123. Rubber Biscuit

The Chips (Josie 803, 1956 – b/w “Oh, My Darlin'”);
composed by Charles Johnson, Nathaniel Epps, Paul Fulton, Sammy Strain, and Shedrick Lincoln

This song is best remembered today as Dan Aykroyd’s feature with the Blues Brothers, but if Aykroyd’s relative subtlety set off Belushi, then the original version of this makes Aykroyd’s seem like a sack of doorknobs. The song is a novelty number featuring a lead scatting nonsense syllables over an uptempo harmony group who all come to a periodic halt for the same lead to deliver a series of giggling gnomic jokes about being broke and hungry. What makes it absolutely brilliant is what the Bros left out – the feather-light timing. One rap goes: “The other day I ate a ricochet biscuit. Well, it’s the kind of a biscuit that's supposed to bounce off the wall back in your mouth. If it don't bounce back – [sobs] – you go hungry!” On the Chips record, the sobs between those phrases are a weird airburst lasting a single beat. Then the ensemble comes back a whole beat sooner than you expect them to – like someone pulling your chair out from under you. Some may also remember it playing in Mean Streets when Harvey Keitel’s character is getting quickly wasted in a bar and Scorsese’s camera follows him all the way to the floor.

Note: Secular essays about individual songs, each one exactly 200 words long, appearing one per day through Advant and at least semi-regularly until Donald goes away.