HADACOL BOOGIE, THE

Created on 21/10/2006
Latest update on 02/01/2024

Artist: Bill Nettles
Author: Bill Nettles
Label: Mercury
Year: 1949

"...makes you boogie woogie all the time". About the hyperkinetic medicine marketed as a vitamine supplement, selling considerably in Southern dry counties for holding 12% alcohol, masked as preservative. Was not exactly tasty, so to sell it to the masses, a well orchestrated campaign could help. This song was like Hadacol's jingle. Hadacol was launched by full blooded campaigner Dudley LeBlanc, four-term senator for the state of Louisiana. He started the Hadacol Caravan, considered to be the last successful medicine show, while advertising the product through a bunch of Hollywood allumni (Milton Berle, Lucille Ball, Bob Hope, Mickey Rooney, Dorothy Lamour, Carmen Miranda, George Burns, Judy Garland) and country stars like Minnie Pearl, Hank Williams and author Bill Nettles, ex Louisiana Hayride regular in Shreveport, LA. Even good old Col. Parker was rumoured selling Hadacol in the Caravan. It didn't last long. Bad publicity for erroneous consumer information and the top-heavy toll on advertisement wages bankrupted LeBlanc, ending his political career on the side.

Covers:

1950:

Eddie Bond

1970:

Jerry Lee Lewis [with Professor Longhair; reported to be the first song the Killer ever performed live; first studio version in 2006 with Buddy Guy as Hadacohl Boogie]

1994:

Steve James [crediting Hank Penny]

2006:

Jim Dickinson

2009:

Possum Hollow Boys

Contact


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