# What the hell is a diamond in the back? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 15, 2017, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-a-diamond-in-the-back/793709 "2017-08-15T13:31:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2017, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-a-diamond-in-the-back/793709/1 "2017-08-15T13:31:59Z")
Recent news events put the title of [Shirley Company’s Shame, Shame, Shame](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEJnK8nvlk4) in my head. Listening to it again after a few decades reminded me of [Curtis Mayfield’s Diamond In The Back](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVANQheoRUw). Was this a thing in the 70s that I don’t remember? Bonus question: What the hell is a ‘shaky wig’? ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2017, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-a-diamond-in-the-back/793709/2 "2017-08-15T13:50:36Z")
Back window of a 70s land-barge model car, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2017, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-a-diamond-in-the-back/793709/3 "2017-08-15T13:50:40Z")
[Urban Dictionary](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=diamond%20in%20the%20back) > [@](#): > > a characteristic of early model Cadillacs used primarily by the urban community that was popularized in a classic song, “Be Thankful for What You Got” by one-hit wonder William Devaughn and has been covered and sampled many times over. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2017, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-a-diamond-in-the-back/793709/4 "2017-08-15T13:54:09Z")
[Diamond in the back](http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/09-1975-Cadillac-Coupe-Deville-Custom-Down-On-the-Junkyard-Picture-courtesy-of-Murilee-Martin-550x412.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2017, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-a-diamond-in-the-back/793709/5 "2017-08-15T14:10:22Z")
Thanks. You’d think growing up in the South Bronx at the time, I would know that. Now, about that shaky wig. . … ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2017, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-a-diamond-in-the-back/793709/6 "2017-08-15T14:37:27Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Thanks. You’d think growing up in the South Bronx at the time, I would know that. Now, about that shaky wig. . … [Urban Dictionary doesn’t have a definition for shaky wig](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=shaky+wig). I think that means you get to invent a definition that pleases you, and post it there. You may not be correct, but you will always be first. I was tempted to post a definition on UD like “something everyone on earth knows the definition of except Biggirl”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2017, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-a-diamond-in-the-back/793709/7 "2017-08-15T15:00:07Z")
I’ve never heard of shaky wig and searches come up with a lot of hits for shake-n-go wigs and wigs that are described as shaky but both usages sound pejorative and I don’t think the singer is intending for “shaky wig” to be an insult. So I’m at a bit of a loss. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2017, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-a-diamond-in-the-back/793709/8 "2017-08-15T15:01:58Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > I was tempted to post a definition on UD like “something everyone on earth knows the definition of except Biggirl”. 😃 Unfortunately, I think they have a review process specifically to keep out those sorts of joke definitions. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2017, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-a-diamond-in-the-back/793709/9 "2017-08-15T15:18:58Z")
I love that Company is doing all the dancing in that video. Shirley is too busy being decades ahead of fashion in her velour track suit. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2017, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-a-diamond-in-the-back/793709/10 "2017-08-15T15:30:17Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Bonus question: What the hell is a ‘shaky wig’? > [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > I’ve never heard of shaky wig and searches come up with a lot of hits for shake-n-go wigs and wigs that are described as shaky but both usages sound pejorative and I don’t think the singer is intending for “shaky wig” to be an insult. So I’m at a bit of a loss. The song is about dancing. WAG-either a wig with long hair or a relaxed hair hairstyle that allows a lot of movement. [Getting one past the censors](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GettingCrapPastTheRadar) guess-It refers to the woman’s hip movements while dancing, the “shaky wig” is her pubic hair. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2017, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-a-diamond-in-the-back/793709/11 "2017-08-15T15:58:34Z")
ALERT! WARNING! CLARIFICATION! Be Thankful For What You Got isn’t called Diamond in The Back and isn’t by Marvin Gaye! I knew this info and then forgot it. It has been many, many years. The song is called Be Thankful For What You Got and it is by William DeVaugn ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2017, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-a-diamond-in-the-back/793709/12 "2017-08-15T16:09:32Z")
Prior to this thread I didn’t know what “diamond in the back” referred" to but just reading the phrase made me immediately start signing it in my head. My brother and I loved this song as kids! I also must give the good people of this board thanks for explaining what “gangster lean” means. We didn’t know what the heck we were singing about back then but we sure sang it loud 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2017, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-a-diamond-in-the-back/793709/13 "2017-08-15T17:28:48Z")
Both Shirley & Company dance as if they were related to Sam the Snowman. ---
**Author:** ![Jeffm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e79b87/32.png) [@Jeffm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeffm)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2017, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-a-diamond-in-the-back/793709/14 "2017-11-13T04:30:05Z")
In the early 1970s, some people would make a 4 sided diamond shaped polygon, out of automotive pinstripping, and stick it on the rear windshield. It was always a black person. It was usually a pimped out looking Cadillac or other land barge. I don’t know why they thought it was cool, but I saw it all the time.