Examples of The R&B Record "Shake A Tail Feather"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post presents information about the 1963 Rhythm & Blues song "Shake A Tail Feather". The lyrics of that song along with two sound filew and two videos of "Shake A Tail Feather" are also presented in this post.

The content of this post is presented for historical, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG "SHAKE A TAIL FEATHER"
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"Shake A Tail Feather" is a R&B dance song. The title basically means "shake your butt" (A bird’s tail feathers call attention to its behind.) As such "Shake A Tail Feather" belongs to the "Shake your butt" sub-genre of American Pop, R&B/Hip-Hop songs. Of course, the 1976 song "Shake Your Booty" by KC & The Sunshine Band belongs to that genre as does 1988 song "Da Butt" by E.U.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shake_a_Tail_Feather
"Shake a Tail Feather" (Otha Hayes, Verlie Rice, and Andre Williams) is a song originally recorded in 1963 by the Chicago-based group The Five Du-Tones.[1] (This version was featured on the soundtrack of the 1988 film Hairspray.) A 1967 version by James & Bobby Purify reached #25 on the charts.

"Shake a Tail Feather" has been covered by many other artists over the years, perhaps most notably by Ray Charles, who performed the song during his scenes in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers. This version of the song includes calls for various 1960s dances, including the Twist, the Monkey, The Frug and The Mashed Potato, to be performed by a crowd gathered outside Ray's Music Exchange."
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"Shake A Tail Feather" is NOT the same song as the Hip Hop record "Shake Ya Tailfeather", which was recorded by American rappers Nelly, P. Diddy and Murphy Lee and released in 2003 as part of the Bad Boys II movie soundtrack.

"Shake Ya Tailfeather" takes its title & refrain from the 1863 record "Shake A Tail Feather" but otherwise, is a completely different composition. Because that 2003 song contains some profanity and has somewhat sexually explicit lyrics, I'm not including its video in this post. However, if you're interested, here's a link to its video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f66O8iRt3KE

FEATURED VIDEOS
Example #1: The Five Du-Tones - Shake a Tail Feather



shortrax, Uploaded on Aug 27, 2008
Original version of the party favourite, famously covered by James & Bobby Purify and then The Blues Brothers. One of the most unpolished soul dancers you'll ever hear.

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Example #2: James and Bobby Purify - Shake a Tail Feather



Shortrax, Uploaded on Sep 3, 2008

Hit cover version of the frat party classic. Purify sounds like a stage name but in fact it was James' real name. Bobby was his cousin Robert Dickey. Another singer (Ben Moore) took Bobby's place later on and took up the Bobby Purify name. He even retained it when he went solo and gained acclaim as a gospel singer.Confused? This is a request.
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James and Bobby Purify also recorded the hit R&B song “I’m Your Puppet”

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Example #3: shake your tail feather



theworldoftina, Published on Jul 27, 2012

Tina Turner performing "Shake A Tail Feather" live in London 1979

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Example #4 Ike and Tina Turner [Movie] shake your tail feather



pensionkastel, Uploaded on Jan 6, 2008
Shake your tail feather Ike and Tina Turner aus dem Film Whats Love got to do with it.
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“Shake A Tail Feather”is the actual title for this cover of the song which was originally recorded by The Five Du-Tones. In that movie Tina Turner was played by Angela Bassett.& Ike Turner was played by Laurence Fishburne.

Here's a comment from that video's viewer comment thread:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnwlHnvWH4Q
hebneh, 2012
"This scene isn't supposed to be "American Bandstand", it's kind of copied from "Shindig!" Ike & Tina appeared on "Shindig!" more than once. This resembles the actual show although the audience members weren't allowed onstage to dance with the performers the way they do here."

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Example #5: The Blues Brothers (4/9) Movie CLIP - Shake A Tail Feather (1980) HD



movieclips, Uploaded on May 27, 2011

...The Blues Brothers stop at Ray's Music shop to find some quality instruments and get a toe-tapping demo from the owner (Ray Charles)…
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This movie clip shows performances of various R&B dances.

LYRICS: SHAKE A TAIL FEATHER

Well I heard about the fellow you've been dancing with
All over the neighbourhood
So why didn't you ask me baby
Or didn't you think I could?

Well I know that the boogaloo is out of sight
but the shingaling's the thing tonight
But if that was you and me a now baby
I would have shown you how to do it right
Do it right (U-huh)
Do it right
Do it right
Do it right
Do it right
Aaah

Twist it, shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it baby
Hey we gonna loop de loop
Shake it out baby
Hey we gonna loop de li
Bend over let me see ya shake your tailfeather
Bend over let me see ya shake your tailfeather
Come on let me see ya shake your tailfeather
Come on let me see ya shake your tailfeather
Aaah

Twist it, shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it baby
Hey we gonna loop de loop
Shake it out baby
Hey we gonna loop de li
Bend over let me see ya shake your tailfeather
Bend over let me see ya shake your tailfeather
Come on let me see ya shake your tailfeather
Come on let me see ya shake your tailfeather
Aaah

Come on, come on baby
Come on, yeah, come on babe, alright

Do the twist
Do the fly
Do the swim
And do the bird
Well do the duck
Aaah, and do the monkey
Hey hey, watusi
And, ah, what about the frug
Do the mashed potato
What about the boogaloo
Oh, the bony marony
Come on let's do the twist
Aaah

Twist it, shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it baby
Twist it, shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it baby

http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Shake-A-Tailfeather-lyrics-Ray-Charles/9F7545DA1BC8857E48256C240011B3B0

A POSSIBLY RELATED SONG
Click http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=149079&messages=36 for a link to a Folk & Blues discussion forum thread about the African American or Caribbean originated sea chanty "Swing Your Tail". The earliest documented example of that shanty is from 1913. Examples of that shanty have also been documented from the 1920s through 1959, including an article of that sea shanty in a 1924 article in The Crisis Magazine (the official magazine for the National Association Of Negro People [NAACP).

Here are two verses of that song:
Young gal, go swing your tail,
swing your tail to the South West gale
Young gal, go swing your tail,
swing your tail to the North West gale.

Everybody gather 'round.
Young gal, go swing your tail,
Everybody get 'round this boat,
Young gal, go swing your tail.
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My speculation is that the word "tail" in this song refers to "butt".
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RELATED LINK
Various Old School R&B/Hip Hop Dances "Various Old School R&B/Hip Hop Dances"

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to all the composers of the songs, and all of the performers in the featured videos. My thanks also to the transcriber of the lyrics and the uploaders of these featured sound file and videos.

Also, thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Viewer comments are welcome