Did You Know “The Electric Slide” Is About A Vibrator?

Source: Boston Globe / Getty

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

You can’t see it (it’s electric!)

You gotta feel it (it’s electric!)

Ooh, it’s shakin’ (it’s electric!)

Jiggle-a-mesa-cara

She’s a pumpin’ like a matic

She’s a movin’ like electric

She sure got the boogie

You gotta know it

(It’s electric

Boogie woogie, woogie!)

Now you can’t hold it

(It’s electric

Boogie woogie, woogie!)

But you know it there,

Here, there and everywhere

I’ve got to move,

I’m going on a party ride

I’ve got to groove, groove, groove,

And from this music

I just can’t hide

Are you comin’ with me?

Come let me take you on a party ride

And I’ll teach you, teach you, teach you

I’ll teach you the electric slide

Some say it’s mystic

(It’s electric

Boogie woogie, woogie)

You can’t resist it

(It’s electric

Boogie woogie, woogie)

You can’t do without it

(It’s electric

Boogie woogie, woogie)

Jiggle-a-mesa-cara she’s a pumpin’ like a matic

She’s movin’ like electric

She sure got the boogie

Don’t want to lose it

(It’s electric

Boogie woogie, woogie)

But you can’t choose it

(It’s electric

Boogie woogie, woogie)

But you know it’s there,

Here, there and everywhere

I’ve got to move,

Come let me take you on a party ride

And I’ll teach you, teach you, teach you

I’ll teach you the electric slide

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