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"Witch Doctor" is a 1958 American novelty song written and recorded by Ross Bagdasarian (under the stage name of David Seville). Bagdasarian sang the song, varying the tape speeds to produce a high-pitched voice for the titular witch doctor; [2] [3] this technique was later used in his next song, "The Bird on My Head", [4] [5] [6] and for the creation of the voices of his virtual band Alvin ...
The character was created by Ross Bagdasarian, who had used the name "David Seville" as his stage name prior to the creation of the Chipmunks, while writing and recording novelty records in the 1950s. [1] One of the records, recorded in 1958 under the David Seville stage name, was "Witch Doctor", featuring a sped-up high-pitched vocal technique.
Bagdasarian's rise to prominence came with the song "Witch Doctor" in 1958, [30] which was created after he experimented with the speed control on a tape recorder bought with $200 (equivalent to $2,200 in 2024) from the family savings. [31] Liberty Records released this novelty record under the David Seville name.
"Witch Doctor" by David Seville. ... With lyrics about being followed combined with a punch of 80s pop and Michael Jackson singing the hook, this makes for an epic Halloween song!
"The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" is a 1958 novelty Christmas song written and recorded by Ross Bagdasarian (under the stage name of David Seville). Bagdasarian sang the song, varying the tape speeds to produce high-pitched " chipmunk " voices, with the vocals credited to Alvin and the Chipmunks , Seville's cartoon virtual band [ 1 ...
In 1958, Ross Bagdasarian Sr. released a novelty song (as David Seville) about being unsuccessful at love until he found a witch doctor who told him how to woo his woman. Seville had bought a tape recorder and he experimented recording himself at different speeds to create a duet between him and the witch doctor. The voice of the witch doctor ...
Like Seville's first novelty song, "Witch Doctor", the song has a sped-up voice (albeit slightly slower than the one Seville used for "Witch Doctor"). Although both songs have the same sped-up voices, "The Bird on My Head" did not achieve the success of its predecessor, peaking at No. 34.
Three songs using a sped-up recording technique became #1 hits in the United States in 1958–59: David Seville's "Witch Doctor" and Ragtime Cowboy Joe, Sheb Wooley's "The Purple People Eater", and David Seville's "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)", which used a speeded-up voice technique to simulate three chipmunks' voices. [11]