Neneh Cherry: Buffalo Stance

Sun 24 Jun 2012 by abagond

Remarks:

This went to #3 on both the American and British pop charts in 1988, #30 on the American R&B charts. MTV played it to death – that was back when they still played music. The song rings in my head at odd moments, especially the line, “No moneyman can win my love/It’s sweetness that I’m thinking of,” (only I thought it was, “No money, man, can win my love.”). I had no idea she was Swedish – I thought she was British.

This is one of those videos that when I saw it again in the YouTube Era I was shocked at how cheesy it was.

Lyrics:

Who’s that gigolo on the street
With his hands in his pockets and his crocadile feet
Hanging off the curb, looking all disturbed
At the boys from home. They all came running
They were making noise, manhandling toys
That’s the girls on the block with the nasty curls
Wearing padded bras sucking beers through straws
Dropping down their drawers, where did you get yours?

Gigolo, Huh, sucka?
Gigolo. Gigolo, Huh, sucka?

Who’s looking good today?
Who’s looking good in every way?
No style rookie
You better watch don’t mess with me

No moneyman can win my love
It’s sweetness that I’m thinking of
We always hang in a Buffalo Stance
We do the dive every time we dance
I’ll give you love baby not romance
I’ll make a move nothing left to chance
So don’t you get fresh with me

Get funky. Yeah Timmy
Tell it like it is. Check out this DJ

So you say you wanted money but you know it’s never funny
When your shows worn through and there’s a rumble in your tummy
But you had to have style get a gold tooth smile
Put a girl on the corner so you can make a pile
Committed a crime and went inside
It was coming your way but you had to survive
When you lost your babe, you lost the race
Now you’re looking at me to take her place

Who’s looking good today?
Who’s looking good in every way?
No style rookie
You better watch don’t mess with me

Smokin.’ Not cokin.’ Get funky sax
Looking good, hanging with the wild bunch
Looking good in a Buffalo Stance
Looking good when it comes to the crunch
Looking good’s a state of mind
State of mind don’t look behind you
State of mind or you’ll be dead
State of mind may I remind you
Bomb the Bass rock this place
What is he like? What’s he like anway?
Yo’ man what do you expect the guy’s a giggolo man
You know I mean?

Wind on my face, sound in my ears
Water from my eyes, and you on my mind
As I sink, diving down deep deeper into your soul

Posted in stuff | 33 Comments

33 Responses

on Wed 27 Jun 2012 at 10:41:02 leigh204

Aww, I really liked this song. I agree the video was quite cheesy. Watching the video clip once again, I rememered then how much I desired curls and I permed my hair to make it look like Neneh’s. Overall, the music video was a fun song. Thanks for this post, abagond.
on Wed 27 Jun 2012 at 12:29:30 CDF

Yeah, I remember this video. I just wished I could meet someone who was as attractive as well as talented like that at that time (still do!). It was also when MTV was MTV, where I’d be in the “Yo!…” lounge and peek out to videos like this.
on Wed 27 Jun 2012 at 12:39:47 Columnist

I remember the song too.
on Wed 27 Jun 2012 at 14:28:27 Demerera

Raw Like Sushi – one of the first albums I ever purchased. I used to know all the songs word perfect, ahhhh, those were the days….
on Wed 27 Jun 2012 at 14:33:09 B. R.

Neneh Cherry is the daughter of jazz trumpeter , Don Cherry, frequent colaborator with Ornette Coleman, leaders of the Avant Guarde Jazz movement
on Wed 27 Jun 2012 at 14:33:43 Bulanik

@Demerera
“…don’t get fresh with me” Neneh sings, my favourite line.
But what is a Buffalo Stance? At the time didn’t know, didn’t care, just like the song. Funny Aba thought Neneh might have been British – she sounds American who definitely knows a bit of Cockney, plus something else thrown in!
on Wed 27 Jun 2012 at 14:38:59 Bulanik

I thought Neneh was the daughter of a Sierra Leonean musician called Amadu or Omar Jah because she has a sister called Titiyo Jah? Not sure of spelling. I may be wrong here, but Don Cherry is her step dad, but he is the father of Eagle-Eye Cherry, and Neneh’s half-brother
on Wed 27 Jun 2012 at 14:43:51 Bulanik

I remember this song from Titiyo Jah, everybody was saying she was Neneh’s sister but I am not sure now, B.R.
on Wed 27 Jun 2012 at 15:07:56 Demerera

@Bulanik

She has a brother – Eagle Eye Cherry who did this song…
on Wed 27 Jun 2012 at 15:10:58 Demerera

@Bulanik

Funny Aba thought Neneh might have been British – she sounds American who definitely knows a bit of Cockney, plus something else thrown in!

Maybe Aba heard the ‘Wha is he like, what’s he like anyway..’ bit which is a ‘mockney’ accent and made his decision from there

Many Swedes talk an American style of English dont they…
on Wed 27 Jun 2012 at 15:13:48 Demerera

@Bulanik

I may be wrong here, but Don Cherry is her step dad, but he is the father of Eagle-Eye Cherry, and Neneh’s half-brother

Apologies – hadnt seen this bit when I posted the video…

Love this one though…

and this version…
on Wed 27 Jun 2012 at 15:14:13 abagond

I think I heard her in an interview where she had a London sort of accent. In this song she sounds like she is from New York maybe (the o in “off” and “on” at the beginning, for example), though accents are hard to tell in songs since people do not use their speaking voice.
on Wed 27 Jun 2012 at 15:24:43 abagond

I love “7 Seconds” as well:

http://abagond.wordpress.com/2010/01/31/youssou-ndour-neneh-cherry-7-seconds/
on Wed 27 Jun 2012 at 15:51:53 Bulanik

@Demerera

I’ve found some Swedes have an American accent when they speak English, the ones I know do, and it sounds cool – but I am guessing that if Neneh’s step dad is an American, and her raised her, she might do a really convincing American accent?

@abagond

….a London sort of accent….

I know we touched on this before. Neneh does a mockney accent, like Demerera says, as it’s part of her song.

I don’t know whether Demerera would agree about this, but IMO, there 2 main ‘London’ accents.

The 1st one is the cockney accent, which originated in East, a traditionally working class area – but became widely spoken all over London and the south east of England.

Here is a clip from a popular soap which might typify this accent:

The 2nd main ‘London’ accent got its name in the 1980s: Estuary English, because it is mainly spoken in the areas near the River Thames and its estuary.

http://wikitravel.org/upload/shared//thumb/6/64/South_East_England_map.png/600px-South_East_England_map.png

An Estuary English accent seems to have some features of Standard English, and some features of a cockney accent. This accent is very widely used. It is fashionable and lots of people like it. It’s popular with people under 60 years old. (LOL)
It’s a kinda Jamie Oliver accent.
on Wed 27 Jun 2012 at 16:08:43 Linda

If my memory is correct, I read an interview that said Neneh was living in London for awhile when she recorded her album.
on Wed 27 Jun 2012 at 16:12:55 Demerera

@Bulanik

I don’t know whether Demerera would agree about this, but IMO, there 2 main ‘London’ accents.

I would probably say there is one more – BBC English aka Received Pronounciation aka The Queens English which some may deem ‘posh’. Though I was born in London and have lived there on and off for a time, my accent is that of Estuary English though the area that I reside has many wealthy parts where people talk with an RP accents as I guess is the same with some maybe more affluent parts of London.

LOL at the clip – this is probably one of the last times I watched Eastenders
on Wed 27 Jun 2012 at 16:15:00 Demerera

All

From wikipedia re Neneh – probably explains the different accents…

During the first years of her life, Cherry lived in a hippie commune just outside the small town of Hässleholm. The family later moved to Pudsey, England, and in the early 1970s, they lived in an apartment on East Ninth Street in New York. At the age of 14, Cherry dropped out of school and moved to London.
on Wed 27 Jun 2012 at 16:21:35 Bulanik

@Demerera

Oh, yes, there’s the kind of posh English {Bulanik blushes} as well!

@Linda – you’re right

At around 01.00 in this clip Neneh starts talking about her accent:
on Wed 27 Jun 2012 at 21:40:34 troy

One of the tunes I’ll always remember …ha, although it was probably just that certain time in my life. I hadn’t seen the video before, which is strange, and your right ….cheese. Although, not as cheesy as this…
on Wed 27 Jun 2012 at 21:47:01 Bulanik

Is organ McVey Neneh’s husband?
on Wed 27 Jun 2012 at 21:47:23 Bulanik

*Morgan*
on Wed 27 Jun 2012 at 21:50:49 B. R.

You might be right, Bulanik, Ill try to research it (about who her father is)
on Wed 27 Jun 2012 at 22:13:13 B. R.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neneh_Cherry

I stand corrected, Bulanik….Don was her stepfather. I knew someone who was in Dons band who practiced at his loft in New York and he said she was there, and , I asumed he was her natural father
on Wed 27 Jun 2012 at 22:17:09 Demerera

@Bulanik

Hubbys name is Cameron McVey, part of Morgan McVey who did the song above.
on Fri 29 Jun 2012 at 01:28:04 deepdkchocolate

I hated that song then, hate it now.. Just the beginning of the “whitening” of hip hop. It was a “hip hop” song, well it was called “rap” back then , for white folks who didn’t know anything about rap and it was deemed more “palatable” if bi-racial chick was rapping.
on Sat 30 Jun 2012 at 11:53:33 Bulanik

@deepdchololate

hated that song then, hate it now.. Just the beginning of the “whitening” of hip hop. It was a “hip hop” song, well it was called “rap” back then , for white folks who didn’t know anything about rap and it was deemed more “palatable” if bi-racial chick was rapping.

Maybe it was the beginning of the whitening of hip hop, deepkchocolate.
But because other cultures develop the music, it doesn’t mean that has become ‘whiter’ everywhere.

I am not sure you are saying Neneh Cherry’s song was a turning point in an era that I heard being called hip hop’s “Golden Age” because of its quality, diversity, innovation and influence at the time?
I don’t think Neneh Cherry is an artist people normally associate with hip hop.
And I don’t she was a key artist in its development, either.

White people didn’t know anything about rap – okay, but do you mean in the US?

Because hip hop became popular in Africa, Asia and Europe as it became more mainstream. In the UK, hip hop is mainly performed by black artists. I think in Brazil, hip hop is also mainly performed by Afro-Brazilians. And, in Africa, there are at least 25 African nations with well-known hip hop artists, alone.

If remember right, wasn’t Afrika Bambaataa already sampling Kraftwerk (a German techno band) from way back?
on Sat 30 Jun 2012 at 15:12:48 Demerera

@deepdchololate

I hated that song then, hate it now.. Just the beginning of the “whitening” of hip hop. It was a “hip hop” song, well it was called “rap” back then , for white folks who didn’t know anything about rap and it was deemed more “palatable” if bi-racial chick was rapping.

I can understand your frustration as, this is a theme that rears its head time and time again but, I must say, I took it at face value and liked it for what it was. I never felt that Neneh was parodying the music either to perpetuate an image – unlike Vanilla Ice or others like him.

I was at the age where I was aware that it was not hardcore hip hop and it was thanks to my brothers father who hails from the U.S that new releases of true hip hop from the States were accessible to me. I didnt ever compare and contrast though – in addition to liking to dance etc, music has an emotive place in my heart/mind/life and this song in particular came out when I entered Upper School and was going through many different experiences etc.

I do feel that all that people like Neneh with their brand of music helped to make the music more accessible and made people interested to find out more about ‘rap’. This is probably how many people discovered gems along the way…Monie Love, Sweet T, Roxanne Shante, Queen Latifah etc so from the more ‘pop’ to the ‘raw’ flava of music of this genre.

The transition of Rap and Hip Hop has been such a fascinating journey hasnt it?

What were your other likes or dislikes from this time?
on Tue 3 Jul 2012 at 01:11:55 Cinnamondiva

It’s a fun, catchy tune…but I’m not sure what deepdkchocolate’s issue is here, really.

It isn’t meant to be a rap song. It does have a slightly hip-hop flavor to it, but it’s not actually hip-hop, know what I mean?

As Demerera said, it’s very different from Vanilla Ice and others like him who basically parodied the music made by Black artists.

And so what if Neneh is biracial? She is still half black and that is what counts to most people. I should know, being of mixed race myself. It’s not like she is a white woman appropriating black music (although I love Teena Marie’s music, she was truly talented).
on Fri 6 Jul 2012 at 13:19:37 Bulanik

@Cinnamondiva

And so what if Neneh is biracial? She is still half black and that is what counts to most people. I should know, being of mixed race myself. It’s not like she is a white woman appropriating black music…

Co-sign on that.
We forget that someone like Bob Marley was black+white bi-racial man, and his presence in reggae certainly did not water down anything or take it away from its roots…
on Sun 8 Jul 2012 at 03:43:45 Pasha

I live in Sweden so this is from memory mainly…

Neneh’s dad is Ahmadu Jah (Step-dad was Don Cherry) and mom is Moki Karlsson .

Eagle Eye is her half-brother ‘cuz his Mom is Moki and Dad is Don Cherry.

Titiyo Jah is Neneh’s half-sister on account of they have the same father Ahmadu Jah and her mother is Maylen Bergström.

Yes, they were artsy hippies and lived in comunes in the sixies-seventies.
It Is known.
on Mon 9 Jul 2012 at 11:24:42 Bulanik

@Pasha

Thanks for that – I’d heard something like that, but wasn’t sure.
What a talented family.
on Wed 18 Jul 2012 at 03:52:36 slice

@deepdkchocolaate

Oh,c’mon—this song wasn’t the beginning of the “‘whitening” of anything—I loved it back in the day—in, fact, I went and bought the whole cassette—there are even equally good more socially conscious songs on it such as “Manchild”, “Inner City Mama”, “Phony Ladies” and “So Here I Come”, my personal favorites–half of which she co-wrote.. Thing is,the more poppier songs off the album got airplay,that’s all. Unfortunately, black radio almost never played her because the album went pop first, which was a shame,because it’s a very funky and soulful hip-hop influenced album (she could also rap very well herself,but rarely got credit for that,either).
I liked Neneh because she had her own unique musical and fashion style (she had actually been the second lead singer in a British band called Rip,Rig, & Panic—check their crazy videos and fun songs on YouTube) and her songs didn’t sound like the typical predictable,lame,boringTop 40 radio stuff. Her second album, HOMEBREW, was equally good but got slept on big time, except for that one hit with Michael Stipe of REM fame. About the videos–A lot of those videos were cheesy simply because they were low-budget. Good to know that she’s back in the business and doing music (with a band called Cirkus–she’s done 2 albums with them already).

Yeah, I’m a fan, and anyone who’s actually listen her music besides “Buffalo Stance” (a great trendsetting song in itself, and plain fun to listen to) would know that she was always more than just some flighty pop sensation. I’d love to get her third solo CD, but I’m not even sure it’s in print,since it got completely ignored,too, back in 1996, when it came out.
on Wed 18 Jul 2012 at 04:25:22 slice

I also admit that as fun as the song was, it also had a cool message–that no man could buy her love or deserve it just because he had material things or money—she wanted to be treated right by him,and she valued that more than material stuff–great positive feminist message from a great,fun hip-hop pop song (even though that’s rarely been pointed out about the song itself). I also liked Cherry’s tough no-nonsense in-your-face attitude, and the fact that she came off more as a self-made independent artist as opposed to some lame MTV media pop creation. She rarely gets credit for that,though, and is seen as just a footnote at the dawn of hip-hop’s entering the pop arena. RAW LIKE SUSHI will always be, to be, one of the classic albums of the ’80′s, as far as I’m concerned.