TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Liner Notes

A weekly column by Tampa Tribune pop music critic Curtis Ross

ADVERTISEMENT

By CURTIS ROSS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 22, 2009

I was driving my 3-year-old daughter to preschool the other day when "She's About a Mover" by the Sir Douglas Quintet came on the radio.

The volume went up and I began singing and slapping the steering wheel in time to the music.

Violet asks, "Daddy, what's this song?"

"It's called 'She's About a Mover,' honey."

"What's this song about?"

About? I seem to recall my brother having a 45 of this song, which means I've known it for something like 45 years now and I've never once considered what it was about.

"Uh, it's about a guy who sees a girl he likes."

Well, most of them are, aren't they? In an interview on www.classicbands.com, Augie Meyers, the Quintet's organist, says the phrase was altered by singer Doug Sahm from "she's a body mover," which was a little racy for 1965's airwaves.

It made me think about arguments I had years ago with a friend who couldn't get her head around music if she didn't understand the words.

"Who cares about the words? Does it rock?" I'd always say.

Which was, even then, a little disingenuous. One of the things that attracted me to punk and new wave was the way the lyrics would subvert the usual rock cliches. Compare the lyrics of the Buzzcocks' "Orgasm Addict" with, say, "Cat Scratch Fever" and see what I mean.

And as far as rocking, there's plenty of music in which the lyrics keep me from rocking along.

I mean, The Dictators' "Back to Africa" may be a dead-on spoof of Caucasian stereotypes about blacks, but some of the lyrics still make me cringe. And I love The Dictators.

Plus, rock's long-running association with misogyny has gotten a lot harder to dismiss since I had a daughter.

But as for "She's About a Mover," I think Violet had the best reaction when she said, "I can't hear it! Turn it up!"

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT