We all remember our first. That is, the first song that we danced to more ‘maturely.' For me, it was during seventh grade, Bar Mitzvah season, to Get Busy by Sean Paul – an aggressive upbeat jam, displaying a mostly failed grasp of the English language. It didn’t matter if I was in line at the bar getting a virgin strawberry daiquiri, or taking my time deciding which colored socks I wanted to change into, when this song came on, I ran to the dance floor.
Picturing my 11-year-old-self attempting to sing along to this mostly incomprehensible song is deeply, deeply painful. I should not have tried to mouth the words, yet I know for a fact that every time Sean "sang" his intro of “danana join in on Rebecca” (which I now know are not the actual lyrics, but who can even tell?), I excitedly jumped up and down, pretending to know what he was saying, while pointing at myself. I had far too much confidence for a girl with braces and side bangs. We all had those phases. I definitely secretly loved this song, but also made fun of it outside of the oasis that was my friends’ Bar Mitzvahs. Even in 7th grade, my friends and I were aware that this song was a straight up mess, yet we still continued to request it at every party.
Recommended for you
Eight years later and I still don’t know what the hell I was shaking it to. So I thought, why not re-listen to the song and try to make sense of the lyrics? Here we go.
*Note: Lyrics are based off what I think he is saying and are by no means official. I’m not sure anyone knows the official ones unless you speak Sean Paul.
So, Sean doesn’t waste any time -- getting straight to the point with his demand “Shake that thing miss can I can I?" You know this gets everyone hyped. A pretty self-explanatory line, suggesting all who choose to, get their hips moving.
This is shortly followed by “Now if eh I see you get live on the rhythm, yes imbibe." With this line he encourages more healthy movement accompanied by a drink, maybe two. Probably two.
Then comes the defining point of the song: “Ya sexy ladies gon’ bra with us in the car with us they gon’ wa with us”
Seriously, I do not know. Official website lyrics suggest he is saying “Yo sexy ladies want par with us, In a the car with us, Them nah war with us,” which, similarly, makes no sense.
Moving along!
The next part I can begin to make out the sounds as follows:
“Don’t sweat it, don’t get out ya thing ya qwa roll thang girl ya you know you must get it." Right. I’m going to guess that he is telling his girl that she shouldn’t feel pressured to do anything she doesn’t want to do, but also that in the end it’s really important that she "gets it," whatever that means.
He really ties in the chorus with this killer next line: “Get jiggy, get drunk off percolate, anything you want from me, calling oscillating the hip on those checks for me.” Percolate is not a drug, it is a verb, it cannot help you get drunk. I feel embarrassed for Sean. Otherwise, I appreciate the encouragement to get jiggy, I will obey that.
Finally, he repeats himself for the 23rd time with his ending lines of “Let’s get it on 'til the early morn, it’s all good just turn me on." Sean, your point was made by line two. Message received.
So there you have it, the song I danced to at age eleven turns out to be predictably, incredibly degrading, as Sean Paul’s desperate attempt to get girls to shake their things. However, to my 7th grade innocent self, this song was the anthem of shaking my booty and I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to shake what momma gave me. I cannot bring myself to extend a full-hearted thank you to Sean for those defining 3 minutes at Bar Mitzvahs because this song is basically as bad as it gets, but I give him points for a catchy beat and a solid pat on the back for igniting a long journey of me getting my freak on.
man running in forestPhoto by 
