As background: I grew up in Detroit in the Motown era, and I've seen many of the top acts live at various venues, including revue-type shows at the Michigan state fair.
Shotgun by Jr. Walker and the All Stars is one of my many favorite Motown songs, despite the questionable storyline. To me the song seems to be a slightly sanitized gritty bluesy song about a woman shooting someone, along the lines of traditional blues songs like Frankie and Johnny, Betty and Dupree, and others. The lyrics talk about going downtown, getting a shotgun, breaking it down, loading it up, etc.
BUT...here's the question [[finally!): I swear he's singing "do the dirt, baby. Do the dirt now." Everybody says it's "do the jerk," referring to the dance that was in vogue at the time. That makes no sense whatsoever! Why would he suddenly start singing about a dance? "Do the dirt" is a phrase meaning "do the dirty deed." As a teen singing along to this, I sang the gritty version. I have seen Jr. Walker in concert and I could swear he sang "dirt."
Over the years I have called the Motown museum, written a letter to the song's credited co-writer, Lawrence Horn, when he was in prison [[in Maryland, as I recall, for hiring a hitman to murder his ex-wife!) and tried to get in touch with Berry Gordy, the other credited co-writer. The people at the museum said they "thought" the lyric was "do the jerk." I never heard from Horn or Gordy.
Has anyone else ever heard this lyric as "do the dirt," or is it just me and my lower-class Detroit up upbringing?
[[I'm totally against gun violence, btw, I just like nitty gritty blues songs sometimes.)
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