How Should I Shake That?

Now that Penn Radio is off the air, I’ve been listening to the Bone Conduction Music Show a bit more. Thayrone spins ‘em like no one else, and man, do I hear a lot of great music there.

Most recently, he just completely amped up my respect for Little Richard. Not only did he close the hour with a great old song called “Cherry Red,” but he played a LR tune called “Jenny, Jenny.” Here’s a sample verse:

Jenny, Jenny, Jenny
spinnin' like a spinnin' top
Jenny, Jenny, Jenny
Spinnin' like you ain't gonna stop
The greatest little momma
You oughta see her reel and rock

Fine enough, and you know Little Richard is gonna give it energy. But then consider this: between every couplet, he also sings, “Jenny Jenny! (wooo!) Jenny Jenny!” What gets me is the speed that he switches back and forth between singing Jenny’s name and that high falsetto whoop, and back again. Just try to sing along with the song – even if you can’t hit the note (I sure as hell can’t), you probably won’t even be able to make the switch. It’s uncanny. The man’s a fireball.

And then there’s Sam Cooke. In the same hour, Thayrone played a Cooke tune called “Shake,” a dance-instructional song that included these magic lyrics:

Shake it like a bowl of soup
And make your body loop de loop

…um, Sam? Who the hell shakes a bowl of soup? Great music, but try a little harder on the words, baby.

Rob