Jimmy Hart on His Musical Career, Origins of His Gimmick, & Bobby Heenan

Wrestling Inc. held a recent interview with Jimmy Hart discussing his musical career, the origins of the “Mouth of the South” gimmick, and memories of Bobby “The Brain” Heenan.

On the topic of his musical career, Hart stated he had a good career with his band called The Gentrys prior to working for the WWE. He also listed several memorable WWE theme songs he created during his time in the WWE.

“Well, we had one-hit wonder, we had a million-seller back in [1964 or 1965] called, ‘Keep On Dancing’.” We toured with The Beach Boys, Dick Clark. We had a good little run back then. And, of course, when I was in the WWE/WWF, I wrote ‘Sexy Boy’ for Shawn Michaels, me and my partner, The Road Warriors’ theme, Hulk [Hogan]’s ‘American Made’, The Honky Tonk Man’s Greatest Hits, The American Dream, ‘Money, Money, Money’ by, of course, Ted DiBiase. But a few things. I’m namedropping now, aren’t I?”

On the topic of the origins of his “The Mouth Of The South” gimmick, Hart stated it was Vince McMahon who created the gimmick simply by giving him a megaphone and wanting him to always carry it around during shows.

“Well, one day, I was in Poughkeepsie, New York and Vince McMahon came in. He said, ‘Jimmy, I want you to start carrying this to the ring,’ so I started carrying it ever since. I’m lucky he didn’t bring me a piano, huh?”

On the topic of his fond memories of Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, Hart stated he considered Heenan to be an awesome person to be around with and someone who had the great gift of comedy.

“Bobby was awesome. When I went to a dressing room back in the day, you’d have Andre The Giant playing cards with Arnold Skaaland, Honky Tonk Man tuning the guitar, The Nasty Boys going over their matches, Nikolai Volkoff rehearsing the Russian national anthem, and then, there was Bobby Heenan telling jokes and keeping everybody laughing all the time. He’s really missed. He was probably the greatest of all time.”