Jitterbug

Jitterbug can be used as a noun to refer to a swing dancer or various types of swing dances, "e.g.," Lindy Hop [cite book
last = Manning
first = Frankie
authorlink = Frankie Manning
coauthors = Cynthia R. Millman
title = Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop
year = 2007
publisher = Temple University Press
location = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
isbn = 1-59213-563-3
pages = 238] , Jive, West Coast Swing,and East Coast Swing. This has led to confusion within the dance community, since jitterbug can refer to different kinds of swing dances. It can also be used as a verb to mean someone dancing to swing music. For example, "People were top-notch jitterbugging, jumping around, cutting loose and going crazy". [cite news
accessdate = 2007-07-22
first = Shana Ting
last = Lipton
authorlink = Shana Ting Lipton
author = Shana Ting Lipton
title = A swing king reemerges
url = http://www.shanatinglipton.com/cooley1.html
work = feature
publisher = Los Angeles Times
pages = E1, E4-E5
date = 2005-07-09]

Various editions of Arthur Murray's "How To Become a Good Dancer" contain the following text. "There are hundreds of regional dances of the Jitterbug type", "A favorite with young New Yorkers is the Lindy Hop"(1947), "Whether it's called Swing, Lindy or Jitterbug.." (1954). "Formerly called Jitterbug, Lindy Hop and various other names in different parts of the country... Swing is the newer title"(1959)."

The term "jitterbug" comes from an early 20th-century slang term used to describe alcoholics who suffered from the "jitters" (i.e., delirium tremens).fact|date=July 2007 The term became associated with swing dancers who danced without any control or knowledge of the dance. [cite video
people = Al Minns
year = 1984
title = Al Minns Part 1
url = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6DlmqOWBlg
format =
medium =
publisher =
location = Stockholm, Sweden
accessdate = 2007-07-22
time = 2:48
quote = The jitterbug... We called people who would just jump on the floor, without any knowledge of what they were doing, and go mad with the drumming what not and just go boodedoo boodedoo doo and shakin' their head and just jump up and down without any control ... that's what we called the jitterbug.] This term was famously associated with swing era dancers by band leader Cab Calloway [http://www.cabcalloway.cc/timeline.htm] because, as he put it, "They look like a bunch of jitterbugs out there on the floor"fact|date=July 2007 due to their fast and often bouncy movements on the dance floor. In popular culture, it became generalized to mean a swing dancer (e.g., you were a jitterbug), a type of swing dance (e.g., you danced the jitterbug), or the act of swing dancing (e.g., you were jitterbugging).

Calloway’s 1935 recording of “Call of the Jitter Bug (Jitterbug) [http://www.cabcalloway.cc/recordings.htm] [http://www.lyrics007.com/Cab%20Calloway%20Lyrics/Jitter%20Bug%20Lyrics.html] and the film “Cab Calloway's Jitterbug Party” [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026160/] popularized use of the word “jitterbug”, and created a strong association between Calloway and jitterbug. Lyrics to “Call of the Jitter Bug” clearly demonstrate the association between the word "jitterbug" and the consumption of alcohol.

:If you'd like to be a jitter bug,:First thing you must do is get a jug,:Put whiskey, wine and gin within,:And shake it all up and then begin.:Grab a cup and start to toss,:You are drinking jitter sauce!:Don't you worry, you just mug,:And then you'll be a jitter bug! [http://www.lyrics007.com/Cab%20Calloway%20Lyrics/Jitter%20Bug%20Lyrics.html]

World War II facilitated the spread of jitterbug to Europe. For instance, by May 1944, in preparation for D-Day, there were nearly 2 million American troops stationed throughout Britain. [cite book
last = Ambrose
first = Stephen
authorlink = Stephen Ambrose
title = D-Day, June 6, 1944: the climactic battle of World War II
year = 1994
publisher = Touchstone
location = New York, New York
isbn = 0-671-67334-3
page = 151] Time magazine reported that American troops stationed in France in 1945 jitterbugged [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,775896,00.html] , and by 1946, jitterbug had become a craze in England. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/lostdecade/timeline_html.shtml]

In 1944, with the United States' continuing involvement in World War II, a 30 percent federal excise tax was levied against "dancing" night clubs. Although the tax was later reduced to 20 percent, "No Dancing Allowed" signs went up all over the country. Jazz drummer Max Roach argued that, "This tax is the real story why dancing...public dancing per se...were [sic] just out. Club owners, promotors, couldn't afford to pay the city tax, state tax, government tax. [Stomping the Blues. By Albert Murray. Da Capo Press. 2000. page 109, 110. ISBN 0-252-02211-4, 0-252-06508-5] [ [http://www.answers.com/topic/1944] ]

Jitterbug dancing was also done to early rock and roll. Rockabilly musician Janis Martin equates jitterbug with rock and roll dancing in her April 1956 song "Drugstore Rock 'n' Roll".

:The girls fill the jukebox and then demand:The jitterbug hand-in-hand...:Drugstore's rockin', rock-rock". [http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/artists/m/mart5200.htm] [http://www.rockabilly.nl/lyrics1/d0016.htm] [http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/ss/02/ss2800.mp3]

In 1957, the Philadelphia-based American Bandstand was picked up by the American Broadcasting Company and shown across the United States. American Bandstand featured currently-popular songs, live appearances by musicians, and dancing in the studio. At this time, the most popular fast dance was Jitterbug, which was described as “a frentic leftover of the swing era ballroom days that was only slightly less acrobatic than Lindy”. [cite book
last = Shore
first = Michael
coauthors = Dick Clark
title = The History of American Bandstand
publisher = Ballantine Books
location = New York
year = 1985
pages = 12, 54
isbn = 034531722X]

References

ee also

* Lindy Hop
* Jive
* West Coast Swing
* East Coast Swing
* Swing dance
* Swing music