on their album ''Party'', and on enhanced single "Wig Wam Bam". * In 2010, the all-female Finnish hard rock band Barbe-Q-Barbies released a cover on the album ''All over You''.

In other media

The song was featured in the 2023 Hulu series ''

Welcome to Chippendales ''Welcome to Chippendales'' is an American biographical drama television miniseries created by Robert Siegel inspired by the book ''Deadly Dance: The Chippendales Murders'' by K. Scot Macdonald and Patrick MontesDeOca. It stars Kumail Nanjian ...

''.

References

{{Authority control 1972 songs 1972 singles The Sweet songs Songs about Native Americans Songs written by Mike Chapman Songs written by Nicky Chinn Song recordings produced by Phil Wainman RCA Records singles