Bang Bang Lulu is a traditional folklore

Folklore

Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...

 song about Lulu and the men she's been with. The verses suggest explicit lyrics but each time skips to the beginning of the chorus, as in

Lulu had a boyfriend / He drove a garbage truck / Never got no garbage / 'Cos all he did was ...http://www.ronfry.com/lyrics/BangBangLulu.txt,lyrics

It was also popular as a children's schoolyard or bus-trip song, where the explicit language is obscured by torturous transitions in the lyrics:

Bang bang Lulu, Bang bang Lulu, Bang bang Lulu, Lulu bang bang.

Lulu had a teacher, the teacher had a bell, Lulu went to heaven, the teacher went to...

Hell-o operator give me number nine, Lulu's on the toilet, wiping her...

Behind the iron curtain, there was a piece of glass, Lulu fell upon it and broke her little...

Ask me no more questions, I'll tell you no more lies, this is the story of how Lulu dies:

Lulu had two boyfriends, they both were very rich; one was a playboy, the other was a B**CH!

The song has been recorded by early Ska musicians like Lloyd Charmers

Lloyd Charmers

Lloyd Charmers is a ska and reggae singer, keyboard player and record producer.-Career:...

 in 1970 and later covered by various pop artists including Goombay Dance Band

Goombay Dance Band

The Goombay Dance Band is a German based band of the 1970s created by Oliver Bendt. The band is named after a small bay on the Caribbean island of St...

 and Boney M.

Boney M. version

"Bang Bang Lulu" was a 1986 single by German band Boney M., taken from their final album Eye Dance

Eye Dance

Eye Dance is the eighth and final studio album released under the Boney M. moniker and was released in the autumn of 1985. The cover artwork was significant of the state the group was in at that time : neither the famous "Boney M." logo nor the "singers" photograph did appear, replaced by an...

, released October 1985. The single failed to chart, and the group - having disbanded after their 10th anniversary - didn't promote it. It was originally intended for Liz Mitchell

Liz Mitchell

Liz Mitchell is a singer, best known as the former lead singer of the 1970s disco/pop band, Boney M.-Early life:...

 to sing, but she found the lyrics vulgar and refused to do it, and Reggie Tsiboe

Reggie Tsiboe

Reggie Tsiboe was born on 7 September 1950 in Kumasi was one of the lead singers of the disco group Boney M. between 1982-1986 and later between 1989-1990....

did the lead vocals, backed by session singers Amy & Elaine Goff.

Bang Bang Lulu are also a band based in the UK that play Ska and Soul music. See Bang Bang Lulu

Releases

7" single

• "Bang Bang Lulu" (Single remix) - 3:31 / "Calendar Song" (Farian) - 2:37 (Hansa 108 395-100, Germany)

12" single

• "Bang Bang Lulu" (12" remix) - 3:58 / "Calendar Song" - 2:37 / "Chica da Silva" - 4:35 (Hansa 608 395-213, Germany)