LearnJazzPiano.com archives: Frim Fram Sauce

7 -- 09/05/2004, 12:00:18 -- #6951

I heard a male artist sing this this song a few weeks ago on the radio, but I didn't catch who it was. I assume that it was the original recording. Then a few days ago I heard Diana Krall do it, and so I come to you with the following questions: 1. Who was the original recording artist? 2. What kind of cuisine is "Frim Fram Sauce", "Oss-en-Fay" & "Sha Fafa"? Thx

Scot -- 09/05/2004, 15:15:30 -- #6952

Isn't that tune something Nat Cole did back in the 40's or something? As far as what Frim Fram Sauce and the related items are, I have a pretty good idea that I'll be keeping to myself ;)

Mike -- 09/05/2004, 17:08:47 -- #6957

ya its a nat king cole tune.

7 -- 09/05/2004, 20:14:27 -- #6961

Now if you don't have it, just bring me a check for the water!

johnq -- 09/06/2004, 01:02:37 -- #6963

I understand it was orginally a hit for Slim and Slam. Some analysis of the lyrics comes from the Guardian in May 2002 " "Nobody knows what the words mean," goes the web advertising for an album entitled All for You, by the pop singer Diana Krall, "but when Diana sings them, it isn't hard to draw your own conclusions." The album celebrates the songs of Nat King Cole, and the reference is to the words of the song Frim Fram Sauce: "I don't want French fried potatoes, red ripe tomatoes/ I'm never satisfied./I want the frim fram sauce/With ussin-fay, with shafafa on the side." Frim fram is one of the oldest terms surviving as slang, cited in John Heywood's 1546 book of proverbs: "She maketh earnest matters of every flymflam" about a woman easily deceived. Flimska is "mockery" in Old Norse, and flim "a lampoon". Thus, as sung by Cole and Krall half a millennium later, "frim fram sauce" is the oleaginous goo of deceit poured over some unsuspecting dupe. Next: ussin-fay is pig Latin for fussin' (just as ixnay conceals "nix"), which in turn has a slang sense of "playing about fretfully"; a whimpering infant is said to be fussin'. This locution seems out of place in a menu metaphor, but I can think of no other logical etymology. Shafafa is a problem; it is too far from "alfalfa", and no slang term or Old Norse derivation offers a clue. I called Diana Krall and asked if she had any idea about what it meant or where it came from. "It's all about sex," she replied innocently. Oh. That would explain the lyric's "never satisfied", as well as its sauce of deceit, and supply another entendre to the fretful whimpering of fussin'. "

Mike -- 09/06/2004, 15:10:01 -- #6974

you know Diana Krall's telepone number?

johnq -- 09/07/2004, 01:19:11 -- #6978

I wish :-) Although since she shacked up with Elvis Costello it's not the same anymore.

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