The members were lead vocalist Carl White (June 21, 1932 – January 7, 1980), tenor Al Frazier (died November 13, 2005), baritone Sonny Harris and bassist Turner "Rocky" Wilson Jr. Frazier was replaced by Madero White for a period in the late 1970s.
Like many such songs, it began with the bass chanting nonsense syllables (in this case the title), followed by the tenor singing over repetitions of it.
[citation needed] "Mama-Oom-Mow-Mow", an even more baroque rewrite of the theme, failed to sell, but they returned to the charts the following year with "The Bird's the Word".
[5] Because of the publicity in Billboard, the Trashmen had to share the writing credits on the recording and on a later version as a sign of good faith.
Al Frazier, Sonny Harris and Rocky Wilson played the oldies circuit extensively throughout the 1980s, replacing White with Clay Hammond until 1987,[8] then Andrew Butler into the 1990s.