After posting my short films, I was convinced I had a “This Land” style hit on my hands. Beyond a doubt, within a matter of hours, I would be well on my way to the 65 million viewers that JibJab got for their short.
And, indeed, over the past week, more people have been coming to this site than before. Some of them are even watching my short films.
But according to my server logs, an inexplicably large number of them are coming here by way of a Google search for the word “shaboopie.”
In one sense, that’s not surprising. After all, once somebody gets the irresistable urge to Google for the word “Shaboopie,” one of my essays is the number one result. But why in God’s name is everybody suddenly googling “shaboopie”?
Certainly, I love a good shaboopie reference as much as the next guy, but I’m baffled to find that the next guy loves a good shaboopie reference as much as me. This is the second most disturbing trend I have noticed recently in my weblogs.(*)
Can anybody explain it?
(*)You don’t want to know what the most disturbing trend is. Trust me.
(**) UPDATE: Thanks to a tip from alert reader Roger Peng, I have discovered that I have been misspelling the word. The most commonly accepted spelling seems to be “Shipoopi.” This explains why there are so few other web pages for “shaboopie.” It does not explain why people have suddenly started googling for it.
You know, I always thought it was “Shapoopie”. But either way, that girl certainly is hard to get.
Don’t despair, Roger. You may win her yet.
Actually, after googling a few different variants, I have discovered that the correct spelling seems to be “Shipoopi,” and I have updated my entry accordingly.
I got here by googling shaboopie…go figure.
That’s what it sounds like to me.
On last night’s Prairie Home Companion, Guy Noir sang the song, so I figured I’d google for lyrics and/or if I spelled it right.
Anyhowways.
Well, I just got here ’cause they were playing it on Family Guy and wanted to see where it was originally from.
umm, i think it may have something to do with a reference in a family guy episode.
Thebored, take a look at the date of the entry. I originally posted it in 2004, so the original spate of shaboopie googles must have been for a different reason.
However, you are certainly right that the sudden surge in hits that this entry got yesterday must be due to the recent Family Guy.
It was on Family Guy. After being told not to “showboat” Peter scored a touchdown for the New England Paitriots and did a 2+ minutes musical number to “shaboopi” (the way I believe they spelled it).
Just wondering what shaboopi is actually referencing Is it a musical that was done or a song in a musical. Just wondering
“Shaboopie” is a song by Meredith Wilson from the classic play & film The Music Man, one of the all-time great musicals. I highly recommend it.
Here are the lyrics, by the way. As you’ll see, they don’t make a lot of sense; they mainly serve as an excuse for a fun, high-energy musical number.
Well, a woman who’ll kiss
on the very first date
is usually a hussy.
And a woman who’ll kiss
on the second time out
is anything but fussy.
But a woman who’ll wait
till the third time around–
head in the clouds, feet on the ground!
She’s the girl he’s glad he’s found.
She’s his Shipoopi
Shipoopi! Shipoopi! Shipoopi!
The girl is hard to get.
Shipoopi. Shipoopi. Shipoopi.
But you can win her yet.
Walk her once just to raise the curtain.
Then you walk around twice and make for certain.
Once more in the flower garden–
she will never get sore if you beg her pardon.
Do re me fa so la si,
Do si la sol fa mi, re do.
Squeeze her once, when she isn’t lookin’.
Get a squeeze back? That’s fancy cookin’.
Once more for a pepper-upper.
She will never get sore on her way to supper.
Do re me fa sol la si
Do si do.
Now little ol’ Sal was a no-gal,
as anyone could see.
Lookit her now– she’s a go-gal
who only goes for me.
Squeeze her once when she isn’t lookin’.
If you get a squeeze back, that’s fancy cookin’.
Once more for a pepper-upper.
She will never get sore on her way to supper.
Do re me fa sol la si
Do si do.
Shipoopi, Shipoopi, Shipoopi.
The girl is hard to get.
Shipoopi. Shipoopi, Shipoopi.
But you can win her yet.
Shipoopi!
re:shaboopie
well,
I googled it because it was just on an episode of Family Guy. They referenced it and I have forgotten which musical it’s from. A friend says Music Man and I said no way, but it seems I’m wrong. What part of the musical is that? I’ve only seen the movie. Haha.
its off the movie/musical “the music man”, nad they recently copied it on family guy (the second “music man” reference to appear on family guy), the correct spelling is Shipoopi, so i have no idea why people are googling shaboopi, on the family guy episode they even spelt it out on the screen at the end of his showboating, yet people still don’t realise thats how its spelled
lois, if you were cooking any slower you d need an egg calender
Maybe I’m just curious, but what was this essay about? The link provided seemed to be dead. Again, just curious, but repost the essay. Please.
Oops. The link was indeed dead. I’ve corrected it, and it should be working now. Thanks for catching that.
Hi guys…Steve from Australia here.
I was laughing my socks off as I too saw the Family Guy episode a few days ago and …bored at work….I Googled Shaboopie…..glad I’m not the ONLY one who did (and got the spelling wrong too).
Think I will have to go to Bearshare now and download it….it’s too catchy not to !
Cheers
Steve
It was on Family Guy. That’s why people care. Peter sang a song entitled Shapoopi during a Patriots football team.
I googled it because of on an episode of Family Guy to. I went so far as to .mp3 for my phone…LOL
I got here by googling Shaboopie also. I loved that FG episode..love PHC too but didn’t know Guy sang it…also didn’t know it was from a musical!
the Family Guy creator is a comic genius..never know what he’s going to do next!
Shaboopi—(spelling) I heard it on a recent episode of Family Guy, and was trying to figure out if it was a reference to a real musical, or just the usual Family Guy strangeness….
Stewie Rules!
I saw it on “Family Guy” and also Drew Carey sang it yesterday as part of a skit on “Blue Collar TV”. The show was live at The Blues Factory in New Orleans, LA.
The songs probably making a comeback and we’ll be seeing it in more comedy shows.
this word was referenced as a song in an episode of family guy. im very certain that it has become a subculture wonderword, much like “snu snu” did with futurama, or the more commonly known intentional catch phrase words from shows such as the chapelle show. the large number of searches were people looking for sound clips of the song for personal use.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPt0n9–wNE
this should explain why every one is looking for it go to this link