Steppenwolf – Sookie Sookie

Steppenwolf…they all look like badasses…all of them especially the ring leader John Kay. They had some danger in their rock and roll and Kay’s voice is just killer. I saw a version of Steppenwolf once in the 80s and John Kay demanded and commanded the stage swinging his mic stand like a weapon.

I met Mr. Kay one time very briefly…just shook his hand…a very nice guy so he wasn’t a badass that day. This song was written by Don Covay who wrote a lot of early rock songs about dancing. Don Covay was recording for Atlantic Records at this time. As they did with many of their artists, they sent Covay to Memphis to record at Stax Records, where the house band was top-notch. Covay wrote Sookie Sookie there with Stax guitarist Steve Cropper.

Steppenwolf had this song on their 1968 debut album Steppenwolf.  It was released as the first single that year but didn’t do too well. The song did peak at #92 in Canada and that was it. The next single did a little better…it was a song called Born To Be Wild.

The third single was“Magic Carpet Ride,” ABC-Dunhill saw the wisdom of re-releasing the “Sookie Sookie”….however, this time it was a “B” side. Like the “Born to be Wild” and “Magic Carpet Ride,” “Sookie Sookie” not only featured the extraordinary guitar work of Michael Monarch and vocals by John Kay, it had that Steppenwolf signature organ sound

The song also ended up being used by some radio stations as background music for promos and commercials.

Sookie Sookie

Let it hang out baby, let it hang out now, now na-na now
Let it hang out baby, everybody work out
Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sue

Let it hang out baby, do the Baltimore jig
Let it hang out baby, boomerang with me
Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sue

Really got it bad child, drink a bottle of turpentine
When you wake up in the morning, feelin’ kinda fine
Let it hang out baby, let it hang out now, now na-na now

You better watch your step girl, don’t step on that banana peel
If your foot should ever hit it, you’ll go up to the ceiling
Hang it in baby, hang it in baby
Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sue

Let it hang out baby, let it hang out now, now na-na now
Let it hang out baby, everybody work out
Hang it in baby, hang it in baby, hang it in baby
Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sookie, Sue

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

31 thoughts on “Steppenwolf – Sookie Sookie”

    1. They would have been. I was surprised they didn’t have a longer successful career…around 72-74 the hits dried up.

      My favorite song by them is “Don’t Step On The Grass Sam”

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  5. Not one I know. It’s cool that you met John… like I’ve told you, my dad worked with him briefly before The Sparrows (which became… Steppenwolf) took off. I guess basically they are the pride of my old hometown, even though they only found success after going to California.

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    1. I have never heard the James version…someone mentioned it…I’ll have to check it out. They look like the guys that would take your milk money lol.

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      1. Oh Max – I hope the sinus thingy blows over. These things can be jolly awful. (I don’t like the Etta James version much – but I am a fan of hers, especially when she improvised in her early years).

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      2. I need to check her career out more…I don’t know much about her…obviously she is a big name.
        Yea I woke up every morning with a fever…of course now that gets you paranoid lol.

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      1. I still love ‘Monster’, the song. A few years earlier there had been very little political in music; ‘Abraham, Martin, And John’ ‘Where Have All The Flowers Gone’ ‘Universal Soldier’ but all kinda folky. Then somewhere pop music became Rock, grew teeth and began to bite and scream.

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      2. Oh that is a good one and yea…it meant something.
        On a lighter note…I always liked Don’t Step on the Grass Sam…the music just hypnotizes me.

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  8. Oh yeah, Steppenwolf had that special something that made them rise so high. Every player/singer of the band was on it. I don’t anybody who doesn’t want to dance when they hear Sookie Sookie.

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      1. Yeah, I looked at the back of an ancient Steppenwolf CD I found stuffed in the passengers back seat pocket of the second car when washing/detailing/decluttering it. It is amaaaazing how many ballpoints, loyalty cards and parking tickets- oopsy!- you find in those deep dark forgotten places. Anyway, there on the track listing was the long forgotten ‘Snowblind Friend.’

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      2. The parking tickets got a chuckle out of me!

        I love that you are mentioning these songs…that one was the old Hoyt Axton song. I forgot about that one.

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