It’s not about masturbation, and the insinuation (and at times, accusation) that it was annoyed Johnny Otis to no end.
But come on: with a title like that, can you blame people for misinterpreting?
The hand jive was an actual dance, though, originating at a tiny U.K. music venue where audiences were jammed together so tightly that the only part of their body they could move was their hands. (Check out a great tutorial on how to do the hand jive, if you’re so inclined.)
When Johnny Otis learned of it, he decided to write a song about it. Set to an irresistible Bo Diddley beat, “Willie and the Hand Jive” became Otis’ only Top Ten hit in the U.S. And if it hadn’t been banned by many radio stations for it’s allegedly off-color lyrics, it might have notched even higher.
It’s been covered by countless artists in the years since, including charting versions by Eric Clapton and George Thorogood.
And of course, for children of the seventies, there’s the unforgettable adaptation by Sha Na Na in Grease.
“Willie and The Hand Jive” was born for bar bands–you can jam to it, vamp, and stretch it like Silly Putty. So sooner or later, Bruce was bound to cover it, and that day finally came on a summer evening in 1989 when he joined Bobby Bandiera on stage at Cheers in Long Branch.
Bruce and Bobby stretched Otis’ two-and-a-half minute original to a full nine minutes that night, and even as distant as the recording is, we can feel the summer heat of their performance.
To this day, that remains the only time Bruce is known to have covered “Willie and the Hand Jive” in concert.
(My thanks to podcaster extraordinaire Andrew Hickey for the history lesson–for a lengthy but fascinating deep-dive into the origin of the hand jive, I highly recommend Episode 71 (and all the other ones, too) of his terrific podcast, A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs.)
Willie and the Hand Jive
First performed: August 2, 1989 (Long Branch, NJ)
Last performed: August 2, 1989 (Long Branch, NJ)
