Comments
Foggy G, "The Songs That Were Played," We're Only In It For The Touring
1968: Essentially performed as on "Our Man In Nirvana" from Beat the Boots Volume II.
Marc De Bruyn (emdebe@village.uunet.be), September 5, 2003
"Bacon Fat" was written by Alabama-born Andre "Mr. Rhythm" Willliams, also known as "The Black Godfather". Williams enjoyed a small amount of success in the early '50s with his rockin' and amusing live shows, as they had a penchant for R&B novelty songs: "Humpin', Bumpin' & Thumpin'" (ribald), "Rib Tips" (infectious) and "Please Pass The Biscuits" (downright bizarre).
"Bacon Fat" was recorded, with his backup group The Don Juans, in 1956 for Epic/OKeh: it rose to #9 on the R&B charts; "Bacon Fat"'s original title was "Diddle Diddle Womp Womp". Although the funky "Bacon Fat" kicked-off his career, and despite a slew of gloriously salacious follow-ups—including "Jailbait " and "The Greasy Chicken"—Williams failed to capitalise on his initial success.
A lot of his early songs were related to food products: "The Bacon Fat", "The Greasy Chicken" (1957), or "Pass the Biscuits Please". The idea for "Bacon Fat" came up when Williams was travelling from Detroit to Memphis and pulled over to eat something: an egg and bacon sandwich—on toast! The "Diddly diddly whomp" bit was "borrowed" from the Coasters in "Down in Mexico" (Atco, 1956): "Down in Mexicali... boom doo wop boom".
Williams is best known for co-writing and producing "Twine Time" (1965) by Alvin Cash & the Crawlers, and "Shake A Tailfeather" (1963, later the song featured in the 1980 movie "The Blues Brothers") by The Five Dutones (he also produced The Contours and Mary Wells for Motown, and Jeanette William's "Hound Dog" for the Duke/Peacock label). He was considered to be a prolific songwriter with over 230 compositions to his credit.
"Now when he went down in Tennessee, / All my friends they was glad to see me / Seen some down by the railroad track / Seen some earth dealers with their sacks on their back / They said now 'Hey Man!' (hey man) / 'We're glad to see you back—we got a new dance they call the Bacon Fat'. / You go diddley diddley diddley diddley diddley diddley diddley diddley wop wop / Have mercy, have mercy (wop wop, yeah wop wop) / 'An then they go diddley diddley diddley diddley diddley diddley diddley diddley wop wop / Help yourself, mama (wop wop, yeah wop wop) / 'An then they go diddley diddley diddley diddley diddley diddley diddley diddley wop wop (wop wop, yeah wop wop) / Now then I went down to see my local deejay / The cat's name is Cain, he lives down Tennessee way / I said now 'Hey man, what's this uh, new kinda jump—where you wind up twice 'n then you end up with a bump?' / He said now 'Dig, Daddy!' (hey man) / 'It's a natural fact, it's a sweepin' the South, / that thing the Bacon Fat'. You go diddley diddley diddley diddley diddley diddley diddley diddley wop wop / Aw you give me a rise in my Levis, mama! (wop wop, yeah wop wop) / 'An then they go diddley diddley diddley diddley diddley diddley diddley diddley wop wop / Have mercy, have mercy (wop wop, yeah wop wop) / 'An then they go diddley diddley diddley diddley diddley diddley diddley diddley wop wop (wop wop, yeah wop wop) / I said now (wop, wop) / That's right (wop, wop) / One more time—(wop, wop!)"
