Pass The Mashed Potatoes

Here's further proof I’m behind the times, as if it were needed.  (But I’m catching up.)   I heard about the “mashed potatoes” golf phenomenon a few months back and just revisited the videos on the World Wide Web.  They are hilarious.  Anything that makes those stodgy golf tournaments a little more entertaining is priceless.  And you know it just has to aggravate Tiger and the other humorless targets no end.  (The golfers have already hit the ball, but it must throw off their solemn tracking trance to hear “Mashed Potatoes” instead of “Get in the Hole”, “You Da’ Man”  or ‘How’s Elin”.  Too darn bad.)  But what does it mean?  What’s the provenance of the call?  Why “mashed potatoes” and not “creamed spinach” (my personal favorite?).  

The Palm Has the Best

So I decided to do a little research.  And while ESPN tracked it back to some linksters (former Pepperdine golfer Andrew Widmar, plus ex-teammates Andreas Adler and Parker Page  -  AA and PP, how adorable.)  They in turn credit the origin of the call to a past, unknown source.  Know Your Meme tracks the call to the 2010 PGA Championship here.

So of course, it’s a natural to jump in the musical wayback machine and visit Dee Dee Sharp who hit #2 on the Billboard Top 100 chart with a song entitled “Mashed Potato Time’. The Mashed Potato was a signature move of  James Brown, as “The Hardest Working Man in Show Business” featured the dance prominently in his live performances during the 1950s and '60s.  In fact, thanks to Brown and some hit singles, the dance became a national dance craze in the early sixties.  Learn how to do it here.  

Play Away!

So the meaning remains shrouded in mystery.  Perhaps it was Tiger’s favorite side dish at the Stanford mess hall.  Perhaps it’s just clever, good fun that doubles as serious aggravation for spoiled golf pros.  Perhaps it just sounded good after standing in the hot sun for hours on end, jostling with other fans and squinting into a golf periscope mirror, fueled by a couple of cold beverages.  No matter, the call is truly inspired and it in turn inspires parody by its very nature.

The Claret Jug Pales By Comparison

By the way, listen to Dee Dee Sharp here, and then listen to The Marvelettes’ Mr. Postman here.  Guess which song came first (Marvel-ous guess!) .  The 50’s and 60's were famous for musical rip-offs. Singers would hear a song, like it and then cover it.  Songwriters would hear a song and write a song that sounded just like it.  More controversially, white performers would often cover black R&B songs and have big hits with little or no acknowledgement of their origin (see Elvis Presley, Pat Boone and Jerry Lee Lewis, for example.  And then there was that whole blue-eyed soul thing.) (Full disclosure.  I love the Beatles and their cover of Please Mr. Postman is a classic, as was all their music, original or not.)   And follow ups to big hits were often nothing more than the same tune with new lyrics and a few changed notes.  More on that in a future post.  But for now, listen to the foregoing, get those leather lungs ready and “Mashed Potato” your favorite golfer today.

MASHED POTATOES TIME

SONGWRITER/COMPOSER

Bateman Robert

Dobbins Georgia

Garrett William E

Gorman Freddie

Holland Brian

Mann Kal

PUBLISHERS

Emi Blackwood Music Inc

Stone Agate Music

(It's the latest.)
(It's the greatest.)
(Mashed Potato.)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

(Ooo) a-Mashed PotatoES started long time ago,
(Wah-ooo.) With a guy named we don’t know.
(Wah-ooo.) You'll find this yell is a-cool to do,
(Wah-ooo.) Come on baby, gonna teach it to you.

(Mashed Potatoed.) Watch that groovy swing, now.
(Mashed Potatoed.) Come on and time your shout now.
Baby, (It's the latest.)
Come on, honey, (It's the greatest.)
Come on, scream it, Mashed Potatoes.!
Mmmm. Yeah, yeah yeah yeah.

(Ooo.) And then they yell just grew and grew,
(Wah-ooo.) They looked for players they could do it to,
(Wah-ooo.) They found this yell was a-outta sight,
(Wah-ooo.) To, "When Tiger Tees It Off."

(Mashed Potato.) Oh, the ball is wet, the ball is wet.
(Mashed Potato.) Mmmm. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
(It's the latest.) Ah-hahh, baby,
(It's the greatest.) Come on, honey,
(Mashed Potato.) Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

(Ooo) Now everybody is a-yellin' fine,
(Wah-ooo.) They call alone or in a You Tube line.
(Wah-ooo.) Then they discovered it's the most, man,
(Wah-ooo.) The day they did it to, "Please Mr. Fowler."

(Mashed Potatoed.) A-wait a minute, wait a minute.
(Mashed Potatoed.) Deliver de letter.
(It's the latest.) Come on, baby,
(It's the greatest.) Ah-hahh, honey,
(Mashed Potato.) Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ooh they got with it more and more,
(Wah-ooo.) You ought to see 'em 'round the floor,
(Wah-ooo.) The Mashed Potatoes took a long, long list,
(Wah-ooo.) They even do it to Dustin, Bubba, Ricky.

(Mashed Potatoed.) Get your lungs pumped up, now.
(Mashed Potatoed.) Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah-eh.
(It's the latest.) Come on, baby,
(It's the greatest.) Ah-hahh, honey,
(Mashed Potato.) Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Fade.
(Mashed Potato.) Aggggrrr, time that groovy swing, now...

AMDG

© R.E. Kelly 2012