Sometimes I wonder if the things I remember about high school were widespread among high schools of that region and/or era—namely, rural Maine/New England in the late 1980s/early 1990s. Things like incredibly high, back-curled, hair-sprayed bangs, or markered illustrations of band names and logos on the back of bleached jean jackets. And I wonder if every school dance in the state/region/country in that time included the playing of the B-52s’ “Rock Lobster,” and if everyone everywhere did a slow, elaborate, zombie-like crumble to the floor during the “down, down!” part of that song like we did. (Did we play “Rock Lobster” so much because we were in Maine? With all the lobster? Oy.)
Here is the real mystery, though: Did everyone chant the same dirty phrase in the middle of Billy Idol’s version of “Mony Mony”? And also—where did that come from?
I remember the chant as “Hey hey, say what, get laid, get f****d,” but the interwebs are trying to tell me that most people used “Hey mother******, get laid get f****d.” It is entirely possible that that is what everyone around me was saying, and that I just, in my terminal uncoolness, misheard them. I can’t find any explanation anywhere (in, admittedly, a scant five minutes of searching) for the origins of the chanting.
Mama Kitt, can you help me here? Anyone?
Ah, life—rich and full of mystery.
PS Also did every school dance everywhere at that time end with “Stairway to Heaven”? Or did other schools realize a couple decades had passed, and potentially other songs had come out since then?
PPS I so did not go to the movies this weekend. FAIL.
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September 8, 2009 at 11:35 am
mamakitt
GotS, I cannot help you on your quest. Because it was you who clued me in to that chant, probably 10 or so years after high school. I have no memory of people chanting anything. Where was I?
On a semi-related note, however: I was talking this weekend to the husband of my fella’s second cousin, whom I’d just met, and I made some reference to a bean supper. He looked puzzled. “What’s a bean supper?”
What’s a bean supper?! It’s suppah! With beans!
September 8, 2009 at 11:54 am
thegirlontheswing
How can you not know what a bean supper is? Did you fill him in on contradances, too?
September 11, 2009 at 4:07 pm
carobird
Maine is not so very far from Niagara Falls, as it turns out. Our high school featured some of the highest, stiffest, most ridiculous looking bangs…says the girl who never mastered the art of the curling iron. (Oh, but give me some old school hot rollers and I will turn on the fluff!) Rock Lobster–with zombie falls–was also a perennial favorite. Mony Mony was less frequent, but when played included the chanting. Oddly, the first time I heard the chanting was at a church dance, which is probably why I remember it so vividly. We were spared Stairway to Heaven as most of the djs were more inclined toward new wave tunes. Never even heard that until college and was puzzled to find that I had missed most of the 70s….except, of course, Paul Simon, whom I adore(d). Love the blog!
October 2, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Red, red wine « Auto Tunes: We Drive, We Listen, We Write
[...] Red Red Wine, school dances, UB40 | by mamakitt Oh, school dances. TGOTS has already done a masterful job at capturing their oddities, at least in our neck of the woods, and I don’t have much intention of saying anything more. [...]
October 9, 2009 at 8:23 am
Roam. If you want to. « Auto Tunes: We Drive, We Listen, We Write
[...] allowed to stand on ours. That is right, my friend – the cool kids and I got to do the “Rock Lobster” while standing on our chairs with a perfect view of the B-52s. It. Was. [...]
October 13, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Long forgotten words or ancient melodies « Auto Tunes: We Drive, We Listen, We Write
[...] assembly, Toto, Wayne's World, ZZ Top | by mamakitt If there is one idea in the world worse than letting scores of sweaty teenagers spend two hours together in the dark — also known as a school dance — it may be forcing scores of snarky teenagers to spend [...]
October 20, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Just take those old records off the shelf « Auto Tunes: We Drive, We Listen, We Write
[...] playing catch-up from yesterday, I need to keep the legitimate today post short. But! Back on the school dance topic for a moment! How odd is it that we got very, very excited as young teenagers to dance to a song [...]
October 29, 2009 at 8:26 am
Two not unrelated items « Auto Tunes: We Drive, We Listen, We Write
[...] seeing all the poufy bangs and acid-washed denim made me think once again about the girls who drew band names and logos all over their jean jackets, and wonder if this was something people did all over. I am pretty sure I remember sharpie-d AC/DC [...]