Topic: boot it

[Chezztone]

OK, what exactly does "boot it" mean? Bo Carter sings a whole song advising men to "boot it" if you want to keep your gal, boasts that he "boots for these women both day and night," etc. Also "boot it, babe," is one of the things he directs his gal to do in "Twist It Babe" (in which he also tells her to wind it, stir it, love me). Clearly it is something sexual, but is it something specific? There is a Roosevelt Sykes song "Boot That Thing" that I have not heard -- maybe someone familiar with that can shed some light on the meaning and derivation of "booting it"? Thanks! SC

[Slack]

Well, I've been wrong or too literal about sexual references before (re: hauling ashes) - but I've always thought the derivation/reference image was was putting a foot in a boot.

 

[Chezztone]

OK, what do you know, I do have the Roosevelt Sykes song in my collection (on The Essential compilation). That piece is an instrumental with spoken directions to dancers, telling them to freeze and then to "boot that thing." Sometimes he also tells them to squat. So it seems that booting it is some kind of movement -- perhaps of the "booty"? Has that term been around awhile?

[uncle bud]

Doesn't Frankie Jaxon sing a tune with the lyric "just boot it"? No, maybe that's "heat it". It's on one of the Tampa Red discs. Will check tomorrow.

As to its meaning, I'll be curious to know the answer myself...

[Bill Roggensack]

You guys are looking for meaning in all the wrong places! Everyone knows that "boot it" means to go fast - but purposefully, not carelessly. So I guess under certain circumstances, it could have a sexual connotation.
 
Alternatively, if used in a military context (and assuming you were wearing boots), the term "boot it" would mean to use "shanks ponies" in lieu of vehicular transportation.
Always keep a good slang decoder handy. Here are a couple that have served me well:
The Dictionary of American Slang (Robert L. Chapman)
Flappers 2 Rappers: American Youth Slang (Tom Dalzell)

[Bunker Hill]

Always keep a good slang decoder handy. Here are a couple that have served me well:
The Dictionary of American Slang (Robert L. Chapman)
Flappers 2 Rappers: American Youth Slang (Tom Dalzell)

Oh I always have and mine has been Wentworth & Flexner Dictionary of American Slang (Crowell Co., 1960) recently supplemented by Clarence Major's Juba To Jive: A Dictionary of African-American Slang (Penguin 1994) which gives the meaning of "used in the 30s to refer to the making of exiting music". Hmm

[Chezztone]

You guys are looking for meaning in all the wrong places! Everyone knows that "boot it" means to go fast - but purposefully, not carelessly.

Front Page, tell me more! Not all of us are part of this "everyone" who knows that. Where have you heard/read that usage, and in what context? Thanks!

[uncle bud]

FP, I wonder if that meaning is also the meaning from the 1920s and 30s. I've certainly used the phrase "boot it" that way and know others who do -- "I need to boot it across town, I'm late for a meeting", "So we booted it on over to Jim's house just in time to see the opening face-off". I didn't think it was the same phrase.

I need to track down that Tampa Red song.

[Rivers]

"Boot it" is a very common phrase in England and, in that context at least, it does mean to go fast. We used it on two wheels and on four, though "twist it" would have been more accurate on a bike I suppose. Thinks: I wonder when and where twist grip throttles came in, the older bikes had a lever lawn-mower type...

[dj]

In a related question, how is "boodle it" related to "boot it"?

[waxwing]

In one of the Hokum Boys' versions of Mama Don't Allow (No Easy Ridin') Frankie Jaxon sings:

Mama don't allow no easy ridin' 'round here
I said Mama don't allow no easy ridin' 'round here
Well we don't care what Mama don't 'low
We gonna boot that thing anyhow
Mama don't allow no easy ridin' 'round here

Whatever other connotations we may add to it (free with a prostitute or with someone other than one's spouse), I think we can agree that "easy ridin'" refers to copulation and not any other form of foreplay, etc., and therefore it would seem "boot it" would mean the same.

Pure speculation, but I have felt the imagery derived from the fact that you don't put your foot part way into a boot, you put it all the way in. I'm not aware of any early uses of the term "booty" and think it may have derived from "boot it".

Just my dirty mind at work.

All for now.
John C.

[uncle bud]

The Frankie Jaxon song I was thinking of is called "Boot It Boy", found on Tampa Red vol 2 DOCD-5074. The phrase "boot that thing" occurs frequently in this tune, and in the context of the song, it seems to be one of those phrases that could mean a kind of dance (were someone to object to the sexual innuendo) but more likely means, um,  bonking.

Frankie starts the song:

"Oh, there's some bootin' goin' on...
Here comes the jelly king
Light and easy man
Oh, he's shakin' his hips now
Oh look at him give it a []
 etc..."

(I was confusing this song in my memory with "It's Heated".)

One Arm Slim also does a tune called Bootin' That Thing. Then there's Kokomo Arnold's Busy Bootin' ("I'm busy bootin' and you can't come in...").

[Bunker Hill]

The Frankie Jaxon song I was thinking of is called "Boot It Boy", found on Tampa Red vol 2 DOCD-5074. The phrase "boot that thing" occurs frequently in this tune, and in the context of the song, it seems to be one of those phrases that could mean a kind of dance (were someone to object to the sexual innuendo) but more likely means, um,  bonking.

(I was confusing this song in my memory with "It's Heated".)

You may not be the only one, me too. "Boot It Boy" as reissued on Collector's Item's LP 013 has a composer credit to George W Thomas.

I only have "It's Heated" on the 1973 Yazoo Tampa Red compilation (L-1039, notes by John Miller, familiar name can't quite place it). Anyhow, have played it through several times there's not a "boot it" to be heard, in any context. Nice piece of hokumish jive all the same, takes one on a trip around the nightspot thoroughfares of Chicago ending up at the "good time flats"..."boy it's heated, let the good times roll on".

[uncle bud]

Speaking of It's Heated, veering momentarily off-topic, I've always loved the spoken intro to this song, though can't quite figure out what he's saying:

"Aw, I?m tippin? like a Maltese kitten on a Brussel carpet. Ain?t got enough sole on my shoe to sand into a rathole."

It's not "pound sand", which seems to be the more standard expression...

Frankie Jaxon is a hoot.

[Bill Roggensack]

Chezz - As you may have suspected, when I used the inclusive "everyone," I was just having a little fun. That said, the reference to speeding up is a commonly understood meaning, as Rivers' and Uncle Bud's posts corroborate.

Uncle Bud - Despite my graying locks and creaking joints, I wasn't around in the 20's and 30's, so the language of that era remains a subject of arcane mystery and intrigue. Truth be known, I can't say with any certainty what Mr. Bo had in mind when he sang "boot it!" But based on his body of work, he was in a world of his own, lyrically speaking - and carnal themes were his favorite. While it may not be the same phrase (in Bo's context), the meaning "to speed up" (purposefully, i.e. with organized intent) overlays nicely with the suspected sexual connotation proposed by several of our learned colleagues.

Bunker Hill - Thanks for the slang dictionary recommendations. I'm always looking for an excuse to add a book or two to the library!

Waxy - Dirty mind? You? I remain in a state of suspended disbelief.