" Flat Foot Floogie (with Floy Floy) " (also " The Flat Foot Floogee ") is a 1938 jazz song written by Slim Gaillard, Slam Stewart and Bud Green , and performed by Gaillard and Stewart as Slim & amp; Slamming.
"Flat Foot Floogie" is Slim & amp; Slam's first and greatest hit song. Their version is one of the top notes of 1938, peaking at number two on the US charts.
Video Flat Foot Floogie (with a Floy Floy)
History
Gaillard (1916-1991) and Leroy "Slam" Stewart (1914-1987) met in New York City in 1936 and formed a duo, performing together on radio and at the 52nd Street club, with Gaillard on guitars and vocals and Stewart on bass. They pulled radio pioneer Martin Block to manage it and he arranged a contract with the Vocalion. On February 17, 1938, Slim and Slam recorded "Flat Foot Floogie" (Vocalion 4021).
Gaillard sold the publishing rights to "Flat Foot Floogie" to the Green Brothers and Knight for $ 250, and the writing credits were shared with Bud Green. Shortly thereafter, Benny Goodman & amp; His orchestra played it on the Camel Caravan radio show, launching its popularity.
Slim & amp; Slam's record peaked at number 2 on the Billboard chart and at number 5 on Your Hit Parade .
Maps Flat Foot Floogie (with a Floy Floy)
Lyrics
The lyrics are short and dominated by repetition of the title words and the nonsense refrain, "floy-doy, floy-doy, floy-doy". The original lyrics, recorded in January 1938, were "flat feet floozie with floy floy"; The vocalion, however, objected to the word "floozie", meaning a promiscuous sexual woman, or prostitute. The second record in February changed the word to "floogie". In the second part of the phrase title, "floy floy" is a slang for venereal disease, but the term is not widely known and fails to capture sensor attention. It is considered to be nonsense and comes to have a positive connotation as a consequence of the song.
Other versions
Many artists covered the song in 1938: Wingy Manone on May 23rd; Nat Gonella; Benny Goodman & amp; Orchestra on May 31 (Victor 25871); Louis Armstrong with The Mills Brothers on June 10 (Decca 1876); as well as Woody Herman and Count Basie. In Europe, Fats Waller recorded it in London on tour (HMV BD5399), an instrumental version recorded by jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt (Decca F-6776) and Dutch singing duo Johnny and Jones covering it.
Gaillard recorded "Flat Foot Floogie" again in 1945 for Bel-Tone, with ensembles including Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Jack McVea, one of several songs recorded during the session. Bel-Tone went bankrupt, but the tape was purchased by Majestic and released in 1946.
The song continues to be reviewed for years. The Jacksons did it twice on their 1970's variety show, the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain has included it in the show, and Nina Hagen covered it on the 2006 album Irgendwo auf der Welt.
In other media
The title for the 1938 Three Stooges, Flat Foot Stooges , is a game on the title track. The Goodman version of this song was heard in 1993, Swing Kids.
It was one of three parts of the music included in the Westinghouse Time Capsule 1938, along with Finland by Jean Sibelius and "The Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Philip Sousa.
Bill Holman's comic, Smokey Stover, contained a reference to the song in the Nov. 26, 1938 issue: "Sounds like Flanagan's flat foot with foo foo." Here, "flat feet" are slang for a police officer; Flanagan reported that an arsonist had escaped by burning the prison.
In the 1939 movie Twelve Crowded Hours gangster George Costain (played by Cy Kendall) brings "guests" to the Floy Floy Club.
The 1980 movie Atlantic City features old gangsters, played by Burt Lancaster, remembering the heyday of the resort town when Flatfoot Floogie with Floy Floy was a hit song.
Note
References
External links
- "Flat Foot Floogie" in The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong , blog by historian Armstrong Ricky Riccardi
- "Flat Foot Floogee", 1938 appearance by Wingy Manone Orchestra, on Internet Archive
- "Flat Foot Floogie" 1938 rendition by Louis Armstrong with Mills Brothers on vocals, on the Internet Archive
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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