Doo Wah DiddyDiddy

Because my little dog is always walking around to the rhythm of Doo Wah Diddy, I’ve been digging deep into the song. I learned it was originally recorded by the Exciters (of “Tell Him” fame) and then shortly after by Manfred Mann (no one has ever gone harder with the maracas). My research doesn’t reveal anything much deeper than this about the song.

The Exciters, a Queens, NY band, were the first black act to play the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida in 1964. They opened for the Beatles who refused to go on if The Exciters were not allowed to play (FAB4!). Also interesting to me, the Exciters once called themselves the Masterettes This word, Masterette, breaks my brain! Miriam Webster defines -ette: 1. little one. 2. female — which is the very opposite of the word Master. In a puff of oxymoronic opposition this word, destroys itself, emphasizes the female, and does something, I’m not sure what, in the Civil Rights era.

It’s my little dog’s 13th birthday — so I guess she will be the one to play at being the masterette today.

And the etymology of the word harass? Middle French, harer: To set a dog on (it)