Being a stickler for accuracy and authenticity, I thought I’d take a look at the lyrics for Bristol Stomp, a song by the Dovells that I have been listening to for nearly 1,500 times, almost all ina row. I downloaded a YouTube video of their performance and slowed down the audio to get a better picture of what was actually being said. I also checked it with the lead singer’s mouth. For the most part, these lyrics were correct.

There are some versions of the lyrics that say, “when they join in jumping”. I slowed down the audio and listened carefully and clearly heard an S sound where the word “in” is. I also didn’t really hear much of an “ay” sound in “they”. This led me to find that “when the joint is jumping” to be more correct. Finally, “come on and climb” seems to be a little off. I watched the video and the lead singer doesn’t seem to form his mouth to create any ‘m’ or ‘b’ sounds: his lips need to come together for that and his lips don’t do that. This leads me to believe that he said “glide” instead of “climb”. Considering that the lyrics refer to the dance terms “pony” and “twist”, I found that “glide” is also apparently a 60’s dance. Yes, “The Climb” is also on there, but like I said, glide seems to make more aural and visual sense.