My Boomerang Won't Come Back

"My Boomerang Won't Come Back"
Single by Charlie Drake
B-side	"She's My Girl"
Released	1961
Format	7" single
Recorded	1961
Genre	Novelty
Length	3:32 (original version); 2:44 (edited version)
Label	Parlophone Records (UK), United Artists (USA)
Writer(s)	Max Diamond and Charlie Drake

"My Boomerang Won't Come Back" was a novelty record by British comedian Charlie Drake which became a surprise hit on both sides of the Atlantic in 1961.

The tune concerns a young Aboriginal lad (with Drake's signature Cockney accent) cast out by his tribe due to his inability to toss a boomerang. After months of isolation (and fighting off "nasty bushwackin' animals"), the local witch doctor takes pity on Drake and informs him "if you want you boomerang to come back/well, first you've got to throw it!" He does, and proceeds to bring down an airplane, which crashes with a loud boom. "Oh, my Gawd," Drake says in horror, "I've hit The Flying Doctor!" Drake and witch doctor argue over payment ("you still owe me fourteen chickens!") as the record fades out.

Controversy

"My Boomerang" is not exactly a paragon of political correctness, even by 1961 standards. In the song, an Aboriginal meeting is described as a "pow-wow", something more appropriate for Native Americans, while their chanting sounds more African than Aboriginal. Most of all, Drake raised eyebrows with the chorus: "I've waved the thing all over the place/practiced til I was black in the face/I'm the big disgrace of the Aborigine race/My boomerang won't come back!" After the BBC refused to play the tune (despite its popularity in record shops), a new version was recorded, substituting "blue in the face"; this version (on Parlophone Records) entered the UK charts in October and eventually peaked at #14.

North American versions

United Artists released the record in America, and, not wanting to deal with complaints like the ones in Britain, issued a 45-only version that not only featured the line "blue in the face" but was considerably shorter than the UK version (which was 3:32), clocking in at 2:44. (The middle part was tightened up and the entire final bit about "The Flying Doctor" was excised, assuming American audiences would be unfamiliar with it; after the sound of the flying boomerang, the song goes back into the chorus and fades out.) The US version first hit the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1962 and peaked at #21 (a rare pre-Beatles hit for a British artist in the US), for what would be Drake's only American chart appearance. (Oddly, yet another version turned up on an American LP release, which was the same length as the US 45 but again contained the line "black in the face".)

The record also did well in Canada, reaching #3 there. [1]

Australian version

Despite its less-than-flattering treatment of the Aboriginals, Aussie record-buyers apparently had no problem with the original, "black in the face" version; although there was no hit parade as such in 1960s Australia, musicologist David Kent has calculated it reached #1 there in December 1962. (A copy of the record has even been archived by Music Australia.) [2]

External links

• Full lyrics