Etymology of "Ska"

[Wilson Gray]

I've just gotten through - or should that be "got done"? ;-) -
comparing No More Doggin' to My Boy Lollipop and the influence of the
rhythm of the former upon the rhythm of the latter is quite clear.
However, FWIW, I didn't hear anything on the latter that sounded like a
guitar going "ska-ska-ska." Perhaps listening to more than one ska is
necessary. ;-) The Cluett Johnson story sounds like a variant of the
story of Dizzy Gillespie's invention of the term "be-bop," from back in
the day of be-bop glasses, moonshades, and blue-suede shoes.

-Wilson Gray

On Jun 11, 2005, at 1:29 AM, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Etymology of "Ska"
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> On Sat, 11 Jun 2005 00:42:11 -0400, Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM>
> wrote:
>
>> On Jun 10, 2005, at 7:39 AM, Fred Shapiro wrote:
>>>
>>> "The 'Ska' hits London --but they call it Blue Beat ... Towards the
>>> end of the fifties the Jamaicans got keen on rhythm and blues,
>>> particularly a record called 'No More Doggin' sung by Roscoe Gordon.
>>
>> The name is actually _Rosco_ Gordon, without a final "e." No More
>> Doggin' was released in 1952. However, according to the All Music
>> Guide, this record was not released in Jamaica till 1959.
>>
>>> They got hold of
>>> this beat, cheered it up a bit, added some cute lyrics and called it
>>> Ska -- an onomatopoeic word for the sound the guitar made.
>>
>> Further according to the AMG, "[S]ka ... took its name [from] the
>> sound
>> of this particular [piano] shuffle, [called 'Rosco's Rhythm'], as it
>> sounded being played on an electric guitar (ska-ska-ska)."
>
> According to the liner notes of the CD anthology _This is Reggae Music:
> The Golden Era 1960-1975_, three other R&B releases from '59-'60 shaped
> the sound of ska: Fats Domino's "Be My Guest" (1959), Wilbert
> Harrison's
> "Kansas City" (1959), and Rosco Gordon's "Surely I Love You" (1960).
> But
> Gordon should get primary credit for popularizing the shuffle rhythm.
>
> Another theory about the origin of "ska" is that it was shortened from
> "skavoovie", the cryptic greeting of bass player Cluett Johnson -- his
> group, Clue J and His Blues Blasters, is credited with the earliest ska
> instrumentals.  But I once read an interview with the group's
> guitarist,
> Ernest Ranglin, disputing this story.
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>