Aba Daba Honeymoon

"Aba Daba Honeymoon" is a popular song that was written and published by Arthur Fields and Walter Donovan in 1914. Known through its chorus, "Aba daba daba daba daba daba dab, Said the chimpie to the monk; Baba daba daba daba daba daba dab, Said the monkey to the chimp," [cite book |title= 500 Best-Loved Song Lyrics|last= Herder|first=Ronald|year= October 1998|publisher= Courier Dover Publications|location= |isbn= 048629725X|pages= 1|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=nihSxGm-rjsC&pg=PA1&dq=Aba+Daba+Honeymoon&as_brr=3&sig=ACfU3U1IO1cvA9GXDbzvEC9uahO9-VKMfg#PPA1,M1] the first recording of Aba Daba Honeymoon was made in 1914 by Collins & Harlan.

The song was featured in the 1950 movie, "Two Weeks with Love".

The hit record of the song was recorded by Debbie Reynolds and Carleton Carpenter on August 4, 1950, and released by MGM Records as catalog number 30282. It reached #3 on the Billboard magazine chart in 1951. Richard Hayes and Kitty Kallen and the Freddy Martin Ork with Merv Griffin also succeeded with the song. "Aba Daba Honeymoon" was featured on the 1959 soundtrack to "Have Rocket, Will Travel", the first feature film to star the Three Stooges after their 1959 resurgence in popularity. [cite book |title= The Three Stooges Scrapbook|last= Maurer|first= Joan Howard |authorlink= |coauthors= Jeff Lenburg, Norman Maurer, Greg Lenburg|year= 1985|publisher= Citadel Press|location= |isbn= 0806509465|pages= 187|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=iTQXz-zQK5MC&pg=PA187&dq=%22Aba+Daba+Honeymoon%22&as_brr=3&sig=ACfU3U15NhKCNMPIi9UgsIRsUBfVDas7ag#PPA187,M1]

In 1964, American novelist Thomas Pynchon referred to the song in a 1964 letter to a friend as "the nadir of all American expression": "Our souls [the world] leaves to whatever obsolescenses, bigotries, theories of education workable and un, parental wisdom or lack of it, happen to get in its more or less Brownian (your phrase) pilgrimage between the cord-cutting ceremony and the time they slide you down the chute into the oven, while the guy on the Wurlitzer plays Aba Daba Honeymoon because you had once told somebody it was the nadir of all American expression; only they didn't know what nadir meant but it must be good because of the vehemence with which you expressed yourself." [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=The_World_is_at_Fault]

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Fritos corn chips used the tune as the melody of their commercial jingle "Muncha buncha, muncha buncha, muncha buncha, muncha buncha, Fritos goes with lunch". THe Houston, TX jewelry chain The Diamond Jewelry Factory used the melody in their TV advertisments.

On a 1978 (3rd season) episode of "Laverne & Shirley", the leads performed at a talent show singing "Aba Daba Honeymoon" in chimp suits on roller skates.

References