Olive's in the Dancin' Zone

February 11, 2006 3:42 PM

There was a fad dence in the Sixties called The Popeye that was particularly popular in the south, based on a minor hit by the great Enrie K-Doe. Anyone know how to do it?

K-Doe sort of describes it in the song, but I'm looking for a fuller description. Also, as a result of K-Doe's success, there were quite a few Popeye songs that came out. Can you name some good ones?

posted by Astro Zombie to Media & Arts (4 answers total)

Got this off a Comics Journal thread:

Down in New Orleans,
where it got its start,
everybody's doing it from dawn to dark.
Let's do it, Pop Eye The Sailor Man.

Put your hands on your hip,
let your backbone slip,
do a little wiggle....

From "Pop Eye," Huey Smith & The Clowns,
Ace Records, 1962.
posted by Smart Dalek at 3:56 PM on February 11, 2006

I should also add the motions described in the song are similar to the movements common in the early E.C. Segar panels and Fleisher shorts. You can see the same hand-hip postures in this publicity still and illustration.
posted by Smart Dalek at 4:03 PM on February 11, 2006

Did you search Google? I came up with a Chubby Checker song (that likely describes the steps as well), a "country line dance" version with instructions that don't seem very rooted in 60s dance, and a site about New Orleans radio memories where there is some talk of the dance (K-Doe was from New Orleans) but nobody remembered how it was done.

There are two great sites that show various dance crazes of the 60s — this was talked about on a previous thread — but neither of them have instructions for the Popeye. Those sites are here and here.
posted by Brittanie at 4:14 PM on February 11, 2006

Response by poster: I have searched Google. I'm hoping somebody who actually attended a Popeye party back in the Sixties will chime in and tell me how it was done.

Because, sometimes, the frug just doesn't do it.
posted by Astro Zombie at 6:08 PM on February 11, 2006