Edited by Azizi Powell
Have you ever looked up the lyrics to a song online, and realized that not only were those lyrics wrong on one site, but that every other lyric website had copied those same wrong lyrics for that song? That's the way it is with the lyrics to the 1994 children's Hip-Hop/Maimi Bass song Funky Y2C (Hey Little Mama, Why You Dance So Funky).
How do I know that the lyrics to that song were copied from the same source? Because the exact same INCORRECT transcriptions for certain words are found in each & every one of those websites. It's not that incorrect transcriptions can't happen to the best of us - and I'm not patting myself on the back with that statement). But, come on son, when each of the lyric websites have the SAME typo, spelling error, or transcription of a possibly misheard word, that tells me that somebody copied off of somebody - which wouldn't be so bad if the transcription was right, but it's not.
For an example, check out how these two lines from that song are found on all the lyrics sites:
"Dont you know how to pup with the pup down?
UP, pop pup is shaking it agian..come on do that funky dance"
-snip-
Um, what do those lines even mean. They make no sense.
Here's my transcription of those lines:
"Don’t you know I’m down with the pup pound?"
Pup pound crew is shakin again.
Come on do that funky dance.
-snip-
Now I'm not sayin that my transcription of "Funky Y2C" is absolutely right. For instance, I'm not always sure who is rapping certain lines, and I don't know how to transribe those sounds toward the end of the song. As always, I welcome additions & corrections to my transcription.
By the way, this is Part II of a three Part series. Part I presents some examples of African American Vernacular English that is found in selected viewer comments from this video's viewer comment threads. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/03/funky-y2c-african-american-vernacular.html for that post. [It probably would have made sense for that post to be the third one in this series, but that's what got me interested in this song.]
Here's that video, followed by my transcription of those lyrics.
dj nadinho funk the puppies hey lil mama funky y2c
nadinho vieiraPublished on Feb 5, 2013
-snip-
Information about this group from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Puppies
"The Puppies is a child hip hop duo composed of brother and sister Calvin "Big Boy" Mills and Tamara "Dee" Mills.
Specializing in Miami bass music, the duo released two albums and scored one Top 40 hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, 'Funky Y-2-C'."
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LYRICS - FUNKY Y2C (HEY LITTLE MAMA WHY YOU DANCE SO FUNKY)
Girl from Crowd –Ooh you so funky and hot!
Crowd of Children- Oooh! Ooooh!
[Chorus]
Big Boy - Hey little mama, why you dance so funky?
Crowd - (Hey little mama, why you dance so funky?)
Yeah, that the funky, it’s the funky Y2C!
(Yeah, that the funky, that’s the funky Y2C!)
[repeat]
Big Boy - Hey little mama, why you dance so funky?
Get on the floor and shake it like a donkey.
Shake it to the left, shake to the right.
Do the funky dance. Shake it all night.
Shake that thing. You know you got it on.
Girl from Crowd [?]- Now look at me. I’m shakin my big butt.
Big Boy - Just do it baby. Jump up and down.
Now break it down, to the ground.
Shake it. shake it, shake it, shake it.
Get real funky and don't you break it.
Yeah, that's right you doin it baby.
Looks so funky. You drive me crazy.
Yeah , it's the Big Boy once again.
Let that butt go out and in.
Now do the funky dance in place.
You look so funky, I wanna say
Chorus
Tamara - Funky, funky, yeah that's me.
I'm dancing funky to the beat
I really want the crowd to say
Crowd -(Hey little mama)
Tamara -Shakin it, shakin it, that's what I'm doing
Got all the boys up in here just ooh-in.
Just because I'm young, not old,
I know you think that I am bold.
Bold enough to show this butt.
But tonight you got me messed up.
I am young, but I have rights.
I can do the funky dance all night
Sweat me. sweat me, you little sucker.
Don't you know they call me Tamara?
Feast your eyes on this funky butt
While all them boys out there say – “What!”
Chorus
Big Boy -Oooh! You so hot!
(Hey little mama)
Girl, you need to stop!
(Hey little mama)
Tamara - Hey ladies come, on do it now!
(Funky Y2C)
Fellas come on, get it now!
(Funky Y2C)
Little boy from the crowd -I wanna learn that dance...
Little girl from the crowd - Me too!
Tamara -So, watch how I do it then.
Crowd - (Go, go, go, go)
(Hey little mama)
Girl from the crowd - My mama taught me how to do this.
(Hey little mama)
Someone from the crowd -Oooh, she do it good.
Big Boy -“Yeah, it's that funky dance, that funky Y2c!”
(Go, go, go, go, funky Y2C!)
[insert some sounds]
Big Boy – Hey little mama, do you like that sound?
Tamara - Don’t you know I’m down with the pup pound?
Big Boy – Pup pound crew is shakin again.
Come on, do that funky dance
Get funky, funky, funky, baby.
Go to the ground. Get crazy.
Yah, that's right.
Hey Tamara.
I'm telling you to shake that...
Tamara- What!
Chorus
Big Boy–Now that's the way to do it, dog!”
-snip-
Transcription by Azizi Powell. Additions & correction are welcome. I don't know the name of the composer of this song. If you know, please live that information as a comment or contact me at cocojams17@yahoo.com
As a reminder, Part III of this post presents my interpretation of certain lines from this song. Part III will be published ASAP.
ADDENDUM
In the opening scene of this video, two sets of girls are shown and heard doing a partner handclap routine to a long form version of the playground rhyme "Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky". It should be noted that the two girls in the front are doing a really atypical form of a partner handclap routine. They actually look like they are doing some kind of wild fighting instead of doing a handclap. The usual way for people to do partner handclaps is to stand in place much closer to your partner than the distance those girls were standing.
I can't figure out why the director of this video shoot had the girls do that, but then again, the entire scene wasn't realistic. In the real world, girls in that playground crowd would have been giving that girl the eye & wouldn't be publicly praising her whether or not they liked how she looked or how she danced. And, in the real world, boys those ages wouldn't even be in the same playground space as the girls, and if the boys & girls were in the same plagyround space, the boys-at least- would pretend to, or would actually be igorning the girls.
Anyway, here's the portion of the "Hanky Panky" rhyme that those girls were saying:
"where the bull frogs jump from bank to bank
I said fee fi fo fum
your mama stank and so are you”
-snip-
I’ve found these words- but not necessarily in that African American vernacular form - in a number of examples of the long form of the rhyme “Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky”
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RELATED LINKS
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/03/funky-y2c-african-american-vernacular.html for Part I of this series.
Part I provides examples of African American Vernacular English from the comment thread of a YouTube video of "Funky Y2C".
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-meanings-of-lyrics-to-hey-little.html for Part III of this series.
Part III provides my interpretation of certain lines from this song.
****
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to the Puppies for their recording of "Funky Y2C". Thanks also to the composer of this song, the producer of that video, and all those who are featured in that video. Thanks also to the uploader of this video.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
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