Wood Newton talked to The Boot about co-writing the Oak Ridge Boys hit, 'Bobbie Sue.' I wrote 'Bobbie Sue' with my good friends Dan and Adele Tyler. Dan had a little boy at the time, and one of the first words for a baby is 'ba' like bottle. So his son was saying 'baba' and it sparked this idea to write a song about 'ba ba ba ba Bobbie Sue.' We both come from that era when Memphis was home to Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry and rock 'n roll. Dan is from McComb, Miss. and I'm from Hampton, Ark., so you grow up with the same kids in those small towns, and when someone is dating a girl from the county over it's an exciting thing.
I'd never dreamed that the Oaks would be interested in something like this, but then they released 'Elvira.' We finished the demo, and it got pitched to them and just clicked. They were at a perfect place in their career, and they made this wonderful, exciting record. They still play it every night. I remember seeing them in Huntsville Ala., and they just packed the crowd in. They had a big show like not many country artists had at the time, and that's where I saw them perform 'Bobbie Sue' for the first time. It's one of those unforgettable experiences.
The year the song was out, we got a Music City News award for Song of the Year. At the awards show, which fans could attend, we ended up sitting by a woman named Bobbie Sue who had eloped with her husband, just like in the song. We never did figure out how we ended up sitting by each other, but I can't believe it was by total coincidence!
Listen to the song [Buy it on iTunes]
