shaboogie-bop
     In the 1980s and early 1990s there appeared on the pop charts a number of words beginning with 's' that I never found out the meaning of. The first one was Philip Collins with "Sussudio". I never figured out what he was banging on about with that one. Then came Michael Jackson, who occasionally shouted out "sha'mon". That one too was a mystery.
     Now comes a new one.
     The Original Ryan B, a confidant of mine, recently visited my house and while doing so began hopping and flitting about, repeating the word "shaboogie" in a funky accent. Asked where he stumbled upon this strange quotable, the Original Mr B replied that he had heard it in a Prince song- "I have his greatest hits on my I-Pod," he explained.
     Never having been a Prince fan, I was intrigued. Ryan B explained the word in question was heard on Prince's 1991 number one hit "Cream". The lyrics, which Ryan then sang to me while performing in front of a mirror, went thusly:
     
      Cream. Get on top.

      Fair enough- we know that cream will ofter rise to the top of milk. The song continued:

      Cream. You will cop.

      Now already in the second line I didn't know what Prince was talking about. I don't know that sense of the verb 'cop'- I know 'cop to it' and 'cop a feel' but that's about it. However, I was willing to let this one go as a Midwest regionalism, a corn-fed Minnesota turn of phrase, if you will.
      But then, the next line:

      Cream. Shaboogie-bop.

     Well, I about lost all clue as to the proceedings at that point.
     Cream. Shaboogie-bop.