"Every time you kiss me, feels like a..." WHAT?
May 16, 2024 9:47 AM   Subscribe

Sock It To Me, Baby! was one of blue-eyed soul singer Mitch Ryder's top-ten hits, from early 1967. The expression is possibly best-remembered today from when a presidential candidate uttered it: In 1968, when Nixon said 'Sock It To Me' on "Laugh-In," TV Was Never Quite the Same Again. (Smithsonian magazine, 2018)

Etymological explanations for the phrase (like in the Urban Dictionary) usually trace it to the late 1960s but readers of the classics can find it used earlier, during the Depression, in The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Also there's a regional cake recipe with this name, apparently via Duncan Hines.

Post title refers to a controversy at the time, during maybe the first wave of parental concern about lyrics in rock'n'roll, for example, what were the Kingsmen actually singing in "Louie, Louie" - could they have been suggesting something naughty? That spotlight also focused briefly on "Sock It To Me, Baby."
posted by Rash (6 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Let me also add this is one of the very few rock songs which employ an Acme Siren whistle (it's what makes that "Whoop whoop!" sound).
posted by Rash at 9:59 AM on May 16 [2 favorites]


When I hear "sock it to me" I immediately think of Aretha Franklin and Respect. The phrase dates an otherwise perfect song.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 10:07 AM on May 16 [3 favorites]


Sock it to me??
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:31 AM on May 16 [9 favorites]


It's too bad Watergate broke out right after the final season, because John Dean saying "I did" would be a hoot
posted by credulous at 12:03 PM on May 16 [3 favorites]


Unseasonal, but Sock it to me Santa from Bob Seger and the Last Heard- is from 1966.
posted by rongorongo at 1:18 PM on May 16 [1 favorite]




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