eephing

[Benjamin Zimmer]

I see from the archive that Bill Mullins mentioned "eephing" here in
Oct. '04, but this was new to me...

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http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5259589

Jimmie Riddle and the Lost Art of Eephing

Day to Day, March 13, 2006 · The eccentric Southern tradition of
"eephing" is best described as the hillbilly equivalent of the hip-hop
human "beat box" vocal style -- a kind of hiccupping, rhythmic wheeze
that started in rural Tennessee more than 100 years ago.

Just like human beat-box artists of the 1980s rendered perfect
imitations of drum machines with their mouths, the original eephers of
the 1880s imitated the hogs and turkeys living in their backyards.

The odd music genre -- variously spelled "eefing," "eeephing" or
"eeefing" -- appealed to a young Memphis producer named Sam Phillips,
who recorded "Swamp Root" as one of his first singles. It didn't
really catch on, but another of Phillips' offbeat performers -- a
fellow named Elvis Presley -- would.

Eephing jumping into the spotlight again in 1963, when singer Joe
Perkins had a minor hit with "Little Eeefin' Annie," featuring the
vocal skills of Jimmie Riddle, the acknowledged master of the genre.
The song's popularity catapulted both Perkins and eephing onto the
Billboard charts, where the song peaked at number 76.

Eephing finally had its day in the sun when in 1969 CBS launched Hee
Haw, a country response to NBC's Laugh-In, featuring Jimmie Riddle as
part of an eephin' and hambonin' act.
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See the NPR page for audio links to the story and samples of eephing.

Via: http://tenser.typepad.com/tenser_said_the_tensor/2006/03/eephing.html


--Ben Zimmer

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