Why We Beber Boogie: The Tradition Behind This Summer’s Camper Shirt
An Interview with Aaron “H” Hadley
There are a handful of traditions at Beber Camp that feel like they’ve always been here, like they sprouted from the farm hobby garden itself. One of those is the Beber Boogie. Every camper knows it. Every staff member can perform it with muscle memory alone. It’s one of those rare traditions that has belonged to every generation.
But like everything at camp, someone created it. And in this case, two someones.
As we began working on this summer’s camper shirt, we knew we wanted to honor the Beber Boogie, not just as a song, but as a symbol of joy, community, and pure Beber energy. To tell the full story, I sat down with Aaron “H” Hadley, who co-wrote the song with Andrew “Besty” Best in the early 2000s.
This is the story they created and the story that continues to move us today.
Where It All Began
The Beber Boogie was born in the early 2000s, around 2000 or 2001, during one of Besty’s final summers at camp. H and Besty were roommates living under the old Health Center, which already is a slice of Beber history.
Back then, song sessions were fun, energetic, and communal, but something was missing. Camp didn’t have a signature song. Nothing uniquely “us,” nothing interactive, nothing that belonged to all of camp.
One day, Besty voiced the question out loud, “Why don’t we have our own camp song? Something kid-friendly. Something like Gum Trees, but ours.”
That question kicked off one of the most creative, joyful projects in Beber history.
Late Nights in the Old Computer Lounge*
H and Besty retreated to the old computer lounge, armed with:
- A guitar
- A notepad
- A list of every hobby and activity at camp
- And a lot of laughter
For a few nights, they jammed through chord progressions, searching for lyrics that felt honest, campy, and fun. Besty played guitar while H scribbled lines, scratched them out, and scribbled new ones.
They wanted a song that:
- Kids could learn immediately
- Teens wouldn’t roll their eyes at
- Counselors would actually enjoy
- And the whole camp could move to
They spent time finding rhymes for every activity, including biking, which had just been added as a hobby the year before. They kept returning to one core idea:
If it’s raining all around, the sun’s always shining at Beber Camp.
That line became the emotional center of the song, and it still captures the heart of Beber today.
Crafting the Motions
The Beber Boogie was never meant to be a sit-and-sing type of song. From the very beginning, movement was part of the design.
H and Besty built in all the interactive elements we know today:
- Raising the roof
- Bringing hands back down
- Jumping and shaking your booty
- Turning to your neighbor for a high five
- The iconic “We can be cool, we can be CRAZY…”
They imagined it as an easy chorus with motions anyone could follow, even without lyrics on a screen. This was long before projectors in Crown Hall, everything had to be taught on the spot.
The Debut and the Shock
When the song was ready, H and Besty made a decision: They would debut it at a Friday Night Crown Hall song session.
No printed lyrics.
No big lead-in.
No explanation.
Just… let’s see what happens.
And what happened was magic.
Campers picked it up instantly.
The motions clicked.
The chorus stuck.
And the entire room boomed with energy.
H remembers turning to Besty, both of them wide-eyed:
“They like it. THEY ACTUALLY LIKE IT.”
It wasn’t just acceptance, it was immediate adoption.
A Song for All of Camp
At the time, the Ramot division had the famous Ramot cheer, but Makor didn’t have its own unifying song, nor did the Teen Connection**. H and Besty wanted something all of camp could rally around, especially the younger campers.
They worried teens might push back…but the opposite happened. The song’s interactive nature had universal appeal. It became the song for all of camp, a true unifier.
A Legacy They Never Expected
Years later, in 2014, H returned to Beber as an artist in residence. He was invited on stage to play the Beber Boogie. He expected a fun moment, maybe some nostalgia.
What he got instead was an explosion.
The volume. The motions. The energy of hundreds of campers roaring the lyrics.
He remembers feeling overwhelmed in the best way:
“I couldn’t believe it. This thing we wrote… it’s STILL here. And louder than ever.”
There’s an ongoing joke among H, Besty, and Russell Wiener*** that the most popular song any of them ever wrote wasn’t written for a gig, album, or performance, it was written for Beber Camp.
And yes, Besty insisted on naming it the Beber Boogie. H wasn’t sure at first (“Boogie felt a little dated”), but Besty was right. And now we can’t imagine it being called anything else.
Why It Stuck — and Why It Matters
The Beber Boogie has lasted because it captures something core to camp:
- Spirit & Fun
- Movement
- Connection
- Energy
- Togetherness
- A little bit of silliness
- A lot of heart
As H described it, “It captures that childlike camp joy, the joy and exuberance that makes Beber, Beber.”
It’s more than a song. It’s a moment we share across years, across ages, across generations.
It’s tradition.
It’s identity.
It’s us.
The Tradition Behind This Summer’s Camper Shirt
This summer, our camper shirt pays tribute to the Beber Boogie, to the creativity of H and Besty, to the campers who made it their own, and to the tradition that continues to bring us together with every high five, every shout of “Oh yeah,” and every shaking of our collective booty.
We don’t just sing the Beber Boogie.
We feel it.
We live it.
We are it.
And now, we get to wear it too.
Footnotes
*Did you know? The old computer lounge was the library, which is now the Staff Break Room
**Did you know? Teen Connection is now Kesher
***Did you know? Russell wrote Back to 3BC
Click here for the song lyrics and chords to Beber Boogie
Click here to listen to a live performance of Beber Boogie
Click here to watch Besty peform the Beber Boogie