Dance This Mess Around

Everybody goes to parties
They dance this mess around
They do all 16 dances
They do the Shu-ga-loo
Do the Shy Tuna
Do the Camel Walk
Do the Hip-o-crit

Everybody goes to parties
They dance this mess around
They do all 16 dances
Do the Coo-ca-choo
Do the Aqua-Velva
Do the Dirty Dog
Do the Escalator

Last week on the show, I was chastizing the B-52's for only naming 8 of the supposed 16 dances in the song "Dance This Mess Around." (Seriously B-52s, what ARE the other 8 dances? Although to be fair, I suppose they did do better than Wilson Pickett, who claimed there was a "Land of 1000 Dances," yet left us hanging on the names of 994 of them.) Naturally, this led to Jenny and I ruminating on whether any of these dances even existed in the first place, and if so, how were they done?

Well, my little waltzing matildas, it's time to do 'em right!

First and foremost, the Camel Walk most definitely exists. Heck, we've even played a song by Southern Culture on the Skids called "Camel Walk"! You can read more about the history of the dance here, get step-by-step directions here, see a video of James Brown doing it here, or check out the belly dance version here.

The Dirty Dog gets a brief name drop as a dance craze from the 50s here and the 60s here, but sadly, no instructions. The name, however, resurfaces periodically, suggesting that it's a common/popular name for a dance, rather than one enduring dance move in and of itself.

Unfortunately, the rest of the songs are either complete fabrications, or were fad dances so localized and/or short lived that they've ceased to exist outside the lyrics to this song. Rumor has it, however, that the B-52's have been known to demonstrate the steps to the Shy Tuna and others on stage from time to time... but until you can witness this for yourself, you'll just have to be content to Mess your Dance Around freeform style.