Mess Around , Throw A Boogie Woogie in Pre War Blues Forum

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Mess Around , Throw A Boogie Woogie

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MaskedMarvel

Mess Around , Throw A Boogie Woogie

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 6919

Jun 14 05 12:13 PM

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What it means , mess around (also Blind Blake's Come On Boys Let's Do That Messing Around), throw a boogie woogie (also Big Joe Williams') , get that thing (several songs)

Thats the lyrics as I tried from Pine Top's Boogie Woogie (Clarence Smith) :

http://redhotjazz.com/songs/pinetop/pineto...giewoogie-a.ram

I want all of you to know
Pine Top's Boogie Woogie
I want everybody dancing just like I say
Now when I say hold it their - I want all of you get ready to stop
And when I say stop - don't move
and when I say get it - I want all of you to throw a boogie woogie

hold it now...
stop...
boogie woogie...

That's what I'm talking about

Now when I say hold it just this time - I want all of you get ready to stop
And when I say stop - don't move a (?)
When I say get it - everybody mess around

hold yourself now...
stop...
mess around...

That's what I'm talking about

Now when I say hold it just this time - I want all of you get ready to stop
When I say stop - don't move a (?)
When I say get it - I want you to get that thing

hold yourself now...
stop...
get that thing...

That's what I'm talking about

I'm gonna pick the piano

All the above written is in my opinion unless it is someone else's opinion, or a fact.

Location: Zur Moshe, Israel

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Muddylives

#1

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 5139

Jun 14 05 3:20 PM

MM: I think that the direct meaning here concerns dance, although in some contexts these expressions might also function as double entendres.

An interesting note: The Pinetop Smith song that you cite was responsible for the label "Boogie Woogie" that was subsequently attached to that style of barrelhouse piano playing.

Here he is calling people to dance. (At least that is what I have always assumed.)

I seem to recall a discussion that the word "boogie" might have African roots.

Muddy

P.S. When Big Joe Turner sang "I want you to boogie my woogie until my face turns cherry red," I don't think he had in mind dancing.

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karyobin

#2

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Posts: 3600

Jun 14 05 3:45 PM

QUOTE (Muddylives @ Jun 14 2005, 03:20 PM)

P.S. When Big Joe Turner sang "I want you to boogie my woogie until my face turns cherry red," I don't think he had in mind dancing.

You mean like the horizontal mambo!!!!!!!

K

'If you can't say it in two minutes thirty, write a book'.

Col

Norbury South London

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Muddylives

#3

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 5139

Jun 14 05 3:48 PM

QUOTE (karyobin @ Jun 14 2005, 03:45 PM)

QUOTE (Muddylives @ Jun 14 2005, 03:20 PM)

P.S.� When Big Joe Turner sang "I want you to boogie my woogie until my face turns cherry red,"� I don't think he had in mind dancing.�

You mean like the horizontal mambo!!!!!!!

K

That's still my favorite dance, although the vertical Limbada is a close second.

Muddy

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tanta07

#4

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 9133

Jun 14 05 4:51 PM

QUOTE (Muddylives @ Jun 14 2005, 03:48 PM)

QUOTE (karyobin @ Jun 14 2005, 03:45 PM)

QUOTE (Muddylives @ Jun 14 2005, 03:20 PM)

P.S.� When Big Joe Turner sang "I want you to boogie my woogie until my face turns cherry red,"� I don't think he had in mind dancing.�

You mean like the horizontal mambo!!!!!!!

K

That's still my favorite dance, although the vertical Limbada is a close second.

Muddy

What are you guys talking about? Taking the skinnybone ferry to Tunatown?

The Buzz Brothers Band

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MaskedMarvel

#5

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 6919

Jun 14 05 5:03 PM

QUOTE (tanta07 @ Jun 14 2005, 06:51 PM)

QUOTE (Muddylives @ Jun 14 2005, 03:48 PM)

QUOTE (karyobin @ Jun 14 2005, 03:45 PM)

QUOTE (Muddylives @ Jun 14 2005, 03:20 PM)

P.S. When Big Joe Turner sang "I want you to boogie my woogie until my face turns cherry red," I don't think he had in mind dancing.

You mean like the horizontal mambo!!!!!!!

K

That's still my favorite dance, although the vertical Limbada is a close second.

Muddy

What are you guys talking about? Taking the skinnybone ferry to Tunatown?

Can anybody explain al those dancing technics :
1. Throw a boogie woogie.
2. Mess around.
3. Get that thing.
4. The horizontal mambo.
5. The vertical Limbada.
6. skinnybone ferry to Tunatown ?

Good output , although I don't understand the specifications yet

All the above written is in my opinion unless it is someone else's opinion, or a fact.

Location: Zur Moshe, Israel

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tanta07

#6

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 9133

Jun 14 05 5:14 PM

QUOTE (MaskedMarvel @ Jun 14 2005, 05:03 PM)

Can anybody explain al those dancing technics :
1. Throw a boogie woogie.
2. Mess around.
3. Get that thing.
4. The horizontal mambo.
5. The vertical Limbada.
6. skinnybone ferry to Tunatown ?

Good output , although I don't understand the specifications yet

Well, the last couple of just euphamisms for having sex. But I think if one were to dig deep enough, I bet all of the phrases would be references to sex.

Sorry to throw you a curve ball, MM. LOL I was just goofing around with the "skinnybone" thing.

The Buzz Brothers Band

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Blueswriter

#7

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 6748

Jun 14 05 6:13 PM

1. Throw a boogie woogie can also mean to have or "pitch" a party. Refer to Snooky Pryor's Boogie Twist or many other songs that use the terms. Pryor uses the line "We gonna pitch a boogie woogie" and goes on to mention closing the windows, locking the doors, letting no one else in (aside from those already in attendance) and letting no one leave.

2. Mess around can also mean the same as above as well as a dance - although I'm not sure what the dance entailed. See Ray Charles' Mess Around which uses the line... "you can talk about the pit barbecue. The band was jumping, the people too. Do the mess around..." I believe this was revisited by the B-52s in recent years.

3. Get that thing is pretty much a direct order from Pinetop Smith (or others who covered the song) to dance or move around. When he says "stop" he wants everyone to hold still (stop dancing) and when he says "get that thing" he's telling the crowd to resume... in whatever fashion it may have been that were doing prior to stopping.

4. The horizontal mambo is having sex in the horizontal position - lying down. That should need little more explanation.

5. The vertical Limbada (or Lambada) is similar to the vertical mambo - which entails engaging in sex in an upright position. Another one that should need little more explanation.

6. skinnybone ferry to Tunatown I shall not delve into in these pages. Use your imagination or your reasoning skills of untangling double-entendres to solve this one...

Hopefully, this helps in some small way...

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Johnny Roy

#8

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Posts: 3138

Jun 14 05 6:22 PM

In a Post War reference to those last three listed, there's also Robert Nighthawks line in Goin' Down To Eli's ...

"I saw my baby, and she was doin' the monkey too!"

Johnny Roy

"I may look like a wrench, but I'm no tool"... Ike Turner

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Sam hopkins

#9

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 716

Jun 14 05 6:23 PM

FWIW The Mess Around was a 1920s dance craze popularised by a recording made by Cookie's Gingersnaps (Okeh 8390).

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cih

#10

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 1283

Jun 14 05 7:19 PM

QUOTE (MaskedMarvel @ Jun 14 2005, 12:13 PM)

I want all of you to know
Pine Top's Boogie Woogie...

Interestingly on take two he says...

"Now listen here all of you.... this is my Pinetop's strut"

...instead.

I reckon Lucille Bogan's a good reference for dirty words, - 'Boogie Alley' - a place where prostitutes hang out.

I wondered what 'boogan' meant, as in her 'Stop your boogan ways' and 'my man is boogan me', obviously some sort of mistreatment... was her surname taken from that word (I can't remember if she was really 'Bogan' or 'Jackson')?

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MaskedMarvel

#11

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 6919

Jun 14 05 10:04 PM

QUOTE (Sam hopkins @ Jun 14 2005, 08:23 PM)

FWIW The Mess Around was a 1920s dance craze popularised by a recording made by Cookie's Gingersnaps (Okeh 8390).

Is there any resource about the dancing technic itself ? Anyway the Pine Top's rhythm is crazy even for a craze, probably not different than just vibrating the body or something, otherwise the tempo won't let do much more than it.

All the above written is in my opinion unless it is someone else's opinion, or a fact.

Location: Zur Moshe, Israel

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CornElvis

#12

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Posts: 290

Jun 15 05 8:48 AM

I thought that "Do the mess around" meant "having fun / a dance / a flirt /sex with the other sex, while you already have a partner" ?

Am I mistaking here?

Johnny Winter did the song as well.

Well, within short notice, I tell them where I�ve been.
What they are missing and what they�ve never seen.
Try to sell myself no matter how to.
Even try tell them black men stole my blues.
But somehow, nobody ever heard of me.

Jackie D. Blues & Rock Band
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