12th April 2021
By Noah
For the first time in history, I am going to attempt to do something that no one has ever done. Scientists and musicians alike have failed to do this great feat. But I will now, as you are witnessing, solve one of the world’s toughest questions: what are the lyrics to Ella Fitzgerald’s version of One Note Samba? It was sung only once ever, on June 22nd, 1969. As someone who enjoys scatting regularly, be it at house parties or at supermarkets, I love listening to Ella Fitzgerald. However, a limitation to my scatting is that I never know what words to sing. Hopefully, by finally discovering what they are in ‘One Note Samba’, my scatting will be all the more improved. I will not deny that this is an incredibly difficult and daunting task, and so only the first 30 seconds will be transliterated. On the YouTube video below this is from 0:49 to 1:19. Of course, this is only my interpretation of the lyrics and this does not take into account the eccentricity of the rhythm. Anyway, my lyrics are as follows:
Shum digidi boom boom bigidi gdning nang dunalang guna lang loo – AH
Shigilidi ooo boom bigidi didooo dung bazizoo – AH
Boo didilinindilin doondidilindoodoo bindoon d – AH
Boodun boobi boodin booba boodun doodi doodun doobib doob – AH
Shundidilin beeeee doo dun doo doo doodidlindoo didlilidoo dibum – HO
Didilindoo dididilidoo didiliyoo – AH
Shibidoodeeeeee din doo din dun don lood – AH
Daboobabooboo dandoobey babadoo dandilindooy – AH
Shabidiloobididiboo dibidoiiiiya dibidoiiiya
Shabidilidoondiboo didoiiiya badoodidoiiiya!
I apologise to anyone who is offended by some of the inappropriate words that were necessary to transliterate this work of art. For example, doody and booby. Unfortunately, Ella Fitzgerald never released the clean version, and I am simply a fan. I hope you enjoyed this. I know I certainly did.