Hollywood Goes Swingin,
"East Hills Version"
Category: Handclap Rhyme
Source: Azizi Powell Collection, 1998 {Pittsburgh, PA, East Hills section, 1998;Teneisha & Antoinette}
Hollywood.
Hollywood goes swingin.
Hollywood goes
swingin.
Swingin for the good times.
Swingin for the bad times.
My name is Teneisha
and I’m number 9.
I’m kickin it with the genuine. (or
"I'm kickin it with Busta Rhymes.")
If you ever see me on the street, you
better speak.
“Long time, no see.”
Sexy as I wanna be.
Some hittin me high.
Some hittin me low.
Some hittin me where you want to go.
(repeat rhyme as many times as you want)
There are many different versions of “Hollywood Goes Swingin” . The titles
that I have collected are "Hollywood Now Swingin", “Hollywood Keeps Swingin” and Hollywood Not Swingin”.
Barbara Michels and Bettye White include a cheer called "Hollywood Rock
Swingin' in their 1983 book Apples On A Stick, a collection of
African American folklore from Houston, Texas. All
of these titles originate with the mid 1970s R&B hit song "Hollywood Swing" by Kool
& The Gang. The earliest version of this cheer that I have found is "Hollywood Now Swingin", Old Mother Hippletoe,
Rural & Urban Songs (Anthology of American Music, NW 291-Mono, 1978).
This recording captures African American girls performing what Kate
Rinzler, the author of the record text, refers to as "cheers".
Rinzler refers to a
1973-1975 field study by the Festival of American Folklore that describes
these cheers as "girls taking turns doing a dance step or a simple
gymnastic trick."
In that record the beat is much faster than what appears to have been used
(as a foot stomping chant) in Pittsburgh. Because the accompanying text
refers to cheers, and because I can hear foot stomps as well as hand claps
while these un-named Washington D.C. girls are chanting, I presume that
this an example of what I call "street cheers". It should be
mentioned that "Hollywood Now Swingin" may be the "correct" title of this
cheer, as the Kool & the Gang can be heard repeating this sentence as that
record ends.
I collected
this "East Hills" version of Hollywood Goes Swingin' in 1998 from two African American siblings: Teneisha (10 years)
and Antoinette (11 years) who live in the East Hills
section of Pittsburgh, PA.
Except for the title and beginning five lines, the chants' words do
not come from the Kool & Gang song. "If you see me on the street, you better
speak" is found in the 1960s hit song "Cool Jerk", but I'm not sure if that
is actually the source for the line in this cheer. I'm unsure of the origin
and meaning of the "some hittin me high, some low", some hitting me where
you want to go" lines. One 1980s Pittsburgh version of "Hollywood Swingin"
foot stompin cheer that I have my collection ends the "some hittin me high"
section this way:
Soloist: Some hittin me on my- Don’t ask
what.
Group:
What?
Soloist:
My b-u-t-t b-u-t-t butt.
That's what.
Another chant in my collection, "Chocolate City" ends the same way.
This may mean that "what...my butt" is a floating verse, used in a number of
cheers. Or it may mean that the group confused, or purposely used the
ending of one cheer with another. Given the preceding "Sexy as I wanna be"
line, my guess is that the soloists in both cheers are playing the role of
the sexy temptress. They are promoting themselves as being so sexy that
males would want to touch the girls' entire body (high & low), including
their butt ("where you want to go"). The soloists are also implying
that they allow some males to touch them, but not every male. It's as if the
soloists are taunting some ("unworthy") hypothetical male admirers, saying
"dream on". In that context, the line should be spoken this way: "some
hittin me where you want to go". However, I can't recall that
Teneisha and Antoinette put emphasis on that word. But, as support for
this suggested meaning, I offer the fact that many older adults would
consider late 20th and early 21st century Black social dancing to be "dirty
dancing". When couples dance, the males are constantly trying to
"touch on" the females, high & low. It is a common practice in R&B
dancing nowadays for the males to rhythmically pat the females' butt or
cradle the female's booty while they dance. Given the content and spirit of
both the "Hollywood Swingin" and "Chocolate City" cheers, I don't think that
"Some hittin me on my... butt" has the same meaning as the confrontation
challenge and insult "Kiss my butt".
The "kickin in with the genuine" line may mean "Kickin it for real" (i.e.
with much enthusiasm, genuinely. Or it might mean "Kinkin it with Ginuwine".
With this spelling the phrase means hangin out, relaxing, and enjoying
themselves with the the
popular R&B vocalist Ginuwine (whose debut album came out in1996.)
Of course, I neglected to ask the girls whether they meant "genuine" or "Ginuwine".
In fact, I neglected to ask the girls what any of these lines meant.
My bad.
Teneisha and Antoinette performed Hollywood Goes Swingin' as a handclap rhyme.
My daughter Tazi, who was
present at their performance, remembered it from the 1980s as a foot
stomping street cheer that was performed in a horizontal line like other
street cheers. The fact that this
handclap rhyme has a
beginning section that is recited in unison as well as an individually recited
"My name is.." section suggests that it was used, if not
originated, as a street
cheer.
Unlike street cheers, there are no foot movements in handclap rhymes. Teneisha and Antoinette stood facing each other
in the same spot and their feet remained flat
on the floor throughout their entire performance. Also, my daughter
indicated that this handclap version
of Hollywood Goes Swingin was performed at a much faster pace than she remembers was used for the foot stomping street cheer. And like many handclap
rhymes, the pace kept getting faster until one of the girls messed up the
routine (i.e. slapped with the wrong hand). Teneisha
and Antoinette used traditional
handclap movements such as slaps with both hands, palm up, left/right and back
handed. When they said "some hittin me high", the girls reached
up high and clapped their partner's hand. When they said "some hittin me
low", the girls dipped down low and clapped their partners' hands. At
least during this rendition, there
was no imitative movement for the words "where you wanna go".
In
2004, I recorded a handclap performance of "Hollywood Goes Swingin" by
African American elementary/middle school girls (9-13 years) in the
Garfield section of Pittsburgh. The lyrics were substantially the same as
those of the featured chant, but with other "number" verses, such as
" I'm soul sister number 2, I'm kickin
it with Scooby Doo (or "with Winnie the Pooh") . And these girls
ended the cheer with "don't ask what, my b-u-t-t, butt" ending, confirming
that some things change, and some things stay the same.
Do you know any chants like this? Share them with CocoJams! |
