"I told you to stay cool, didn't I, babies? To the people who don't know, that means to believe. To stay cool is to be, to have, the sweet fragrance of serenity rock your wig."
- Lord Buckley*

"Wig bubble," Lord Buckley's "hip-semanticism" for a thought or an idea. His patter is "hipsemantic" and it's rich with gorgeous little idiomatic treasures like the one at the top of this page. He's a wordsmith, he twists the language to reveal  a new layer or perspective we haven't seen; to gently prod us in the direction we should have been goin' in all along. Buckley was the main cat that paved the way. He hipped'em all, Lenny Bruce, Ken Nordine, Jonathan Winters, Robin Williams, Buffet, and every other comedian thats came down the pike. Willy the Shake had nothin' on his Lordship. "People, yes people are the true flowers of life and it has been a pleasure to have strolled in your garden." That, in a nutshell, is what this whole gig is about, people, dig, people? Ya' gotta' be real, if you're not real, you can't feel, don't be the styrofoam filler in life. Don't just think outside the box; GET OUT of the damn box! Better yet, don't let'em put you in the box in the first place! I was a kid when I first heard him and the proverbial light bulbs came on full tilt, what a revelation: Life, it's a carnival, a circus, a gasser! It's surreal, hang with it, wallow in it, laugh at it! Laughter....it illuminates the full beauty of the human being. Get hip to the beauty, it's there; see it, celebrate it, BE IT! Here's a cat so powerful he's got imitators, jus' like Elvis. Don't parrot him, dig him! Let him hip you, learn from the glorious truths he so powerfully lays down. Let serenity rock your wig! He rocked my wig and I will forever be grateful and I joyfully say, "Your Lordship, I love you. I'm so glad you walked in my garden. Thank you." I've always said that if I found a lady that's truly  hip to Lord Buckley, I'd marry her in heartbeat. Ya' out there, baby?

Buckley on his "hipsemantics" which was heavily influenced by black street slang of the 1940's~
I came by the language in association with the beauty of the American Beauty Negro and the sacred association with the field of music and its growing volume, which has had a fantastic renaissance here in the United States… In association with these people and in their seeming rush, there isn’t enough time—never enough time. They got themselves into a zigzag way of talking and I think it eventually became the intimate social language of the American Beauty Negro. It has a fantastic sense of renewal that’ll take any old and revered movement and swing it right up to the pounce of the now and the meaning of it is sparkled with magical beauty of the American Negro for which the United States should be tremendously grateful for many, many other things…

"The Nazz" - A transcription of the classic Lord Buckley wig bubble about Jesus of Nazarine from the historic 1959 Ivar Theater performance. The best version 'cause he's holding court; he's flyin with the music. It's on "Lord Buckley: In Concert" and "The Best of Buckley" and "Way Out Humor"

"Lions" - A transcription of a Lord Buckley wig bubble that for some reason, doesn't appear elsewhere.

Lord Buckley.com - Great site with lots of info on his Lordship. An excellent pictorial discography, interviews, transcriptions of most all of Buckley's stuff except for "Lions" .

eBay  - This is a link to an eBay search for "Lord Buckley". It's about the only place I know of where you can get his recordings on a consistent basis.

*This is from Lord Buckley's classic telling of the story of Jesus of Nazerine, "The Nazz." This version is from the February 12, 1959 Ivar Theater recording. It is the correct quote "the sweet fragrance of serenity rock your WIG." Click on this link for a full accurate transcription of "The Nazz."