Talk:Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On

Latest comment: 1 year ago by Ghmyrtle in topic Song origins

Roy Hall edit

The co-writer, James Faye "Roy" Hall is also known as Sonny David (sometimes Sunny David)Nice1al (talk) 14:47, 14 July 2015 (UTC)Reply

That's correct - http://www.rockabilly.nl/artists/royhall.htm. Feel free to start an article about him - he sounds like an interesting and notable character. Ghmyrtle (talk) 14:51, 14 July 2015 (UTC)Reply

Damn pond - I won't pay for this book edit

I won't pay for this quote's source book, and regardless if the book's author actually wrote the quote as ". . . damn pond. . .", as someone from before 1985, I'm fairly certain that the actual person being quoted would have said, . . . dam pond. . .", as in a pond of water that exists when a waterway dam releases 'extra' water, and fills up these dam ponds. When the 'extra' water release is stopped, these dam ponds dry up or sit idle. Great for calm-water fishing, turtling, and snake hunting. Away from Florida, a similar effect is observed when Spring rains overflow river channels, creating flood ponds, that, over time, shrink over the following months, but the larger ones are great for fishing, etc.

Back in the day when Roy Hall was supposed to have given this quote, filthy mouths and profanity were still socially unacceptable to a great extent. Hollywood and Netflix script writers had not had any opportunity yet to fill everyone's mouth's with ubiquitous "What the hell's" "Damned this and damned that, and bastard this and bastard that's. Out behind the barn, of course, while taking a swig, we would swear like a sailor, but when we went back in the house, the language was cleaned up. In many States it was illegal to use profanity in public if women and children were present.

Both Roy Hall, and the author of this book-source are gone now, so there is no way to check the SPEAKER's accuracy. I do not advocate changing the quote, if someone can verify that the author wrote "damn pond", and not "dam pond". I'm just making this comment here for posterity, that "damn pond" makes no sense, and would be out of character for the historical time. "Dam pond" does make sense, especially if they were milking snakes, and fishing within earshot of a clanging bell somewhere at a cookhouse on the shore. I could be wrong. I'm probably not wrong (that Roy Hall, the speaker. said 'dam pond", not "damn pond"). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.32.66.251 (talk) 07:31, 6 June 2022 (UTC)Reply

Song origins edit

There is a post on Facebook by Nelo Williams, who is (or at least claims to be) the grandson of Dave "Curlee" Williams. He disputes the statements by Hall on the song's origin, in this thread. He describes Willams as having "very light skin and was of a large percentage of Native American descent. "Curlee", as he was affectionately called by friends, came from his naturally curly hair, and the very distinct curl in his beard". He states:

He [Williams] was not a drinker. Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On was not created from nor inspired by any boat or some fishing trip to Florida. I will not disclose where the concept of the song was derived, but it had absolutely nothing to do with a boat or some fishing trip, and wasn't inspired by anything near the state of Florida. I have no idea where that quote referencing him and Roy drinking all day and subsequently deciding to go fishing came from thus leading to the creation of the song, but it is completely false.... The song was written by my grandfather in the early 50's, not mid 50's which explains why it was claimed by another individual. Needless to say my grandfather proved this truth and lived of the royalties of his publishing til he passed away at his home in Columbus, Oh. in the early '00s. He never worked a day in his life and lived a very comfortably financially.

Sadly, this seems to be the only written source for this claim about the song's origins, but if a similar but more reliable source can be found, it should be included in the article. Ghmyrtle (talk) 19:15, 28 October 2022 (UTC)Reply