Bobby Bare - The All American Bo
Bobby Bare - The All American Boy


Bobby Bare - The All American Boy Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Tacky Tunes
Released: 1959

The All American Boy Lyrics


Gather 'round, cats, and I'll tell you a story
About how to become an All American Boy
Buy you a guitar and put it in tune
You'll be rockin' and rollin' soon.
Impressin' the girls, pickin' hot licks, and all that jazz

I-I bought me a guitar a year ago
Learned how to play in a day or so
And all around town it was well understood
That I was knockin' 'em out like Johnny B. Goode
Hot licks, showin' off, ah number one.

Well , I 'd practice all day and up into the night
My papa's hair was turnin' white
Cause he didn't like rock'n'roll
He said "You can stay, boy, but that's gotta go."
He's a square, he just didn't dig me at all

So I took my guitar, picks and all
And bid farewell to my poor ole pa
And I split for Memphis where they say all
Them swingin' cats are havin' a ball
Sessions, hot licks and all, they dig me

I was rockin' and boppin' and I's a gettin' the breaks
The girls all said that I had what it takes
When up stepped a man with a big cigar
He said "come here, cat--I'm gonnna make you a star."
"I'll put you on Bandstand, buy ya a Cadillac, sign here, kid."

I signed my name and became a star
Havin' a ball with my guitar
Driving a big long Cadillac and fightin' the girls off ma back
They just kept a'comin', screamin', yeah-they like it

So I'd pick my guitar with a great big grin
And the money just kept on pourin' in
But then one day my Uncle Sam
He said (sound of 3 footsteps) "Here I am"
"Uncle Sam needs you, boy
I'm-a gonna cut your hair
ah-Take this rifle, kid
Gimme that guitar" yeah.

Writer/s: BROWNE, EDWARD SEVERIN
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

The All American Boy
  • This was written by the Country singer Bobby Bare and his friend Bill Parsons. It was inspired by the success of Elvis Presley and his conscription into the army.
  • Owing to a mix up at his record label the song was credited to Parsons though it was Bare singing on the record. Bare recalled to Billboard magazine: "Bill had just gotten out of the Army. He had a thing he wanted to record. So, we went down to King Studio in Cincinnati, and I played bass on his thing. We had about fifteen minutes. I said 'Let me put down this thing I've been working on.' So, I did."

    "That same day, they wanted to make a copy of it.," Bare continued "The guy who was paying for it went to a company there to get an acetate made. It was Fraternity Records. When they heard the two records. They asked who was singing, and the guy told him Bill Parsons – which it was on the back side of that record. So, they put it out with his name on it. It scared him to death. He didn't even know the song."
  • Bobby Bare was drafted by the army just before the song's release so Bill Parsons toured with the hit, lip-synching to the record.