whobedup where I lay my head

March 13, 2006 8:12 AM

Lonnie Brooks, Bayou Lighting, Voodoo Daddy. At 4:13, he refers to the "big black snake" as a "whobedup". What is this word, whobedup? How do I properly spell it?
posted by cior to Writing & Language (10 answers total)

Sure it's not "Whoop-it-up?"

t.
posted by TonyRobots at 9:45 AM on March 13, 2006

Response by poster: No, it seemed more like a verb, like he was calling the snake a whobedup.
posted by cior at 9:47 AM on March 13, 2006

Response by poster: oops, hunger made me stupid: it seemed more like a noun, not a verb.
posted by cior at 9:48 AM on March 13, 2006

Can you give a better phonetic rendering? (I can't find the song on the P2P networks to listen to it for myself.)
posted by Mo Nickels at 3:58 PM on March 13, 2006

After much web searching, I think it's probably "Whydah", also spelled "Ouidah".
posted by sfenders at 5:54 PM on March 13, 2006

Response by poster: I'm working on posting a sample -- perhaps that'll help.
posted by cior at 6:35 AM on March 14, 2006

Response by poster: sfenders: it really doesn't sound like the word you describe.
posted by cior at 6:35 AM on March 14, 2006

Response by poster: a sample:
http://www.downthere.org/mp3/whobedup.mp3
posted by cior at 6:40 AM on March 14, 2006

Sounds exactly like "whoop it up", which makes sense to me in that context.
posted by sfenders at 8:22 AM on March 14, 2006

Best answer: I would say there is no way he is talking about the Serpent Cult at Whydah. It does sound like 'whoop it up,' but it could be a two-syllable noun followed by the phrase "up where I lay my head."

Possibly (another long shot) he is talking about a 'whip-it', i.e. a slang reference to a large black whip snake?

If it really bugs you, you could always ask Lonnie himself.
posted by LeLiLo at 12:39 PM on March 14, 2006