The hand jive is a dance particularly associated with music of the 1950s,
rhythm and blues in particular. It involves a complicated pattern of hand moves and claps at various parts of the body, following and/or imitating the
percussion instruments. It resembles a highly elaborate version of
pat-a-cake. Hand moves include thigh slapping, crossing the wrists, fist pounding, hand clapping, and
hitch hike
Hitchhiking (also known as thumbing, autostop or hitching) is a means of transportation that is gained by asking individuals, usually strangers, for a ride in their car or other vehicle. The ride is usually, but not always, free.
Nomads have ...
moves.
In 1957 when filmmaker
Ken Russell
Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell (3 July 1927 – 27 November 2011) was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films in the main were liberal adaptation ...
was a freelance photographer, he recorded the teenagers of
Soho, London hand-jiving in the basement of
The Cat's Whisker coffee bar, where the hand-jive was invented by Leon Bell of Leon Bell and the Bell Cats. According to an article in the ''
Daily Mirror'', "it's so crowded the girls hand-jive to the band as there's no room for dancing." Russell told interviewer Leo Benedictus of ''
The Guardian'' that "the place was crowded with young kids... the atmosphere was very jolly. Wholesome... everyone jiving with their hands because there was precious little room to do it with their feet... a bizarre sight. The craze fascinated me. It seemed like a strange novelty; I used to join in."
Songs referring to "Hand Jive"
His Master's Voice licensed
Capitol Records
Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...
to release the song, "Hand Jive 6-5" in the U.S., backed with "Ramshackle Daddy" (3937) by British group Don Lang and his "Frantic Five" in March 1958. This recording does not feature the Bo Diddley rhythm.
In April 1958, the UK record label
Decca Records
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...
, released a song called "Hand Jive" by Bud Allen, performed by the Betty Smith Group. The song lyrics describe the hand dance the title refers to
Hand Jive by Betty Smith released April 1958
The hand jive was popularized in the States by
Johnny Otis
Johnny Otis (born Ioannis Alexandres Veliotes; December 28, 1921 – January 17, 2012) was an American singer, musician, composer, bandleader, record producer, and talent scout. He was a seminal influence on American R&B and rock and roll. He ...
's "
Willie and the Hand Jive", described as a "funky blues rendition in a Bo Diddley styling" and "another approach to the growing Stateside interest in the British originated hand dance."
This song exhibited the
Bo Diddley beat, a rhythm that originated in Afro-Latin music and was brought into mainstream American music by
Bo Diddley. It has since influenced generations of musicians.
Jazz trumpeter
Miles Davis has a track titled "Hand Jive," written by drummer Tony Williams, on the album
''Nefertiti'' from 1967.
Versions
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...
did a version of the Johnny Otis song in 1974 that reached the Top 40.
Additionally, "Willie and the Hand Jive" was played on several occasions by the
New Riders of the Purple Sage
New Riders of the Purple Sage is an American country rock band. The group emerged from the psychedelic rock scene in San Francisco in 1969 and its original lineup included several members of the Grateful Dead. The band is sometimes referred ...
featuring
Jerry Garcia
Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for being the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence ...
from the
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...
.
George Thorogood
George Lawrence Thorogood (born February 24, 1950) is an American musician, singer and songwriter from Wilmington, Delaware.
His "high-energy boogie-blues" sound became a staple of 1980s rock radio, with hits like his original songs "Bad to the ...
and the Delaware Destroyers recorded a version of "Willie and the Hand Jive" and a music video.
Other uses: in music
The hand jive is also featured prominently in the Broadway musical ''
Grease'' (1971) through the song "
Born to Hand Jive
''Grease'' is a musical with music, lyrics, and a book by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Named after the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as greasers, the musical is set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School (based on ...
"; in the
movie adaptation of the musical, the song is performed by
Sha Na Na. On a DVD audio commentary for the movie,
choreographer
Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...
Patricia Birch mentions that the dance also went by the much more risque name "
hand job", but the title was changed as Grease was aimed at a family audience.
Jazz fusion guitarist John Scofield's 1993 album is called ''
Hand Jive''.
The long-running
Walt Disney World musical
Festival of the Lion King (1997) uses this during the song "Hakuna Matata," and the performers and audience do it while singing the song. The audience is taught the hand jive some time before the show begins.
The 2005 album ''
Midnight Boom'' by the band
The Kills features the hand-jive rhythm in the song "Sour Cherry." The band's goal while writing the album was to write rhythms inspired by old-school schoolyard hand claps.
See also
*
Juba dance (hambone)
*
Manualism (hand music)
*
Bo Diddley beat
References
{{Reflist
Hand games
Novelty and fad dances