Tuwa's Shanty and The Roots Canal

Friday, November 03, 2006:

The Roots Canal: Golden Age of Raunch, Part III

The Swallows -- It Ain't the Meat (It's the Motion)
What else can you say? One of the great early doo-wop hits, by a bunch of Baltimore teenagers. Swinging tune. Great vocals, behind the rollicking baritone of Norris "Bunky" Mack. Hands clapping on the backbeat. But the lyrics, written by King Records A&R man Henry Glover and someone named L. Mann, say it all:

It ain't the meat, it's the motion
Makes your daddy want to rock
It ain't the meat, it's the motion
It's the movement that gives it the sock

Now I had a girl so doggone thin
No meat, no bones, she was just all skin
One thing about her I can understand
She wraps all around me like a rubber band

It ain't the meat, it's the motion
Makes your daddy want to rock
It ain't the meat, it's the motion
It's the movement that gives it the sock

It ain't the meat, it's the motion
Makes your daddy want to rock
It ain't the meat, it's the motion
It's the movement that gives it the sock

You find some girls who are big and fat
Some fellows don't like to see them like that
But I like to see 'em big and tall
The bigger they come, the harder they fall

It ain't the meat, it's the motion
Makes your daddy want to rock
It ain't the meat, it's the motion
It's the movement that gets it to sock

It ain't the meat, it's the motion
It ain't the meat, it's the movement
It ain't the meat, it's the action
That makes your daddy want to rock all night

Got a little girl who lives down the street
It ain't much of her but she's mighty sweet
When she starts rockin', she don't want to stop
It makes a man want to blow his top

It ain't the meat, it's the motion
Makes your daddy want to rock
It ain't the meat, it's the motion
It's the movement that gives it the sock

So tell me. Was this the source of the phrase "it ain't the meat, it's the motion?" Or did the expression already exist, and they wrote the song around it? Whaddya think? Might as well ask if it was it the chicken or the egg.

[The Very Best of the Swallows]

posted by Anonymous @ 22:53 | permalink |