All very interesting because I for one had never previously heard of any recording of Gord's first song. so
most intrigued I did a google for "hula hoop song"
with a search within the results for "Georgia Gibbs"
and sure enough I found several other sites linking "Her Nibs" to the song including
a cached only page:-
http://www.top40db.org/Songs/ID_58101.shtml
which attributes the displayed lyrics to Georgia
you can even download a short (30 second) small( 354KB) mp3 sample of
Georgia's version from:-
http://www.opuscds.com/track/154064
but a similarly cached only page on the same top40 site:-
http://www.top40db.org/Songs/ID_58370.shtml
attributes the exact same lyrics toTeresa Brewer
and no less an authority than the CBC Archives has a feature on the craze at:-
http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-68-916-...la_hoop_canada
where in the same "Did You Know" section it records both:-
"Sept. 21, 1990.
• In the liner notes for the album Gordon Lightfoot: Songbook, Lightfoot reveals that the first song he wrote was about the Hula Hoop craze. Though this song was never recorded"
and
"Popular singer Georgia Gibbs recorded The Hula Hoop Song which became a Top 40 hit in 1958"
without actually connecting the two facts other than through the name "hula hoop"
also on:-
http://www.440.com/twtd/archives/sep06.htm it is stated that
"1958 - Georgia Gibbs sang The Hula-Hoop Song on The Ed Sullivan Show. It was the first national exposure for the Hula-Hoop craze. Many people recorded the song to capitalize on the fad, including Teresa Brewer and Betty Johnson."
I humbly submit that if this had really been Gordon's penned song the fact that such eminent singers had recorded it and one had sang it on the taciturn Ed's popular show (uh ho now I know where the word "tacky" comes from!!) would feature prominently in Gord's bios and his memory.
I'll try to remember to ask him if and when I get another chance to talk to him
Any thoughts chart historian supremo Walter Borderstone??
John Fowles
