Slim and Slam: The Flat Foot Floogie
Track
The Flat Foot Floogie
Group
Slim & Slam
CD
Slim Gaillard 1938-46 (Best of Jazz 4063)
Musicians:
Slam Stewart (vocals, bass), Slim Gaillard (vocals, guitar, vibes),
Sam Allen (piano), Gus Dobson (drums)
.Composed by Slim Gaillard & Slam Stewart
.Recorded: New York, February 17, 1938
Rating: 90/100 (learn more)
In the 1930s, jive talk acquired artful connotations. No longer patter, it was now patois. Its preeminent practitioner, Slim Gaillard, devised a dialect called "vout" that suffixed "orooney" and "oreeney" to any unsuspecting word that happened by. In 1938, "The Flat Foot Floogie" happened by, and the nation was hooked-orooney. As a lexicologist, Slim was elastic, indecisively singing "Flat Feet Floogee," "Fat Feet Floogee" and "Fat Fleet Foogee," all within seconds of one another. This doesn't pretend to be great music, but Slim & Slam's genial whimsy provides a snapshot of America's cloudless innocence 19 months before World War II.
Reviewer: Alan Kurtz
Tags: novelty jazz
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