Thanksgiving Songs

This was requested by Pat Pearsall. The song was written by Gerry Goffin and Jack Keller.  In 1963, it was a hit for Little Eva, going to #20 on the Billboard Hot 100, #16 on the U.S. R&B chart, and #30 in the U.K. The girl group The Cookies (“Don’t Say Nothin’ Bad About My Baby”) sang background vocals on the track. And their lead singer Earl-Jean McCrea had some solo lines in the song. The turkey trot dance step was popular in the early 1900s and was usually done to fast ragtime music. The lyrics refer to it in the line “Just like they did back in 1910.” But “Let’s Turkey Trot” is at a much  slower tempo than that used for the original turkey trot dance.

The song was featured  in the 1969 movie Easy Rider. There were covers of the song Jan & Dean as well as The Dollyrots.

Little Eva was the professional name of Eva Narcissus Boyd. When she was a teenager, she worked as a baby sitter for Carole King and Gerry Goffin. She also had top 40 hits with “The Loco-Motion,” “Keep Your Hands Off My Baby,” and “Swingin’ on a Star.”

Here are the lyrics to “Let’s Turkey Trot” by Little Eva:

Come on let’s turkey trot
Let’s get it while its hot
This dance is really fine
{it shouldn’t take much time} ?
My grandmother taught this dance to me
She did it at the turn of the century
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Come on let’s turkey trot

People may say your some kind of a nut
When you’re lifting your knees and you start to strut
But if your really want to get out of a rut
Do some turkey trottin’ and all your cares will be forgotten

Come on let’s turkey trot
Let’s give it all we got
And when the dance is through
I’ll trot some turkey with you

Oh we’re gonna do the turkey trot again
Just like they did it back in 1910
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Come on and turkey trot

Gobbididly gobbididly

Oh we’re gonna do the turkey trot again
Just like they did it back in 1910
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Come on and turkey trot
And give it all we got
You’ll never want to stop

Come on and turkey trot

For More Golden Oldies Music                                

The Daily Doo Wop Rec Room has daily featured doo wop, rock and roll, R&B, or rockabilly songs that were hits during the first era of rock and roll (that is, from about 1952 until the British invasion in 1964). After a song is featured, it then goes into the juke box. You are welcome to listen to any of the 40+ selections there. Every weekend, there is a Golden Oldies Juke Box Saturday Night, and the juke box is full of song requests from the 1950s and 1960s.

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