The original title of “Limbo Rock” was “Monotonous Melody” and it was written in five minutes.

I’m pretty sure that Chubby Checker did not change “nimble” to “limble” — since that’s not even a word. I always thought he was saying “Jack be limber” — which would certainly fit with doing the limbo dance. But more likely he was saying “limbo” instead. That’s how most of the music lyrics websites seem to have it; although they’re not always reliable, of course.

The limbo dance supposedly had its traditional origins in a funeral dance. It was connected with the Afro-Caribbean god Legba, who is also known as Elegba and Ellegua, and sometimes synchretized with Exu/Eshu. Legba is the god of death and the crossroads, a god of magic, journeys, and the portal between life and death; he is also a psychopomp. He is usually the first god invoked in Voodoo or Candomble or other Afro-Caribbean religions, because he is also the messenger between the realm of deities and the realm of mortals. Similar in various ways to the Greek deity Hermes and/or the Roman Mercury. That connection with Legba and funerals might mean that there’s some connection with the limbo dance to the idea of limbo as an in-between place after death, neither heaven nor hell. (Similar to purgatory in the Catholic church, I guess.) In some modern versions of the dance, they soak the stick in fuel and light it, so it’s on fire as people try to dance under it. Definitely not something to try at home.

By the way, that Hasselhoff thing is a hoot. I’m not a hater, but I have to admit that he seems quite phony there. Nothing like a smirking white dude to help “enrich” the Jamaican cultural heritage.