Gene Vincent's "Be-Bop-A-lula" was released 1956.

Gene Vincent's "Be-Bop-A-lula" was released 1956.

Be-Bop-A-Lula

Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps

Written by: Vincent, Bill Davis
Produced by: Ken Nelson
Released: May '56 on Capitol
Charts: 20 weeks
Top Spot: No. 7

With Vincent's echo-soaked voice, Cliff Gallup's high-reverb guitar and fifteen-year-old drummer Dickie Harrell's wildcat screams, "Be-Bop-A-Lula" went to Number Seven in 1956. Vincent signed to Capitol, which had been hunting for an Elvis-type singer. A restless sort, Vincent joined the Navy underage and nearly had his leg amputated after a motorcycle crackup. He reportedly wrote "Be-Bop-A-Lula" with a fellow patient while recuperating at a naval hospital.