Thursday, November 30, 2006

Bumpin' Da Booty

Sir Mack Rice - Bump Meat

The Bump was one of the more successful disco dances, probably because it was fun and easy to do. It probably also didn't hurt matters that there was a slew of records that cashed in on the dance (a far from exhaustive list would include personal favorites such as Rufus Thomas' "Do the Double Bump," Bobby Marchan's "Bump Your Booty," Ed Townsend's "Maybe I'll Bump," Ground Hog's "Bumpin'," Joe Tex's "Ain't Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)" and today's selection). Further, the fact that men and women got to bump booties probably made the dance even more popular.

Speaking of booties, it's interesting to see how many R&B songs of the '60s and '70s may have set the template for the booty worship that exists in rap music today (starting with stuff like E.U.'s "Da Butt" and the infamous classic "Baby Got Back"): James Brown made his preferences known with tunes like "Mother Popcorn (You Gotta Have a Mother For Me)" ("mother" being his code word for a big behind) and "For Goodness Sakes, Take a Look at Those Cakes," and lots of tunes made reference to the blues archetype of the "big leg woman," most notably Israel "Popper Stopper" Tolbert's "Big Leg Woman (With a Short, Short Miniskirt)." With "Bump Meat," a 1974 Truth single, soul legend Mack Rice got his proverbial two cents in on the topic, plus he got to get in on the dance craze. So shake that bump meat, y'all!

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