Onomatopoeia, a Playlist

I give you a playlist full of vocal incantations. With poetic license, I've named it onomatopoeia rather than vocable which arguably better captures the sound effects I have in mind, the la las, the ding dongs and the sho-be-doos. We hum, we sing and we chant; the words are immaterial, it is the sound that enthralls. Listen without prejudice

Onomatopoeia, a playlist (spotify)

• Doobie Doobie Do by Omar
  The very definition of infectious, a celebration. I find myself nodding my head and singing along, Doobie Doobie Do. Effortless soul
• Shoop by Salt-N-Pepa
  Shuffling and sexy rhythms
• Ooo La La La by Teena Marie
  Slowly and langorously, the golden voice delivers a hook with staying power
• Zungguzungguzungguzeng by Yellowman
  The endless inventiveness of the Dancehall master, no one could toast quite like him, he rode any riddim relentlessly
• Din Daa Daa by George Kranz
  The vicious drums and the sum total of the lyrics:

  Din Daa Daa / Don Doon Doon.

  Onomatopoeic perfection
• Tutti Frutti by Little Richard
  Rock and roll was changed by the immortal chorus:

  A wop bop ba lu ba a wop bam boom.

• Woo Hah!! Got You All in Check by Busta Rhymes
  Even a subdued Busta Rhymes is action packed. Vocal gesticulation at its finest
• Yabadabadoo by Chubb Rock
  Simply Authoritative.

  The fat lady sang, I crushed her / Word up the Chubbster / Yabadabadoo

• Rub a Dub by Mikey Dread
  Nursery rhymes reinvented with a reggae vibe
• Oops Outside Your Head by Gap Band
  Charlie Wilson and the boys, Oklahoma's finest funkateers delivered bonafide party jams, perfect for barbecues and family reunions. Note the disingenous title: I don't believe you want to get up and dance
• Na Na Hey Hey by Donna Summer
  Dance with the disco queen, unarguable fun
• Da Da Da by Trio
  There's repetition and there's radical simplicity in structure in this piece of German pop. Da Da Da
• Poom Poom by Prince
  The chorus must be at least twenty poom pooms, vocal percussion in this vault track. From the man who sang about joy in repetion we get hundreds of poom pooms by song's end
• Bam Bam by Sister Nancy
  This is a hit. Sister Nancy may have never got paid for this lethal track inspired as she was by Yellowman and other toasters at the time, dancehall at its finest.
• Beng Beng Beng by Femi Kuti
  Dionysian and ferocious, no wonder it was banned in Nigeria, a song guranteed to cause commotion on dancefloors
• Boom by The Roots
  Adrenaline from a lethal lyricist

• Eeni Meeni Myni Mo by Omar
  We start the b-side with another nursery rhyme to punctuate some soul. Omar always delivers
• Rub a Dub All the Time by Dennis Brown
  The crown prince of reggae had so many hits, rub-a-dub style.
• La La La He He He by Prince
  Challenged to write a song to this title, our man came up with this slice of funk.
• Sho-Be-Do-Sho by Beres Hammond
  A consumate showman, Beres has to be experienced live
• Da Da Da by Prince
  The kind of song you can do when you get control of your masters, emancipation was the album
• Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Dey by Stevie Wonder
  A preview of the exuberance that was about to let loose in his virtuoso run in the seventies
• La-La Means I love you by The Delfonics
  The ultimate ballad
• Don Dada by Super Cat
  For a few years, Super Cat was inescable.
• Ding-Dong The Witch is Dead by Ella Fitzgerald
  No one has ever objected to Ella Fitzgerald, she could sing anything.
• Fu-Gee-La by Fugees
  Harkening back to Teena Marie on the hook, this was the album that would take them to the stratosphere
• Na Na Hey Hey by Bananarama
  Their brand of 80s pop might have been lightweight but you still had to dance to it
• They Want EFX by Das EFX
  The heart of this playlist is probably the effusive piece of vocal gymnastics. The intricacies of their rhyming in unparalleled.
• Din Da Da by The Roots
  Questlove and Black Thought took on the challenge of revisiting George Kranz'a masterpiece on the Tipping Point
• Ting-a-ling by Shabba Ranks
  The master of the dancehall
• Shing a Ling by Desmond Dekker
  Reggae greatness
• Ha! by Dianne Reeves
  Scat and vocalese virtuosity
• Sho Be Do Be by The Clarendonians
  The early reggae bands harkened to the doo bop bands
• Woo by Erykah Badu
  Apparently this album came after a bout of writer's block. Woo is all you need to get back to work
• Ding-Dong the witch is dead by Glenn Miller
  I'm always minded that this was the song that was sang in the streets when Margaret Thatcher died.
• Bam Bam by Byron Lee and the Dragonaires and Toots and the Maytals
  What a Bam Bam, Toots is sorely missed
• Doo wa Ditty by Zapp
  Zapp and Roger always deliver dancefloor bangers

I leave you singing Doobie Doobie Do

File under: music, language, whimsy, culture, fun, Comfort Suite, toli

Writing log: July 7, 2022