Born Sloppy
This post goes out to all the slain bloggers and the fallen bloggers: cyber comrades taken down by the Despicable Millionaires Copywrong Act. Truthfully, I had been planning this post for awhile, but I thought to dedicate it after I tried to visit my friend Leopold at Versions Galore and saw the dreaded "blog not found" page. Leopold can still be found on Facebook, and he's parked the domain, but there's no there there. Not yet. Hang in there, Leo.Jimmy McCracklin wrote the song "Georgia Slop", and recorded it in December 1958. He had scored a hit that year with "The Walk", and he tried to duplicate his success by writing a few more dance songs (such as "The Wobble"). The Slop was one such dance. "Georgia Slop" has a driving twelve-bar rhythm, McCracklin's playful piano runs, and syncopated hand claps on its irresistable refrain. The singer encounters the dance at a roadhouse called Pegleg Lee's, where "they don't give a hoot about no police."
Jimmy McCracklin is still around, with as many years under his belt as there are keys on a piano. He wrote "Tramp" with Lowell Fulson. "Georgia Slop" was given new life in the early 1960's when it was covered by Big Al Downing. I first encountered the song on the 1984 debut album of Barrence Whitfield and the Savages (not long after I made Georgia my home). Los Lobos covered it in 1990 (but I don't want to attract the attention of the DaMnCA by posting that one). I've collected a number of versions, and these are my favorites. Enjoy:
Jimmy McCracklin: Georgia Slop
Big Al Downing: Georgia Slop
Barrence Whitfield and the Savages: Georgia Slop
Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish: Georgia Slop
Listen to the original here:
