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| 1973 Oscars |
The 1970s were a strange time, and streaking was perhaps the strangest. One streaker made the Academy Awards. David Niven, introducing the next speaker, didn't lose a beat: "But isn’t it fascinating to think that the only laugh that man will probably ever get in his life was when he stripped off to show his shortcomings."
It's not known whether the streaker - Robert Opel - got any more laughs. We do know that Ray Stevens got plenty with his 1974 song, The Streak, which peaked at #1. Not on the Country charts. On Billboard.
Ray Stevens is mostly known for his humorous songs like this one (Guitarzan is one of my favorites). A lot of folks have forgotten (or didn't know) that he won two Grammys (for Everything Is Beautiful and Misty).
The Streak (Songwriter: Ray Stevens)
Here he comesAnd here's the scene at the Oscars (the streaker is at around 2:30), when Mr. Opel got his 15 minutes of fame. Sadly, Opel was killed in a robbery six years later.
Looka dat, looka dat
There he goes
Looka dat, looka dat
And he ain't wearin' no clothes
Whoa, yes they call him The Streak
Looka dat, looka dat
Fastest thing on two feet
Looka dat, looka dat
He's just as proud as he can be of his anatomy
He dun give us a peek
Oh, yes they call him The Streak
Looka dat, looka dat
He likes to show off his physique
Looka dat, looka dat
If there's an audience to be found
He'll be streakin' A-round invitin' public critique
He ain't crude
Looka dat, looka dat
He ain't rude
Looka dat, looka dat
He's just in the mood to run in the nude
Whoa, yes they call him The Streak
Looka dat, looka dat
He likes to turn the other cheek
Looka dat, looka dat
He's always makin' the news wearin' just his tennis shoes
Guess you could call him unique
Whoa, yes they call him The Streak
Looka dat, looka dat
Fastest thing on two feet
Looka dat, looka dat
He's just as proud as he can be
Of his anatomy
He gonna give us a peek
Whoa, yes they call him The Streak
He likes to show off his physique
If there's an audience to be found
He'll be streakin' A-round
Invitin' public critique
This comment from me will perhaps be considered Too Much Information but here goes...
ReplyDeleteBillboard has charts for all the music formats. When you wrote "Not on the country charts. On Billboard." it came across as if Billboard doesn't have a country music chart. The Billboard Hot 100 is the "Pop music chart" and the Billboard 200 lists the albums that sell to the public at large and not to specific target audiences. The Billboard country charts at the time were called Billboard Hot Country Songs and the country album chart was known as Top Country Albums.
Billboard also has International music charts, too.
"The Streak" hit #1 on the Hot 100 pop chart, #1 in the United Kingdom, and #3 on the country music chart. It also sold over five million copies world wide.
The lyrics of "The Streak" that appear all over the internet feature the wrong catch-phrase.
The phrase heard by the background singers isn't "looka dat, looka dat". The actual phrase is "boogity-boogity".
That catch-phrase is also the name of Ray's 1974 album which features "The Streak". The album, BOOGITY-BOOGITY, features Ray in streak form with the phrase "Woosh!!" written across the portion of the body between the waist and the thigh area as a kind of censor strip. Anyone can see what the album cover looks like if they do a Google image search for it. "Ray Stevens + Boogity-Boogity". Some people mistakenly refer to the album as WOOSH! when the actual title, BOOGITY-BOOGITY, is written down below in the cloud of smoke.
In Ray's official music video of the song that he put together in 1992 the "boogity-boogity" phrase appears on the television screen toward the end of the video.
I remember watching the awards that night, and thought Niven did a perfect comeback.
ReplyDeleteWell, all I can say is, if that's what those background singers are supposed to be singing, then they musta been really bad background singers. Normally with misheard lyrics, I can hear the right words once I know what the right words are, but not this time.
ReplyDelete