Rant #2,182: Do the Freddie

It's funny how the mind wanders when you are not having fun.

During the drudgery of work, my mind often wanders, and it kind of did so yesterday, and even today, when I am still more than three hours away from starting my workday as I write today's Rant.

Over the weekend. my family and I listen to the 1960s music channel on satellite radio when we are in the car, and among the myriad of hits we heard was "Do the Freddie," the 1965 song by the British band Freddie and the Dreamers--written by Dennis Lambert and Louis Pegues--that got up to No. 18 on the American charts.

It stands as one of the dopiest--yet ear catching, like an ear worm--songs of that decade, and every time I hear the song, I see lead singer Freddie Garrity well, doing the Freddie, a dance craze that lasted maybe a month or so until fading into history with the Frug, the Watusi, the Mouse and many other dance crazes to come out of the 1960s.

In order to do the Freddie, the dancer stands in place, extends one leg after another, and like a jumping jack, extends both arms upward in sort of a spastic motion, and then jumps high, followed by a laugh like the Joker would make, a maniacal laugh that pierces your ear canal. It is pretty easy to do, and if you want to see the master himself do it, simply click onto this link: https://youtu.be/wgJ-P_uOkC0

Basically, the song's lyrics tell you exactly what to do:

"Hear the happy feet dancing to the beat
Of the Freddie
Put a guy in front
Make a line in back 
Then you're ready

Kick your feet up high
Move your head both ways
As you see me do
Then jump three feet high
To the swinging beat
Do the Freddie

It's an easy dance
Give yourself a chance
Dance the Freddie
It's the thing to do
Kids will envy you
So do the Freddie"

Yes, if you watch the video, Freddie and his band look like Lurch from the "Addams Family" dancing, and, in fact, there is one segment of that show where Ted Cassidy, as Lurch, actually does the Freddie.

Although the craze was very short-lived, even dance-master Chubby Checker--who made the Twist into an international phenomenon and probably the longest-lasting of all the rock and roll dance crazes--took up the Freddie with his own interpretation of the song and dance called "Let's Do the Freddie," which hit the Top 40 also in 1965.

It is simply a fun song and dance to do, and as I said, it is funny how the mind can wander so during times when you are bored stiff.

But when I think of the dance, I guess I think of fun. And fun was Freddie and the Dreamers.

The British hitmakers did relatively well in the States during the early days of the British Invasion, scoring a No. 1 song here with "I'm Telling You Now," and other hits included "I Understand (Just How You Feel) (#36); "You Were Made For Me" (#21); "A Little You" (#48); and "Send a Letter To Me (#123).

They were more of a comedic rock band, but to the extreme, where the comedy often was more prominent than the music. Herman's Hermits, the Turtles, and to a certain extent, the Monkees and Paul Revere and the Raiders, ventured into this territory, but it was never more so than with Freddie and the Dreamers.

And if you needed any proof of that, one listen to "Do the Freddie" will do the trick.

Everything in the music world that was put out in the 1960s wasn't great, and "Do the Freddie" wasn't the greatest song to come out of that decade.

But it may have been up there as one of the most fun songs of that period, and I guess that is the reason my mind wandered over to it while I was toiling at work.

Now, if I only had the nerve to get up in the middle of the office and actually do the Freddie ... well, that would really be something, wouldn't it?