Whether you succeed or fail, it’s always best to be yourself. At the end of the day you can at least look back and say — like Sinatra — you did it your way.

This story begins with a trio of brothers named Palmer who formed a vocal group in the 1920s called, appropriately, The Palmer Brothers. They spent the 30s and 40s touring the country, but spent most of their time in New York, often performing at the famed Cotton Club and the Apollo Theater in Harlem (they were on the bill for the opening night in 1934 when the Apollo switched from an all-white burlesque theater to a legendary venue for black performers). The Palmer Brothers also frequently appeared on radio and released numerous singles on numerous labels.

The brothers scattered during WWII and remained separated after the war. Middle brother Clarence formed a couple of different groups and in 1949 established The Jive Bombers (one of several groups who adopted that name post-war when the term “dive bomber” entered the national lexicon). They spent the 1950s performing around the tri-state area and continuing to record with a few different labels, including releasing a single in 1952 called “Brown Boy,” a song dating back to 1936, co-written and first recorded by Louis Armstrong’s second wife, Lil.

Clarence clearly loved the song as he’d already recorded it once before in 1949, and in 1956 recorded it for a third time, now retitled “Bad Boy.” His voice bore an occasional resemblance to Louis Armstrong, but he really leaned into Satchmo’s character for this one. He also added a repeated vocal hook that sounds a little like lub-lub-lub-lub, an apparent gimmick which makes the song stand out as a novelty — until you hear the rest of Palmer’s catalog and realize he did that in alllll of his songs! It’s kind of a weird affectation, but it worked for “Bad Boy” as the single peaked in the US Top 40 (Top 10 on the R&B chart) in 1957, and became by far the biggest record of Palmer’s long career.

Whether he succeeded because of — or in spite of — his unique vocal additions, Clarence Palmer always remained true to his own artistic vision. Lub-lub-lub-lub.

Gotta hear how he incorporates it in another song, right? From 1957: