Shaggy Taught Me To Dance... But He Scared The Boys Away

Do we have any Shaggy fans out there? Yes? No? Come on! You know you've got "It Wasn't Me" stuck in your head at some point. Or maybe you even found yourself trying to like half slow dance half bebop to "Angel" at a middle or high school dance? OK I'm really showing my age with that comment aren't I? *smirk*

Well, if you are within 5-7 years of my age in either direction you can probably remember when Shaggy was suddenly all over the Top 40 airways. "It Wasn't Me" was totally that song that as a girl you were probably supposed to be embarrassed about being caught singing along to unless of course you were one of my preteen friends! I bet if KiDDo or Donny are reading this they are laughing their asses off remembering Activity Nights in Middle School when we all practically peed ourselves laughing while half scream/singing the lyrics "both butt naked banging on the bathroom floor." Lyrical genius, that is.

As for "Angel," who didn't have a friend (or maybe it was you) who decided this would be "their song" with some unsuspecting boy? As I alluded to before, the worst was when they played this at dances. Getting a boy to slow dance with you was hard enough with traditional slow songs that enable the ever popular "penguin sway." This not quite fast but not really slow either "love song" was enough to scare boys away from the dance floor for years! Talk about AWKWARD!

These are the Shaggy songs I'm sure many of you remember... but I was really inspired to write this post because of a song that I'm willing to bet is far less known. I'm talking about "That Girl." To be honest, I can't tell you what on Earth made my mother buy the Maxi Priest featuring Shaggy single of this song... but I'm not exaggerating when I say this song plays an all important role in a life changing event for me!

This song was the catalyst that taught me how to dance. My mother, being the very clever woman that she is, decided to suggest I teach her how to dance while Shaggy was playing in the background. So right in the middle of our kitchen, I endeavored to enlighten my mother with some of my smooth 9 year old moves! Naturally, my mother did her best to mimic my awkward movements with slight variations (like actually follow the beat of the song for example) and proceeded to say "like this?" Soon enough, I was actually following along with the music (SHOCKER!) and, as Mom says, my "white man's disease" was cured!

Btw, if anyone finds the above phrase offensive... you really shouldn't. It's really just admitting to the superior dancing prowess of pretty much EVERYONE who isn't Caucasian. And if you aren't laughing... if you think I'm like a real non PC bitch... sucks to be you cause you obviously have NO sense of humor! :-P

Until next time, this is Megs saying keep on grooving even if you don't have rhythm and even if the songs show your age! Also, be sure to leave your comments about the songs that bring back your memories.

P.S. If you have any requests for a song you'd like me to write about... LEAVE IT IN THE COMMENTS!