This post showcases a sound file of & lyrics for the song "Na Na Boo Boo" by Skool Boy. This post also provides some information about Skool Boy (Skooly) and includes selected comments from that sound file's discussion thread.
The Addendum to this post also presents some examples of & links to comments about the "na na na naa na" ("na na na boo boo" and similar constructs) saying or rhymes which inspired the title & some of the lyrics of this song.
The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Skool Boy for recording this song. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
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INFORMATION ABOUT SKOOL BOY
http://www.mtv.com/artists/rich-kidz/biography/
"It’s been said that the greatest Rap movements start out small, but for Atlanta’s own Rich Kidz, a strong hustle has produced big results. Bred from the same Bankhead streets as T.I., the duo comprised of RKaelub and Skateboard Skooly started their movement in 2008, in the halls of Frederick Douglass High School. Kaelub, a senior at the time was putting together a crew called the Rich Kidz and recruited young Skateboard Skooly.
An introductory track "Wassup" featuring then freshman Skooly was recorded and took Atlanta by storm. Later during an opportunity to record at Grand Hustle Studios they recorded a catchy track entitled "My Partna Dem" which eventually charted on Billboard's Hip-Hop/R&B chart.
After five years, Rich Kidz have five street-albums and several successes under their belts. ..
The hustle has officially paid off, and the stage is now set for the Rich Kidz’ major label debut. Recognizing their hardcore grassroots efforts, Columbia Records readily signed the duo and added them to their roster of legends (and soon to be legends) in the Rap game. Prior to their signing, the Rich Kidz signed themselves to their own imprint label Rich Kidz Music Group, LLC. "...
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FEATURED VIDEO: Skool Boy - Na Na Boo Boo
SWaggBanger13, Uploaded on Dec 22, 2010
Old Ass Song
-snip-
A number of commenters on this sound file's discussion thread mentioned that this was an "old jam". I haven't been able to find out when it was released by Skool Boy (Rich Kidz) but one commenter who posted a comment in 2010 mentioned that its tune was very popular as a ring tone [for cell phones] in 2009. That doesn't seem that old to me. I don't know if the commenters meant that the song itself had been previously recorded by someone else before this particular recording.
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LYRICS: NA NA BOO BOO
(recorded by Skool Boy)
Na na boo boo
Oh na na na na boo boo
Oh na na na na boo boo
Oh na na na na boo boo
Oh na na na na boo boo
[Yeah yeah yeah!!]
Oh na na na na boo boo
Oh na na na na boo boo
Oh na na na na boo boo
Nana na boo boo
Who gon stop me
You won’t stop me
Since you left me
I’ve been happy
Count my blessings
No my messin
She’s my heaven
Since you left me
I’ll be happy
I’ll be happy
Look at me smile now
Feel like a child now
Every time see your face I feel alone
Every time I see your face I feel strong
And every time I hear your voice I get mad
Hope you understand
Yeah I want the best of you
Betcha that I learned my lesson
No more stressin
I've got my blessing like
Na na boo boo
Na na na boo boo
Who gon stop me
Got my blessings
No more stressin
Seem like heaven
Nanna boo boo
Since you left me
I've been happy
I've been happy
Hurt for a while now
Look at me smile now
Feel like a child now
Every time I see your face
I feel alone
And every time I see your face I feel strong
And every time I hear your voice I mad
Hope you understand
Yeah, I want the best for you.
I have learned my lesson
No more stressing
I've got my blessing
like
Na na na na boo boo
I’m steppin out
I’m gonna get myself a pretty young thang
Bring her back home and Imma make her sang
And you aint even gonna be on my mind
I think you did me a favor this time
Stick my hands in my ear and stick my tongue out baby
-snip-
Transcribed from the recording by Azizi Powell with considerable use of comments found in this sound file's viewer comment thread that were posted by YanBan123, 24lildc24, PrettyLuPooh, 116TwettyBird. and Cutie Pie (all in 2011). Those commenters all focused on the "Every time I see your face" verse and the lyrics that begin with "I’m gonna get myself a pretty young thang" portions of this song. Except for the way they spelled the words, those commenters agree with the above transcription of those portions except for Cutie Pie's substitution of the word "her" in the line "Every time I see your face I feel strong".
I'm not certain that this is an accurate complete transcription of this song. Additions and corrections are welcome.
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RANDOM COMMENTS ABOUT THE LYRICS TO THIS SONG
School Boy's record "Na Na Bo Bo" is a song about a man's reaction to the break-up between he and his girlfriend. Because many people experience conflicting emotions during and after a break-up, it's fitting that in some parts of the song the man says that he is happy and professes that the woman did him a favor ending the relationship, and in other parts of the song confesses that he feels alone, and is mad. As one commenter wrote "this song is a little sad".
Yet, what seems to resonate with most of the commenters on that sound file's lengthy viewer comment thread is the singer's use of the taunting ditty "na na na boo boo".
The "stick your tongue out" portion of the last line in the song is lifted from a defiant gesture that young children often do when they are taunting someone. "The stick your hand in your ear" is usually given as "put your finger in your ear". "Putting your finger in your ear" means conveys that you aren't listening to what the person who is talking to you is saying.
It occurs to me that in the context of this song, the double word "boo boo" may retain the meaning of a small accident or something that is done wrong and may also carry the meaning of "boo" ("beau"; a person's romantic boyfriend or girlfriend) as it is used in African American culture. Notice that usage in bigalo3222's and tjaxretro's comments given below.
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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THAT SOUND FILE'S DISCUSSION THREAD
There are 545 comments to that discussion thread as of 8:30 PM April 22, 2014. That is a large number of comments for a R&B/Hip-Hop song that wasn't a best selling record.
Here are a very small number of those comments, presented under the year that they were posted to that discussion thread but not necessarily in the order that they are found on that thread.
WARNING: This youTube viewer comment thread contains a lot of profanity although most of it is complimentary such as "that's my sh&t" with that word either spelled that way or similarly or completely spelled out. In addition, this viewer comment thread includes the "positive" use of the four letter form of the "n word", and also contains a few sexually explicit comments.
2010
Malik Ricks
"RK4L
Rich Kidz for life."
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StardustSwagg133 years ago
"Love dis songg.! oldd forreall but RichKidz brought it backk.!"
-snip-
Notice the contemporary (what I call "Hip-Hop/texting") style of spelling in this comment. That spelling style is found in most of the comments in that thread. A feature of that spelling style is a disregard for standard spelling, and standard rules for capitalization & punctuation.
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UMEEZEDMFCCBOYZ
"OLD BUT STILL FYA LOL"
-snip-
fya = fire. Another contemporary spelling of "fire" is "fie". This use of "fire" is similar to saying something or someone is "hot" or something is "cooking", "smoking" or "burning up". All those words mean that something or someone is very good.
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ImBree2YhuuLamess
"Itss Somethinqq Bout Thiss SOnqq Thass So Addictinqq.! iLike It nOw.!"
-snip-
I think the seemingly random capitalization in this sentence & its multiple letters in some of its words reflect the importance in Hip Hop "languaging" regarding the way words (including names)look, and not only the way that they are spelled. Of course, in that Hip Hop languaging words should be spelled closer to the way that they are pronounced, and should convey uniqueness. And of course, that style of writing, spelling, and talking is used by young people (more than us old heads) because it is considered to be "hip" or conveys "swag".
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bri mullins
"im glad they finally put dis song on here dis my song"
-snip-
"dis" = this; not to be confused with "diss" = to insult
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2011
Danielle Nikole Colton
"everybody tht got a problem i hust look at 'em and be like "Na Na Boo Boo" aha"
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swaggakiidtrey
"I remember everyone had this ringtone. My shyt used to play before my teacher got in class. Everyone had thiss ringtone last year."
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zonethreesha
"skooley go in on any song no matter what the beat is!"
-snip-
"To go in" ("to go in hard)" means to give something your all & do it very well. The phrase "to go in" is also used in Church Of God In Christ congregations to mean "get happy"/"feel the Spirit" and cut a Holy dance. I wonder whether the secular or religious meaning came first, and if the secular meaning carries some of that religious meaning of freely expressing yourself (while you are feeling the Holy Spirit).
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EvilRoyjin
"THIS GO HARD"
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anthonycooks93
"dis dat fie song bruh....even thoe its soooo old"
-snip-
In standard English this comment would be given as "This is that fire song, brother...even though its soooo old".
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bigalo3222
"i luv dhiz song it make me think of my boo :) #luving him"
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tjaxretro
"10 people aint got no boo boo!"
-snip-
Editor's explanation - 10 people downrated this song [using the YouTube voting system in which viewers could vote thumbs up or thumbs downl. However, “boo boo” here is play on the word “boo”- African American form of the French word “beau” meaning your boyfriend or girlfriend.
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bigalo3222
"i luv dhiz song it make me think of my boo :) #luving him"
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barbie40121
"love dis song <3" ****
ADDENDUM: EXAMPLES OF & COMMENTS ABOUT THE "NA NA NA NAA NA" ("NA NA NA BOO BOO") TAUNT/TEASING SAYING/RHYMES
"Na na na boo boo
stick your head in doo-doo."
Another version of the "na na na naa na" ("na na na boo boo") taunt/teasing saying is "neener neener neener". Here's a rhyme that includes that form of that taunt:
"neener neener neener".
you don't have a wiener!"
Here's a link to the first of three blog posts by phonetician John Wells's blog on this taunting saying http://phonetic-blog.blogspot.sg/2011/07/nuh-nuh.html. Those blog posts are the most comprehensive that I've read online about this subject.
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Another interesting and informative discussion on the "na na na naa na na" saying is http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=2482169 This is the first post of a two part post. I found comments by natkretep who summarized & directed people to the blog posts of John Wells's blog posts on that subject were particularly interesting & helpful.
ReplyDeleteIn 2005 and 2012 I participated in a discussion about this taunt on http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=45873.
ReplyDeleteCommenters in that discussion pointed out that "na na na naa na" has the same tune as "Bye Bye Bunting" and "Ring Around The Rosies".
Also ktrad (folksinger Jean Ritchie) wrote that the early version of "A Tisket A Tasket" that Ella Fitsgerald recorded [in 1938] has that same tune. In the later versions of "A Tisket A Tasket" the second line has that tune.
Also, I find this comment from that thread quite interesting and worthy of more research:
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 24 Feb 12 - 07:24 AM
"Have just asked my husband, and am amazed that in Ivory Coast as a Senoufo child, even he used to sing the same tune, "La la, la LAH la!" while pulling a rude face. If someone was on the receiving end of this, they immediately thumped the insulter and a rare old bundle ensued! These Senoufos didn't have any contact with the West, as they were strict Muslims living in the bush in Tengrila, in the remote North. Isn't it amazing that the same taunting tune is so universal?""