Song: Watermelon Crawl
By: Tracy Byrd
Start song at (1)
With dessert now up for grabs the Bennet clan began to mill and chat in small groups. As Jack was helping himself to pie he spied a few of the nieces and nephews doing a small line dance.
"What's that one called?" He asked them.
"The watermelon crawl." Candice told him.
"Where and when did you learn that one?"
Last summer my parents took us on a road trip to Jorga. Here let me show you the steps, Uncle Jack." She then proceeded to guide him through toe heal, coster steps, kicks, claps, grapevines, scuffs, slides, knee pops, and step turns.
"You're really good at that Jack!" Jamie commented as he watched the lesson.
"I'd be even better if I had music to dance to." Jack hinted with a look at the watching family members.
"I believe I remember the tune." Candice's father mentioned and then proceeded to play the song.
(1) The song was a story in and of itself, of a man who had been driving through Rind County and stopped at a small one-horse town to join in on the festival that was being held. As Candice's dad sang Jack and the others who had been dancing fell into step. Two rounds of the steps into it Candice let loose with her high singing voice to join her father in the Chores.
"We got a hundred gallons of sweet red wine made from the biggest watermelons on the vine. Help yourself to some but obey the law, if you drink don't drive do the watermelon crawl."
The next part of the story changed things up, just a bit. As the writer of the song told, through his music, about the festival's watermelon queen the dancers began to add dips and doe-see-does. They mimicked the next dance descriptions to a T. Rocking back on their heels and dropping to their knees. They did the dance steps on their knees across the floor then jumped back to their feet just in time to shout "This is how you do the watermelon crawl."
While they danced furniture was moved back and more of the family joined the lines. By the end of the second chorus, the living room had become a dance hall.
"If you're ever down in Jorga about July, and you ain't in a hurry then you' oughta stop by. I can guarantee you're gonna have a ball, learning how to do the watermelon crawl." Candice assured everyone as the song wrapped up.
"I just might!" Jack said. "I can find a day in my schedule I am sure."
That of course got a laugh out of everyone who knew Jack. But for some, he only got blank looks.
"You can handle summer in Jorga?" One adult asked.
I love line dances and I hope any who do as well will check out the tutorials from 'Dirt Road Dancing' on YouTube. They have some of the best teachers and are so easy to follow. I used their video to find the correct terms for the line dance moves.