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There are few things Blacker than “The Electric Slide.” Right up there with potato salad, Frankie Beverly’s “Before I Let Go” and a heated game of Spades, “The Electric Slide” is a staple at Black family gatherings.
But perhaps if people knew the real meaning of the song, they might not have been so willing to shuffle in time with both the elders and the babies.
For the past few days, the internet has been commenting on the speculation that the song we know and love is actually about a vibrator.
As a result of the discussion, someone close to the songwriter Neville “Bunny Wailer” Livingstone asked him about the song’s meaning and he said this:
“I’m surprised it took people this long to figure out”
Performed by Marcia Griffiths, “Electric Boogie” was recorded in 1976 and released in 1982. But it wouldn’t reach its highest Billboard charting position until 1990.
Livingston said he wrote the song after his girlfriend told him she didn’t need him because she had a toy she’d nicknamed the “electric slide.”
Check out the lyrics and see if you catch the clues now.
