Witch Doctor - David Seville

#1: May 3 - May 16, 1958

"Witch Doctor" is a song written and performed by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. and was released in 1958. Bagdasarian is better remembered as David Seville, the creator of Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Song information

The song tells the story of a man who loved a woman who did not return his affections. Longing for her companionship, the man went to see a witch doctor for advice on the situation. The wise witch doctor offered his advice saying, "Oo ee, oo ah ah, ting tang, walla walla bing bang" (which is repeated four times as the chorus of the song). At the middle of the song the man tells the woman he loves about his asking the witch doctor for advice.

The "witch doctor" was in fact Bagdasarian's own voice sped up to double speed, a technique he would later exploit to create Alvin and the Chipmunks (and had also used on at least one other pre-Chipmunk song, The Bird on My Head). Because of this, it is often referred to (even in later compilations) as the first song by the Chipmunks; this is not precisely true. For one, only one sped-up "chipmunk" voice is featured instead of three. Furthermore, Bagdasarian (as Seville) insisted that it was not technically a Chipmunks song in an episode of The Alvin Show when he exclaims "I made that record once!" and Alvin responds "But not with us!" The first true song by the "group" was The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late).

Chart performance

Credited as David Seville on the Billboard Pop Singles Chart, the single was considered a major surprise hit on the charts where it peaked at #1, stayed at #1 for two weeks and became Seville's first #1 single. The single also peaked at #1 on the Billboard Black Singles Chart and on the Cash Box chart as well. The single sold over 1 million copies in the United States.