I was at a club and the guy at the piano was singing this song. I went home to look up what it meant and I was surprised to see Floogie is a prostitute and Floy is VD.
I know the web is full of urban myths so is this true. I mean the time the song was popular was pretty conservative and even if it was slang how could it be got away with.
So what is the SD? Is Floogie a prostitute and is Floy VD? Also did we get Floosie from Floogie, if so maybe that makes sense.
I thought it was “floozie”?
(rather topical, I was just teaching this to my kids the other day, probably ought to get it right)
“Floogie” might derive from “Floozie,” which generally meant a disreputable woman. Not necessarily a prostitute, but a woman who drank and fooled around with men.
I can’t find any indication about “floy floy” (though the OED has one cite from the 1820s meaning “dirty,” though the usage doesn’t appear to be common even then). It’s certainly possible it meant something like VD (and popular songs of the 30s did have sexual connotations – look at “Minnie the Moocher”).
I think, though, it was just a nonsense verse. The full lyrics of the song are mostly nonsense, and those that do make sense merely say, “Have a great time and go out dancing”
No, the lyrics are definitely “flat-foot floogie,” not “floozie.”
I don’t know that the lyrics are all that surprising, since this is also the era that we get “Minnie the Moocher” and that’s full of drug references. And “Yellow Rose of Texas” is about a biracial prostitute, so it’s not like songs of ladies of questionable virtue haven’t been around and popular for a while.
Of course, this also makes the part of “Flat-Foot Floogie” that goes, “Bang bang bang bang yatta” veryveryvery funny.
I believe Sweet Georgia Brown is also about a prostitute- or at least a woman with very loose morals- which makes you wonder about those Harlem Globetrotters.
Wow. Cite?
I’m pretty sure it’s been talked about on the board. Let me see if I can find a GQ thread or something. I seem to remember that there was even a particular biracial prostitute that was the Yellow Rose – that is, we know her name.
OK, so after searching, I keep turning up Emily Dickinson, but no Texas whores. So you’ll have to settle for the Wikipedia page, which says that Emily D. West seduced General Santa Anna, allowing Sam Houston to defeat him. So not a prostitue per se, but most likely a soiled dove.
I don’t recall any version of The Yellow Rose of Texas that indicated that she was a prostitute, but earlier versions did seem to suggest that she was “high yellow” as it were, and her lover a “darky,” but the whitewashed version is the one that Texans these days seem to favor. I read the Wikipedia entry on the song, but I don’t think it provides any compelling reason to believe that the song actually referenced the legendary person talked about there.
Anyhow, I’m more interested in where I can get my hands on some of that Frim Fram Sauce.
Sometimes words are just words, as Chuck implies.
The writer of the song, Slim Gaillard, was a master of nonsense words.
McVouty!
I remember my dad singing that song when I was a kid. Amazing to have it come again all these years later.
I’m not so sure “prostitute” can be inferred from the lyrics.
She’s a black woman who’s new in town. She’s from Georgia. And she can’t dance.
Here’s the lyrics:
VERSE: She just got here yesterday, Things are hot here now they say,
There’s a new gal in town.
Gals are jealous, there’s no doubt. All the guys just rave about
Sweet, Sweet Georgia Brown.
CHORUS: No gal made has got a shade on Sweet Georgia Brown.
Two left feet, but oh, so neat has Sweet Georgia Brown.
They all sigh and wanna die for Sweet Georgia Brown,
I’ll tell you just why, you know I don’t lie (not much!).
It’s been said she knocks 'em dead when she lands in town.
Since she came why it’s a shame how she’s cooled 'em down.
Fellas that she can’t get Must be fellas that she ain’t met.
Georgia claimed her, Georgia named her, Sweet Georgia Brown.
Jazz might have been born in brothels but not every woman in it was a prostitute.
Song was originally written in 1925. The Globetrotters adopted it as their theme song in 1952. Their version has whistling and no singing so I’m inclined to believe they used it because it’s catchy.
Yeah, it’s been a while since I heard the lyrics. (However, ragtime expert “Perfessor” Bill Edwards states on his website that “Sweet Georgia Brown is actually about a black prostitute of high standing, as the verses reveal.”) But “woman with loose morals” is certainly there:
That seems to be saying to me that she gets around with a lot of men. The Globetrotters reference was just a joke- of course it’s a catchy tune!
While I love the perfessor’s website, and have used it on many occasions, I wouldn’t hold his interpretation up as a reliably researched opinion. And I"m not even sure I would go along with “woman of loose morals.” How do you know she wasn’t a ‘tease’ who loved flirting but didn’t put out? Surely there have always been women like that in the real world. And, of course, all the other women would be jealous of such a women, who could steal away most men.
The version I’ve heard is that she was a mulatto “yellow” slave confiscated by Santa Anna and used as his mistress. When Houston attacked (according to the legend) Santa Anna was too busy mounting her to mount a defense and thus San Jacinto was over in minutes and a total defeat for the Mexicans. (This site says she was a free black servant, but maintains the rest.)