The Dipsy Doodle [by David Lehman]

Of all the pinball machines in all the zinc-bar cafes in Paris, and there were many, the one that I recall playing most often with my chums was Dipsy Doodle. The name didn't mean much to me then, but it was a good machine -- the kind of machine that you could play competitively. Years later I heard the 1940s song called "The Dipsy Doodle." The Tommy Dorsey band was the first to play it; the Andrews Sisters made it a hit;  Ella Fitzgerald recorded it with the Chick Webb orchestra. It's a dance song of the period with a rhythm suggestive of "In the Mood."

Some ink has been spilled over the puzzlement that the lyrics for "The Dipsy Doodle" may arouse. What does "the dipsy doodle" mean? Many feel it is a meaningless phrase on the order of sha-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na, an expedient occasion for an uptempo dance. In 1982 Ronald Reagan characterized a political argument he opposed as "the real dipsy doodle," prompting William Safire to speculate that "dipsy" was shorthand for "dipsomania" (now more commonly known as alcoholism) and that "doodle" added both a nice alliterative touch and an allusion to the contortions of a body in motion, as when one is dancing or trying to elude a tackler in football. In discussing Reagan's use of the term, Safire reminded readers that "dipsy doodle" was slang for a curve ball in baseball and was used by Raymond Chandler in The High Window as a down-home way of saying trickery or chicanery.

My own feeling is that, in the song, "dipsy doodle" is code for the state of mind of one who is at risk of falling in love -- and that in its young and playful way the lyric illustrates the idea that the first time you fall in love is the first time anyone has ever fallen in love. In defense of my admittedly speculative theory, I will point out that "digga-do" served in the 1920s as slang for lovemaking.

Here are the lyrics (followed by Ella's recording). The song was written in 1937 by Larry Clinton. He wrote it for Tommy Dorsey who backed Larry when he embarked on his own career as a top bandleader. -- DL

The Dipsy Doodle's the thing to beware
The Dipsy Doodle will get in your hair
And if it gets you, it couldn't be worse
The things you say will come out in reverse
Like "You love I and me love you"
That's the way the Dipsy Doodle works

 

The Dipsy Doodle's easy to find
You know it's always in the back of your mind
You never know it until it's too late
And then you're in such a terrible state
Like "The moon jumped over the cow, hey diddle"
That's the way the Dipsy Doodle works

 

Whenever you think you're crazy
You're just a victim of the Dipsy Doodle
Ah, but it's not your mind that's hazy
It's your tongue that's at fault, not your noodle

 

You better listen and try to be good
And try to do all the things that you should
The Dipsy Doodle will get you some day. .

as sung by Ella Fitzgerald

Comments

[Lewis Saul]

But wasn't it "Kings & Queens" or something like that -- the night I defeated the mighty Corsicans??

[Terence Winch]

Yes, falling in love, for sure, but the term suggests the more libidinous, as opposed to romantic, aspects of that state of being. Or maybe that's just me. I had three siblings 10+ years older than me, and I remember hearing this song as a kid & being very intrigued by it. (The song pops up in the film version of Angela's Ashes.)

[The Best American Poetry]

I think you're right. Of course when I was 17 it was difficult to distinguish the libidinous from the romantic. -- DL

[The Best American Poetry]

Was it? I can't remember. The only pinball name that comes to my mind today, besides Dipsy Doodle, is Eight-Ball. Can you remember other names? I remember the manufacturers: Gottlieb, Williams and Bally.

[Jamie Katz]

I've heard "dipsy doodle" in sports contexts, as in, "He gave him the old dipsy doodle, which could be a wickedly deceptive curveball; a deft stick-handling move on ice; a sudden juke by a wide receiver, leaving a cornerback in the dust. Also, it's an aerial maneuver by stunt pilots, I think when they dive down and then pull up quickly. I hear it as kind of onomatopoetic—a dipping motion followed by an "ooh" of surprise. Nice touch for a love song!

[The Best American Poetry]

Thanks, Jamie. I think so, too.