Round Robin - "Kick That Little Foot, Sally" (video & lyrics, with information about The Slauson dance)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part III of a three part pancocojams series on examples of African American songs entitled "Shake That Little Foot Sally" (also known as "Shake That Little Foot, Dinah O").

Part III showcases Round Robin's 1964 R&B song "Kick That Little Foot, Sally".

The Addendum to Part III provides information about the Rhythm & Blues dance "the Slauson" (also known as "the Slauson Shuffle") which is mentioned in that song's lyrics.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/05/harry-belafonte-shake-that-little-foot.html for Part II showcases Harry Belafonte's 1964 Folk/Pop performance of the song "Shake That Little Foot, Sally". Part Ii showcases a sound file of Harry Belafonte's 1964 Folk/Pop performance of the song "Shake That Little Foot, Sally". My transcription of the lyrics of this version of that song are included in this post along with explanations about some of those lyrics

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This post also is part of an ongoing series on African American and Caribbean songs and rhymes about "Little Sally Ann and Little Sally Waters/Walker. Click that tag below for other posts in that series.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric and cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri, the composers of the R&B song "Kick That Little Foot, Sally. Thanks also to Round Robin and thanks to the identified background singers Darlene Love and the Blossoms (Fanita James and Gracia Nitzsche). In addition, thanks to the publisher of the YouTube videos and sound files that are showcased or mentioned in this post.

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SHOWCASE VIDEO: Round Robin "Kick That Little Foot Sally"



NRRArchives2 Published on Apr 26, 2013

American Bandstand. May 09, 1964. Capitalizing on the success of the 'portly' singer (Fats Domino, Chubby Checker), Round Robin comes out with a slightly more rhythmic song than his first effort. Interview follows the performance.

Here's a comment from that video's discussion thread:
grammarita1, 2016
"mrob75: I looked up Round Robin in Joel Whitburn's '55-'82 compilation and found only one song that made the top 100 for him, namely this one. At that, it peaked at only #61. A shame! Really great sound, and I bet I saw at least one of his appearances with Dick Clark but didn't hear the song nearly enough to realize how good it is. Recently caught it on a lost oldies radio show and Googled it to find out the title and artist."
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Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVxDlzTpTM4 for another video of Round Robin performing "Kick That Little Foot, Sally" on a later date in 1964 on American Bandstand. (American Bandstand. October 03, 1964)

Here's a comment about this song from that video's discussion thread:
grammarita1, 2016
"One Saturday morning I caught a lost oldies show on the radio. This song struck my fancy; so I tried to Google it. I probably saw this Dick Clark version live way back when, but, regardless, I love it! It's a shame the song didn't climb any higher than #61. As they used to say, "Good beat, easy to dance to--I'll give it an 85."
-snip-
Another comment from that discussion thread can be found in this post's Addendum.

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LYRICS: KICK THAT LITTLE FOOT, SALLY
(composers P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri)

Kick that little foot Sally, Sally
Kick that little foot Sally Ann.
Kick that little foot Sally, Sally,
Do that Slauson, Sally Ann.

Well I saw Sally at the party
(Kick that little foot, Sally Ann)
A-looking lonely as can be
(Kick that little foot, Sally Ann)
She said, I don't know how to Slauson
(Kick that little foot, Sally Ann)
I said, get up from that chair and follow me.

Kick that little foot Sally, Sally
Kick that little foot Sally Ann.
Kick that little foot Sally, Sally,
Do that Slauson, Sally Ann.

Well Sally got up on the dance floor.
(Kick that little foot Sally Ann)
By the second dance she was a-doing fine.
(Kick that little foot Sally Ann)
And now they call her queen of the Slauson
(Kick that little foot Sally Ann)
You can't get her out of that Slauson line.

Kick that little foot Sally, Sally
Kick that little foot Sally Ann.
Kick that little foot Sally, Sally,
Do that Slauson, Sally Ann.

(Instrumental break)

Kick that little foot Sally, Sally,
Kick that little foot Sally Ann.
Kick that little foot Sally, Sally,
Do that Slauson,Sally Ann.

Kick that little foot Sally, Sally,
Kick that little foot Sally Ann.
Kick that little foot Sally, Sally,
Do that Slauson, Sally Ann.

Kick that little foot Sally, Sally,
Kick that little foot Sally Ann.
Kick that little foot Sally, Sally,
Kick that little foot Sally Ann.
[repeat the chorus 2 more times]

Source: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/r/round+robin/kick+that+little+foot+sally+ann_20845853.html

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ADDENDUM: INFORMATION ABOUT THE SLAUSON DANCE
The Slauson, also given as "The Slauson Shuffle", was a short lived, Los Angeles, California based R&B dance (from 1962 to to 1964). The Slauson was named after a street in Hollywood, California (Hollywood is part of Los Angeles.) The Slauson dance was the theme of a number of R&B records*, including several records that were performed by Rockin Robin. Rockin Robin performed one of his Slauson themed records at least two times on the nationally televised teen dance television series American Bandstand. However, in spite of these promotions, The Slauson dance never caught on nationally.

The Slauson appears to have been a line dance (i.e. from Round Robin's lyrics given above "You can't get her out of that Slauson line.". Watch the Round Robin video above which documents how he danced The Slauson. In addition, notice the comment given below, that suggests that the roller skaters may have been the source of the Slauson dance. Recall that dancing to R&B songs (and later Hip Hop tracks) on roller skates at roller skating rinks was very popular among African Americans and (I believe Latinos and some other Americans( from the in the late 1960s to at least the early 1990s). Here's one article about the popularity of roller skate dancing at skating rinks: https://medium.com/the-brothers/back-when-roller-rinks-were-the-original-rap-concert-halls-bcae590f2603

For what it's worth, I was a teenager in the 1960s in New Jersey, and I don't have any recollection of either Round Robin or The Slauson dance.

*Thee were a number of "Slauson" dance records. Here are two of those records (besides those released by Round Robin). I think that the instrumental by is the first "Slauson" record.

Slauson Shuffle - Don Julian and The Larks (1962) (HD Quality) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=437DoIbXyMc
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I believe that this 1962 instrumental record was the first "Slauson" record. Note that the publisher of this sound file mentions that this song was [a] "Popcorn classic!". "The Popcorn" is a popular 1960s dance (and fwiw, is a dance that I remember doing).

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The Olympics - Do The Slauson Shuffle - Tri Disc - 1963 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tArYllIg5Cc

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Here are two excerpts of articles that mention The Slauson:
These articles are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only:
Excerpt #1:
From https://funky16corners.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/round-robin-the-vulture/
..."I’ve been seeing his records for years (as Round Robin, Round Robin & the Parleys and Round Robin Monopoly), but only picked one up in the last few months....

It was only a short while after that, as I was reading Domenic Priore’s ‘Riot On the Sunset Strip’ that I read anything at all about the man (though, no matter how I’ve tried, I haven’t been able to discover what his last name was).

Round Robin was a Los Angeles-based singer who got his start in the early 60’s with the regional hit ‘Do the Slauson’, and was for a time (thanks to a lot of exposure on the Lloyd Thaxton TV show*) something of a West Coast, dance-craze Chubby Checker. In fact, so popular was ‘The Slauson’ that he devoted sides of his first three 45s to the ‘Slauson’ (a street in LA) songs, ‘Slauson Shuffle Time’, ‘Slauson Party’ and ‘Do the Slauson’*.

He recorded more than a dozen 45s between 1963 and 1975, running the gamut from R&B/twist party, through soul, garage and funk.

[...]

I haven’t seen anything to indicate what happened to Round Robin, so if any of you out there have the scoop, please drop me a line.
Peace
Larry

*LLoyd Thaxton was a major LA-based TV and radio personality, whose dance party show was syndicated for a time in the 60s. Round Robin apparently released a couple of albums for Thaxton, so the chances are that there are in fact even more ‘Slauson’ tunes. Interestingly enough, Bob & Earl reportedly looked to ‘Slauson Shuffle Time’ for inspiration when they whipped up the mighty ‘Harlem Shuffle’."

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Excerpt #2
From http://www.laobserved.com/intell/2014/06/when_summer_meant_fun.php When summer meant fun
By Joel Bellman | June 15, 2014
..."Before long, [P.F.] Sloan and his new songwriting partner Steve Barri (born Stephen Lipkin) were writing and cutting several demos a week seeking that elusive payday. … Increasingly proficient and gaining confidence, the budding Sloan-Barri team finally scored with Kick That Little Foot, Sally Ann, a bouncy calypso number by a rotund black singer from South L.A. calling himself Round Robin. It was released [in 1964] on the tiny Domain label, whose offices were across the hall from Screen Gems, and intended to cash in on a short-lived local dance craze called "The Slauson."

Sloan writes that their song -- actually not an original, but a remake/remodel of an old mountain music tune first recorded decades earlier -- had previously been rejected by Harry Belafonte. But in fact, Belafonte had already performed the song "Shake That Little Foot" live at the Greek Theatre earlier that same summer, and he would later release it on a double album (the liner notes call it a traditional folk song, but Belafonte and his arranger took a publishing credit.) Sloan, a fan of Belafonte's, might even have attended. But graced by top notch-production and a swinging gospel arrangement by Jack Nitzsche, and powered by the Wrecking Crew, the Sloan-Barri team had cast their spell and racked up their first hit."
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Harry Belafonte's "Kick That Little Foot, Sally" song is showcased in Part II of this pancocojams series.

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Here's a summary from one of Round Robin's "Slauson" records:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfsiWvMpd8c
Round Robin (Blossoms) - DO THE SLAUSON (Gold Star Studio) (1963)
[published by Anthony Reichardt, on Aug 22, 2010
"NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED - (Domain 1019 and 1400) Out of Los Angeles, this disc is the debut release of a series of singles issued on various labels over the course of twelve years by this local Los Angeles vocalist. In 1963, Round Robin (Robin Lloyd) presented the new dance called 'The Slauson' on L.A.'s syndicated teen dance show, 'The Lloyd Thaxton Show'. The tune was recorded in November 1963 at Hollywood's Gold Star Studio with an ensemble of The 'Wrecking Crew' and background vocals by the Blossoms who are credited on the label as The Parlays. Perry Botkin, Jr.'s on-fire arrangement takes off with an explosive opening with drums galore, heavy bass, a growling, nasty sax solo in the middle and then comes to a screeching halt with an echo-laden crash.

The music backing track and background vocals would be recycled and given new life a year later with new lyrics and title. 'The London Jerk' featuring the lead vocals of dancer, DAVID WINTERS was issued as Counsel #401."...
-snip-
Here's a comment from that YouTube sound file's discussion thread:
luis grant, 2012
"the back -up group sounds alot like Darlene Love and the Blossoms"

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Here are additional YouTube discussion thread comments about The Slauson dance:
From: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=viSgyyrvbnU; video given above)
1. mrob75, 2013
"Love this! What is the name of the dance mentioned here? I'd never heard of it! Seems that this song really didn't catch on fire as Dick mentioned earlier...Maybe it was a regional hit (?) Anyone know?

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2. Russ Johnson, 2015
"A great song, but the Slauson "kick-the-right-foot-on-four" looked kind of strange. Maybe it needed to be done, as Round Robin said of the dance's origin, on skates."

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From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVxDlzTpTM4
John Hamilton, 2014
"He's saying "Do that Slauson," a dance named after Slauson Avenue in Hollywood."

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From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfFTHgk7goM PHILADELPHIA AMERICAN BANDSTAND DOCUMENTING THE DANCE

This video purports to document some dances that were performed by dancers on the nationally syndicated television show American Bandstand. According to the text that is superimposed on the video screen at 1:23, the dancers are doing "The Slauson". However, read this comment below from that video's discussion thread:
Nick Roby, 2014
"I very much enjoyed this footage that was posted, and found it interesting growing up in Philly and watching everyday since 1955, and even having a "regular" help me get into the show when only 13 in 1962, that I never heard of that "Slauson Shuffle"? The few who were not dancing the jitterbug looked to be doing the "Mashed Potatoes". We never did a dance in 1963 called the "Slauson Shuffle", but there was a song by that title by The Meadowlarks. I loved the guy with the dessert boots STOMPING!"
-snip-
"Philly" is a nickname for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Philly is about an hour from my home town of Atlantic City, New Jersey. When I was a young teenager I would dream about being on that show, but as I got older I realized that dream wouldn't come true as only White teenagers were allowed to be on that show. And after the Black dance show Soul Train started airing on television, I no longer cared about and no longer cared for American Bandstand.

The comment about "a song by that title by the Meadowlarks" probably refers to Don Julian and The Larks' "Slauson" record.

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This concludes Part III of this three part pancocojams series.

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