jr. walker and the all stars- do the boomerang

by request- for a good friend!

don't know much about the dance, but this is one hell of a tribute to it!

A roll call for one of Hitsville U.S.A.'s most rocking bands:
Junior Walker- saxaphone (of course!), Victor Thomas- organ, Willie Woods- guitar, James Graves- drums

Motown was wise in not trying, at least for a couple of years, to polish Jr. Walker and the All Stars. What's wrong with a healthy dose of hot-house rock and funk? Here, the band gives a full-out assault on a step-by-step instructional on the dance, The Boomerang.

This one deserves close listening becasue so much is going on below the surface: Willie Woods is playing a killer of a repeating, hypnotic riff from start to fade, which in turn is "answered" by one-syllable response of a second guitar. James Graves' drum work is a bit more subtle (and complex) here with more emphasis on the bottom range (notice how the bass drum more or less drives the song along)

Victor Thomas echoes the style he employed on "Shotgun" by providing a THICK, testifying riff in response to Junior's vocal instructions.

You can also detect the presence of Motown's Funk Brothers augmenting this immense track on bongos and tambourine and possibly another guitar or two.

I'm certain that there dance floors had to issue flood warnings whenever this was played as it's such a hot number, who would have been able to resist the urge to get up and Do The Boomerang?

Written by Autry DeWalt (Jr. Walker), Henry Cosby, Willie Woods. Produced by Henry Cosby and William "Mickey" Stevenson.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Jr. Walker
• Jr. Walker and the All Stars
• junior walker
• motown
• tamla motown
• 60's music
• soul
• pop
• r&b
• mickey stevenson
• william mickey stevenson
• henry cosby
• dance
• boomerang
• jr. walker do the boomerang
• funk
• funky
• rock

[COMING4U]

According to my "then" girlfriend, it was the hips that got moved around. The head had nothing to do with it. I sure hope she's right. Other wise, I'm not the only one who got it wrong

[tomovox]

@COMING4U Ha! Ha! Believe me, it couldn't be any worse than my so-called dancing!

[COMING4U]

HAH! Oh how wrong I was! Back in 1964, I thought I knew how to do the boomerang. There I stood, a 13 year old, in front of my bathroom mirror. Moving my neck around. About every half second. And I thought to myself, "I can do the boomerang!". Oh how I found out how wrong I was when Deborah (my girlfriend at the time), showed me how it was really done. Surely "not" like what I was doing! Oh this song brings back the memories.

[tomovox]

@COMING4U Wow! Reading that brought back a similar memory for me! I was maybe 6 years old, doing what I thought was the Popcorn. Basically, all I was doing was bucking my head forward and back, sticking my arms and hands out like I was pushing something off a table and sticking my butt out every so often! YIKES! My cousin Brenda set me straight right away! I didn't care though, I liked MY version of the Popcorn, lol!

P.S. How DO you do the Boomerang???? :-)

[tomovox]

@COMING4U Wow! Reading that brought back a similar memory for me! I was maybe 6 years old, doing what I thought was the Popcorn. Basically, all I was doing was bucking my head forward and back, sticking my arms and hands out like I was pushing something off a table and sticking my butt out every so often! YIKES! My cousin Brenda set me straight right away! I didn't care though, I liked MY version of the Popcorn, lol!

P.S. How DO you do the Boomerang????

[shootthepump]

keeps coming back as a boomerang to me, unprecedented sound!

[tomovox]

@shootthepump Great comment! Yeah, this record really COOKS!

[COMING4U]

@tomovox

according to my "then girlfriend", it was the hips that got moved around. The head had nothing to do with it.

I sure hope she's right, after all these years. Otherwise, I'm not the only one who got it wrong.

[tomovox]

@coolmix44 WOW! People say it a lot, but I really do feel like it's an honor to have someone post here who actually played in The All Stars! I had to smile reading about there never being a "tam" played onstage, lol! I am definitely going to check out your page, Darryl! I absolutely love that Jr. was just one of those down to earth guys and even though he fit very well into that Motown Sound, he STILL was doing his own thing. Thank you so much for posting here!

[coolmix44]

@tomovox Hello this was one my favorite songs to play with Jr. Yea that tamborine was a part of the Motown sound but in my 15 years of playing behind him he never had any one on stage play one LOL Man we use to groove ! You're right, Jr was diffenrent then all the other Motown group cause him was musicain first and vocalist second. Jr. was a funny man. I got some live stuff on my page you can check out. Peace, have a blessed day everyone Darryl B allstar 1980 -1995