In his powerfully insightful book of blues-inspired poetry Fattening Frogs for Snakes -- Delta Sound Suite, John Sinclair cites blues and jazz scholar Robert Palmer as a source for the theory that the linguistic taproots of the word "boogie" probably reach back to West Africa, as the Hausa "buga" and the Mandingo "bug" both mean "to beat" as in "to beat a drum." This makes sense given the rhythmic potency of boogie-woogie, a style that emerged during the early 20th century among Southern black laborers who lived, toiled, and partied near the very bottom of the U.S. social hierarchy, usually living in an environment that was secluded from the rest of the population and often engaging in the production of turpentine. There are other distinct levels of meaning and purpose here: the subject of blackness, the act of partying in order to blow off steam, and the performer's utility function as a provider of music in order to keep the participants from brawling. Sometimes carelessly criticized for its apparent simplicity, the boogie is as complex as human nature itself. Popularized by white big bands during the 1930s and '40s, boogie-woogie also helped to spawn the eminently exploitable genres of R&B and rock & roll. ---------- The Iceman
Thing is, boogie woogie emerged primarily on the piano; at least that's my unstudied perception and perhaps some would care to more fully inform me.
Laborers at the bottom rungs of society typically didn't have much access to pianos. And people a little farther up the ladder often take pains to distance themselves from those lower down. I'm skeptical. =========== Winslow
I was always under the impression that "boogie" and "bootie"--as in bottom, butt, behind: the thing you shake--were related. Perhaps that's because of John Lee Williamson's song:
A music that helps people shake it without breaking it has a specific function, a recuparative, reparative function in an exploitative, low-wage working class economy where your body is being worn down in somebody else's service. This is the irony of the phrase "work it out." That means "reclaim it." Work out the kinks. Make it your own again. When somebody says "Your ass is mine," they're trying to take possession of you in a bad way. Shaking your bootie to the boogie--shaking the boogie--is a constructive response to that sort of claiming and exploitation.
In Sonny Boy's song, he's making a somewhat different point. He's saying that his woman has been out shaking it for somebody else all night long: a juke-joint queen. But God DAMN she shakes it so well that he can't stay mad for too long. Watch out for the jelly roll. It will drive you insane.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Jun 24, 2015 7:24 PM
"Boogie," "juke," and "ragtime" are three widely used African American music words that have obscure origins. That lack of verifiable information seems to stimulate the imaginations of many writers to come up with either possible African root words or situational explanations, like the one that "ragtime refers to being "on the rag" - that is, the whorehouse piano player would play ragtime tunes for the working girls who were sidelined from servicing customers while menstruating. True? I have no idea. And what would he play differently for those who were not so indisposed, or for paying customers?
