If you got a chance to listen to "Chinchy Old Scrooge," the 1953 recording by Phil Moore and the Phil Moore Four, I'm sure you'll agree that it's a fascinating novelty!
I do think it's meant as a novelty as the slang is so thick that you can't imagine anyone ever really sounding quite like that, even the heppest cats in 1953!
The flip side of this single, "The Blink Before Christmas" sheds a bit of light on things. Give it a listen:
The key is Don Burley, Phil Moore's co-writer on this track. Burley was a pianist like Moore, but he was also a journalist and among his accomplishments was "The Harlem Handbook of Jive" first published in 1941.
He included takeoffs of poems and stories including "The Jive Night Before Xmas," based on "A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Clement C. Moore (no relation to Phil!).
It would seem that Phil Moore used Burley's poem as the basis for the "Blink" side and took that inspiration for the "Chinchy" side.
Next, some reactions...
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