Sunday, January 11, 2009

Songs about Dancing (5): Sophisticated Boom Boom

I was walkin' down the street,
And it was gettin' mighty late.
Well, the truth of the matter is,
This poor girl had been abandoned by her date.

When, from out of nowhere,
Came this music loud and clear.
Let me see, from over there?
(No, from over there.)
Over there? (Yeah.)

Well, I open up the door,
And much to my surprise,
The girls were wearin' formals,
And the boys were wearin' ties.

And I feel that I should mention,
That the band was at attention.
They just stood there, oh, so neat,
While they played their swingin' beat.
So I grabbed this little boy,
Who came struttin' 'cross the room,
And I say, "What's that?" And he say,
Sophisticated boom, boom.
It's been long overdue, Sophisticated boom, boom.
We been need'in' somethin' new, Sophisticated boom, boom.
Now stand up straight and tall, Like your back's against the wall.
Take two steps forward (Boom, boom.) (Boom-boom, boom-boom)
And shake your hips. (Boom, boom)...

Sophisticated Boom Boom by The Shangri-Las was originally a b-side to Long Live Our Love in 1966. It was written by George "Shadow" Morton. The song title was also used as the name for a cool Scottish girl band in the early 1980s and for Dead or Alive's first album in 1984. The Shangri-Las were from Queens (NYC) - perhaps the song describes going through a time tunnel in 1966 and coming across a Vampire Weekend gig in Brooklyn in 2007.

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