Oooot Oooot - when did that sound start??

[lolli]

Does anyone know how that originated? You know...that high pitched "ooot ooot" that people do during a song? When did that start?!

Thanks!

[efunk_adelic]

Does anyone know how that originated? You know...that high pitched "ooot ooot" that people do during a song? When did that start?!

Thanks!

I believe it started as a chant back in the clubs in '78.

The earliest song I remember having it was

LET'S ALL CHANT - MICHAEL ZAGER BAND


other well known songs:

GET OFF - FOXY
SUN IS HERE - SUN
IT'S SERIOUS - CAMEO

[Nano]

I think you're talking about the "uuh-uuh" chant in "Don't stop, get off" (The Sylvers) as well.

[Salsoul1975]

I believe Bette Midler's "Married Men" also had the chant; I know when she sang that song on a 1979 episode of SNL where her background singers were doing the chant. The chant can also be heard on the Salsoul Jam 2000 CD with Grandmaster Flash.

[ACE]

I remember we had whistles, and blew them alot after the chant.

[Anonymous]

'Bad Girls' Donna Summer. :-?

[discosavvy]

It might be of interest that the funk song "Body Rub" by Michal Urbaniak, from 1978, has several women chanting that kind of "Oot oot! Oot Oot! Body rub" in it.

[discosavvy]

It's also on the single "Disco Extravaganza" by the George Bussey Experience (1978) where the women chant "disco extravaganza... oot oot, oot oot..."

[Super D]

Thinking out the box :o :o During the Roller Skating days in Chicago(chi-town sucks)....A few local Roller Skating rinks prohibited whistles from inside arenas/and gynasiums ......so in place of the whistle.........Rollers starting shouting oooot oooot ah ah oooot ooooot ah ah :o :roll: :o (sick people live in chicago)

Thus the etymology of that obtrusive "euphemistic" malapropos, ooot ooot! :x

Just a thought :o

Super D(motordetroit) 8)

[efunk_adelic]

that was done down in San Diego also...

[Jimmy-Michaels]

'Bad Girls' Donna Summer. :-?

?????????????????????????????????????? :o cant recall that

[efunk_adelic]

maybe oooot oooot sounds like toot toot to some people.... :D

[SandraDee]

Don't mess with my toot toot! :lol: :o

[Mixmachine]

Ok , finally found this old "uuah uuuah" thread:icon_rolleyes: ( it think there are a few others:icon_smile:)

I knew there was another Disco cut with the "Uuuahh" chants I used to play but couldn't remember, As far as I remember this cut was not a big hit, not sure if it was ever released on 12" single either.

After all this years I finally tracked it down :icon_razz:

"Heat of the Beat" (7:06) by Roy Ayer and Wayne Henderson off the 1978 "Step into our life " album

IMO a great forgotten Disco cut in the 'High energy" realm at 134 BPMs, lots of jabbing swirling Disco strings, percussion in the mold of John Davis productions through out, with Montana/EWF type marimbas (or vibes??), jazzy trumpets and high pitch vocals singing about "Disco Dancing" and the groove of the beat.... happy stuff

the "UUahh, UUahh Disco Baby " portion (piece) was used as the anchor in a "Hollywood" type DJ edit produced in Miami and released in 1978 called "Disco Spectacular"

IMO :icon_biggrin::icon_biggrin: Good pure fun Disco stuff!!!:icon_biggrin::icon_biggrin: to track down...:icon_cool:

Edit: Hey look!! The 12" single is in the vault!!!:icon_razz: , now I need to find my copy :icon_rolleyes:

"Heat of the beat"

[Shamir]

Let's not forget Rick James with his breakthrough track 'You and I'. Massive right across the US and the rest of the world in 78. In my opinion probably the definative 'oooot oooot' record

[FunkyChris]

The George Bussey Experience - Disco Extravaganza contains "uuh-uuh", too :icon_biggrin:

[Simon White]

Mastermind's "Hustle Bus Stop" from 1977 has it.

http://www.discomusic.com/records-more/9534_0_2_0_C/


I think it comes from something earlier though, maybe one of the big New York styled Funk bands like Brass Construction?

[normvork]

Was anyone else watching American Bandstand when Cerrone did his Supernature song on the show? at the show's finale, instead of the usual final credits with the Barry Manilow tune they showed Cerrone playing the drums while the backup singers did the ooout ooout chant. Quite a surprise since I thought all the AB stuff was just lip synched. It was the first time I heard that vocalization. There was a happy spontaneity on the set which I had never seen before. I think even Dick Clark was impressed, or visibly enthused at least.

[remicks]

"Heat of the Beat" (7:06) by Roy Ayer and Wayne Henderson off the 1978 "Step into our life " album

IMO a great forgotten Disco cut in the 'High energy" realm at 134 BPMs, lots of jabbing swirling Disco strings, percussion in the mold of John Davis productions through out, with Montana/EWF type marimbas (or vibes??), jazzy trumpets and high pitch vocals singing about "Disco Dancing" and the groove of the beat.... happy stuff



IMO :icon_biggrin::icon_biggrin: Good pure fun Disco stuff!!!:icon_biggrin::icon_biggrin: to track down...:icon_cool:

Edit: Hey look!! The 12" single is in the vault!!!:icon_razz: , now I need to find my copy :icon_rolleyes:

"Heat of the beat"

Your excellent description has me thinking this is my kind of stuff ! :icon_biggrin: ....Adding it to the "seek and find" list :icon_biggrin:.....


*****

[Disco Funk]

On the Sun Sun Sun album by Johnny Melfi, which is from '76, there's a track called 'Dry Bones', which has the "OoooO OoooO!" disco chant. It happens a couple of times in the song, during the percussion breakdown sections.

Disco Funk

[SandraDee]

Amanda Lear's 'Fashion Pack' features it.

[Eman]

Wasn't it also on The Sylvers' "Don't Stop Get Off"....kinda a blatant rip-off of Foxy's "Get Off" also...

[pmggp]

Hi everyone! New member here, I just discovered this board recently, and I was glad to have found this thread because the topic is something I’ve always wondered about.

I decided to post because I found an occurrence of the “oooot-oooot” sound that predates all of the songs mentioned on this thread – and it turns out it’s so obvious that I’m surprised no one has mentioned it yet.

It’s in Gloria Gaynor’s classic “Never Can Say Goodbye.” I was listening to this tonight in the car, and I noticed it about 4 minutes into the 6½-minute version, following the instrumental verse. At the end of the chorus, you can hear Gloria sing, “Never can say goodbye, no-no-no, no-no-no, no-no-no-OOOOT-OOOOT!” It’s not found in the shorter 3-minute version, by the way. (But what disco fan listens to the short version anyway? )

I have uploaded a small mp3 file with the relevant portion of the song here.

Upon reflection, several factors lead me to believe that this may be the origin of the “oooot-oooot” sound:

1. The song dates from late 1974-early 1975, long before any of the other songs mentioned in this thread (most of which seem to be from 1978).

2. The “oooot-oooot” does not seem gratuitous at all – it fits right in. It simply mirrors the notes of the bass, strings and other instruments (D#-E-D#-E) which were already present in previous iterations of the chorus.

3. It’s sung high-pitched because that is the range where Gloria happens to be singing the chorus. Interestingly, almost all of the occurrences of “oooot-oooot” in other songs are in the same range, and sometimes even the same exact notes, D# and E (Heatwave’s “The Groove Line” for example). For other performers, this choice is arbitrary; for Gloria, her choice of notes is dictated by the bass and strings. Why did everyone else choose this range and/or these notes? Probably because Gloria did.

4. She does two “oooots” because that’s all she has time for. Most other performers do two “oooots” as well. Again, totally arbitrary. Why did they choose two “oooots” and not one or three? Probably because Gloria did. (Foxy’s “Get Off” is a notable exception, with 8 or 9 “oooots” in a row.)

It would appear, then, that all subsequent occurrences of the “oooot-oooot” sound are an attempt to mimic Gloria’s usage in this song. And it seems unlikely that Gloria is attempting to mimic anybody else because of the way the “oooot-oooot” fits naturally in the song, as I described above.

What do you guys think?

Andy

[Disco Funk]

It’s in Gloria Gaynor’s classic “Never Can Say Goodbye.” I was listening to this tonight in the car, and I noticed it about 4 minutes into the 6½-minute version, following the instrumental verse. At the end of the chorus, you can hear Gloria sing, “Never can say goodbye, no-no-no, no-no-no, no-no-no-OOOOT-OOOOT!” It’s not found in the shorter 3-minute version, by the way. (But what disco fan listens to the short version anyway? )

They sound like they're doing a 'dooouhh doooouh', but that's irrelevant, because in a club setting, I wouldn't be surprised that people would be singing along, while blowing their whistles, and imitating that part, which is essentially the hook of the song. And that's an important observation, because it's the hook that draws people in.

So, you may have in fact solved the riddle of the source of the ooot ooot sound. A bunch of happy dizzy people, maybe at a specific club, just adopted it as their chant after 'discovering' it in Never Can Say Goodbye. They just played around with it, getting rid of the 'd' sound, which you probably couldn't hear in a club anyway.

Disco Funk

[remicks]

******

It would appear, then, that all subsequent occurrences of the “oooot-oooot” sound are an attempt to mimic Gloria’s usage in this song. And it seems unlikely that Gloria is attempting to mimic anybody else because of the way the “oooot-oooot” fits naturally in the song, as I described above.

What do you guys think?

Andy

I think this is shear brilliance !! :icon_cool: :icon_biggrin: :icon_mrgreen:

I have always felt like the sound was familiar to me from something further back ...and there it is ....
I thought the line being song was "do it do it" ( which I can hear on your sample that it is not ) . I think the over all sound being sung ...the vibe of it... is indeed what became the popular chant .


I believe you have found the original source of the OOOT OOOT :icon_cool: :icon_cool: :icon_cool:.


Good job ! and welcome to the board !! :icon_biggrin:



remicks


******