Nights At The Roundtable - Sheriff & The Ravels - 1958
(Any song that jammed in references to Winos, Insurance Companies, Bears and Nazis had to be a classic)
And with every genre there has to be a sub-genre that goes beyond description. Maybe Ultimate Nonsense Lyric would be a good place to start. Shambalor is one of the great Doo-Wop songs that contains absolutely no logical lyrics anywhere in the song (with the possible exception to the Bear reference, but it's short-lived).
Sheriff & The Ravels had one hit on Vee-Jay in 1958 and faded into the stuff of legend. Aside from being from Brooklyn and having an association with Aki Aleong, who co-wrote the song and took the song to Vee-Jay, not really very much is actually known about Sherrif & The Ravels or Shambalor, other than the song is based on an African work song with nonsense lyrics tossed in for good measure. The song wasn't a hit, but its reputation has grown over the years.
And with good reason.
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