Yes, however for Furry it had clearly evolved to mean more than a dance step.
Curiosity got the better of me and I went and listened to Virginia Liston's Sally Long Blues, as well as Sara Martin's Eagle Rock Me, Papa. To varying degrees, I'd say these two would agree with Furry.
Liston recorded Sally Long Blues twice, on September 21,1923, and November 15, 1923. You can hear the latter version at
www.redhotjazz.com/virginialiston.html which is where I listened to it to grab these lyrics. In Liston's song, Sally Long is a person, in addition to an action (dance or otherwise).
Sally Long got the blues, it cannot be true
Sally Long got the blues, it cannot be true
Got drunk and told the judge just what she would do
Women don't like Sally, 'cause Sally speaks her mind
Women don't like Sally, 'cause Sally speaks her mind
She says "These men they like these winnin' ways of mine"
The eagle rocked in Sally's family [before??] she were born
The eagle rocked in Sally's family [before??] she were born
She said I'm goin' to Eagle Rock until I'm dead and gone
Eagle Rock me, papa, Sally Long me too
Eagle Rock me, daddy, Sally Long me too
Can't nobody Eagle Rock me like my daddy do
Both women were backed by Clarence Williams on these songs. The International Dictionary of Black Composers lists Sally Long as a Clarence Williams composition, though the notes to the Liston Document CD suggest that Liston was the lyricist for a number of her songs and tended to include traditional verses in the the lyrics. And she's listed as a co-composer on "Sally Long Blues" in the Dictionary along with husband Sam Gray.
Sara Martin recorded "Eagle Rock Me, Papa" Sept 29, 1924
Eagle Rock me, daddy, and Sally Long me too
Rock me, pretty papa, while I tell you what to do
etc. Most of the rest of the lyrics are suggestive. You can hear it at
http://www.redhotjazz.com/martincwb5.htmlI don't know the origin of the Eagle Rock, but it must date from at least 1913 or earlier, since it appears in the lyrics to Chris Smith's "Ballin' the Jack". So far I could not find a similar appearance in such lyrics for Sally Long and it may be for more diligent people than me.
In Songsters and Saints, Paul Oliver mentions another song to add the list, Fat Fanny Stomp, the only recording made by pianist Jim Clarke in 1929. Clarke shouts out dance commands that can be summed up as "shake your fat fanny". Perhaps the producers were prudish and and sent him packing.
He shouts at one point:
When I say hold it this time I want everybody to Sally Long.
Hold it! Sally Long, Sally Long your fanny gal, Sally that thing, Sally it.
Shake your fat fanny. That's what I'm talkin' about.
Oliver has this to say:
Though the Sally Long seems to have enjoyed a brief vogue in the late 1920s and is mentioned in several recordings, its name may have derived from the 1830s when William Whitlock and TG Booth sang of Sally King and Lucy Long in a dance song which included the lines, "Take your time Miss Lucy Long, rock de cradle Lucy, take your time my dear."
I would just add that Liston and Martin clearly show the dance was around much earlier than the "late 1920s".