SwingDJs

a couple questions:

do you think the dancers are listening to the lyrics of the stuff you play, or dancing to the emotional tone, and in general how important is that?

do you dj with lyrical themes/emotional tone in mind?

there is a discussion of how important lyrics are to how you dance going on on another board, and i was wondering, if people are or start to pay real attention to the lyrics/emotional quality of songs, should i be djing with that in mind. should i think about emotion the way i think about tempo and create some kind of transition, or does it matter?

12bars wrote:
do you think the dancers are listening to the lyrics of the stuff you play

No.
I tested this out myself. I played "Dave Davies", I got Rhythm, and non of the dancers picked up the "I've got daisy’s on my underwear" line.

I’d go right long with Artie Shaw – “Jitterbuggers are morons.”, including myself sometimes.

Brian

only some dancers hear the lyrics, i've played the camel toe song and most dancers just thought it was kokomo.

This has been tested time and time again and I think the answer is usually 'God, no.' A friend of mine and I tried playing a whole night of suggestive, or somewhat weird (lyrics wise) songs (Big long thing, My heart belongs to daddy, The Spinach Song, Fine brown man, amongst others) and no one paid any attention to them. The only ones that have made people stop have been Slim's Chicken Rhythm and the Muppets' Fuzzy and Blue (and sometimes, Laughing in Rhythm).

In my experience, more dancers will come out for a vocal number, but their actual comprehension of the vocal is minimal. It's unimportant when compared to good song v. bad song.

I would eschew emotion in favor of energy, even in Blues sets.

Kalman

But there are always some dancers who are really into the lyrics. There are a few in our scene who tend to dance even more to the lyrics than to other parts of the music when the lyrics inspire them.

I have done a food theme once. I think some people noticed, but no one cared.

I tested this out by playing a 1935 Delta blues song from Lucille Bogan with some nasty lyrics late at night. I got no response from most people on the dance floor. Late in the song after saying phuck for the umpteemph time, a follower near the DJ booth looked at me and said what the hell is this?

From: http://www.deltahaze.com/30/Bogan_lyrics.html

SHAVE 'EM DRY (unexpurgated version)

I got nipples on my titties, big as the end of my thumb,

I got somethin' between my legs'll make a dead man come,

Oh daddy, baby won't you shave 'em dry?

Aside: Now, draw it out!

Want you to grind me baby, grind me until I cry.

(Roland: Uh, huh.)

Say I fucked all night, and all the night before baby,

And I feel just like I wanna, fuck some more,

Oh great God daddy,

(Roland: Say you gonna get it. You need it.)

Grind me honey and shave me dry,

And when you hear me holler baby, want you to shave it dry.

I got nipples on my titties, big as the end of my thumb,

Daddy you say that's the kind of 'em you want, and you can make 'em come,

Oh, daddy shave me dry,

(Roland: She ain't gonna work for it.)

And I'll give you somethin' baby, swear it'll make you cry.

I'm gon' turn back my mattress, and let you oil my springs,

I want you to grind me daddy, 'til the bell do ring,

Oh daddy, want you to shave 'em dry,

Oh great God daddy, if you can't shave 'em baby won't you try?

Now if fuckin' was the thing, that would take me to heaven,

I'd be fuckin' in the studio, till the clock strike eleven,

Oh daddy, daddy shave 'em dry,

I would fuck you baby, honey I'd make you cry.

Now your nuts hang down like a damn bell sapper,

And your dick stands up like a steeple,

Your goddam ass-hole stands open like a church door,

And the crabs walks in like people.

Aside: Ow, shit!

(Roland: Aah, sure enough, shave 'em dry?)

Aside: Ooh! Baby, won't you shave 'em dry

A big sow gets fat from eatin' corn,

And a pig gets fat from suckin',

Reason you see this whore, fat like I am,

Great God, I got fat from fuckin'.

Aside: Eeeeh! Shave 'em dry

(Roland: Aah, shake it, don't break it)

My back is made of whalebone,

And my cock is made of brass,

And my fuckin' is made for workin' men's two dollars,

Great God, round to kiss my ass.

Aside: Oh! Whoo, daddy, shave 'em dry

I'm surprised that song didn't get edited from language filters.

Might have to do with the fidelity of that version. The Asylum Street Spankers version gets good responses when I play it.

12bars wrote:a couple questions:

do you think the dancers are listening to the lyrics of the stuff you play, or dancing to the emotional tone, and in general how important is that?

I sincerely doubt that most dancers are listening to the lyrics of song. The reasons could be as simple as a bad sound system where they can't distinguish the lyrics, or they could just be completely oblivious all the time.

I was dancing with Josh when Jerry played "Strange Fruit" at Down Home Blues. One minute we're dancing, talking, catching up... the next we're looking at each other going "WTF?" as you see all these people doing body rolls to a song about lynching.

It was funny, yet scary at the same time.

Anyway, I do think the better dancers are aware of the tone of the music and do pay attention to the lyrics.

do you dj with lyrical themes/emotional tone in mind?

I have this annoying thing were I play some version of "Every Day I Have the Blues" in every set I do. I'm waiting for someone to call me on it, but I don't think I spin often enough for people to catch. Oh well, it's just one way to keep me amused.

CafeSavoy wrote:only some dancers hear the lyrics, i've played the camel toe song and most dancers just thought it was kokomo.

I think I heard you play that for the first time at Toronto's exchange in '03. I still cringe when I think of that song. I think I'm scarred for life, man.

Roy wrote:I tested this out by playing a 1935 Delta blues song from Lucille Bogan with some nasty lyrics late at night. I got no response from most people on the dance floor. Late in the song after saying phuck for the umpteemph time, a follower near the DJ booth looked at me and said what the hell is this?

I've played the Spankers version of this song as well... it's funny to watch the dancers when they finally get a clue about the lyrics.

Tina

Just play Poppa Chubby's "Sweat" next time you do a late night/west coast/blues room set. People will notice the lyrics. Even if they were not paying attention, when the he starts using raunchy words, people suddenly tune into the lyrics.

My take is that if the song is supposed to be subtle, people are less likely to pick up on the content. (Strange Fruit is mostly subtle, only a few lines provide the real key to what the song is about).

I think everybody picks up on the lyrics to most songs pretty quickly, assuming the lyrics are obvious, and sung clearly (ex: Massachusetts by Maxine Sullivan, everybody knows exactly what the song is about the first time they hear it, nothing subtle about it, it is a tribute to the state of Massachusetts).

A common, non-dance example is the Police song, "Every Breath You Take", Sting will complain that people have misread his stalker anthem, lamenting that people get married to it, etc... I don't blame the fans. If you write subtle lyrics and put them inside the structure usually associated with a love song, people will take the bait and misread it.

Nathan

LOL. I would never play Shave 'em Dry at a swing dance here since we have such a young young crowd. Martin has played songs featuring the 'f' word at blues parties but that's a different story. And yes, it was commented on.

As someone who loves to sing and used to be in a chorus, I love lyrics and I think I play more lyrics than other folks here. It's more beginner friendly but I do agree that people rarely listen to the lyrics. And as the dance level increases, the rhythm is more important than the lyrics, as a general rule of thumb. I'm trying to play a more even mix, if I notice I've played 2 or 3 vocals in a row I'll make a conscious effort to play one or two instumentals.

djstarr wrote:LOL. I would never play Shave 'em Dry at a swing dance here since we have such a young young crowd. Martin has played songs featuring the 'f' word at blues parties but that's a different story. And yes, it was commented on.

I believe that was the Spanker's "Everbody's F*cking But Me" that night at Esti's party you're referring to ... kinda cheating because I made an annoucement about it, saying that, in a bit of self-depricating humor, that "this is my song right now." Bit of a cop out

Perhaps its because I learned about the song through the story, but "Strange Fruit" is... not so subtle. Poetic, yes; subtle, no.

"Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze," "hanging from the poplar trees," "the bulging eyes and twisted mouth," "the sudden smell of burning flesh," "rot," "suck" Yeah... subtelty at its finest.