All About Eefin'

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 4 Apr 2009 5:52 am

Eefin' (or even the desire to Eef) is so far from my own cultural experience that it's like listening to a recording of a rare New Guinea tribe. Fascinating. Is there some long-lost British Isles connection? Did the king have an Asthma attack and then EVERYONE had to do what he did - like the monarch who lisped thus creating Castillian Spanish?

More than you ever wanted to know about Eeefin, .....

http://tinyurl.com/cv9pds

Jeff Evans · Post by **Jeff Evans** » 4 Apr 2009 7:38 am

http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/GG/Jimmie_Rid ... _Eeeph.mp3

Eeffin' A, Andy. (Or "Eef in D.")

Brint Hannay · Post by **Brint Hannay** » 4 Apr 2009 9:25 am

Boy, this Forum is educational! That video is from 1968?! I never even remotely heard of Eefin' till just now! It reminds me of some of the stuff Doodles Weaver used to do with Spike Jones back in the early Fifties.

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 4 Apr 2009 9:55 am

According to NPR ....

The eccentric Southern tradition of "eephing" is best described as the hillbilly equivalent of the hip-hop human "beat box" vocal style -- a kind of hiccupping, rhythmic wheeze that started in rural Tennessee more than 100 years ago.

Just like human beat-box artists of the 1980s rendered perfect imitations of drum machines with their mouths, the original eephers of the 1880s imitated the hogs and turkeys living in their backyards.

Rick Campbell · Post by **Rick Campbell** » 4 Apr 2009 11:03 am

Too bad AMerican Idol was not available to these guys back in the 60's.

Jussi Huhtakangas · Post by **Jussi Huhtakangas** » 5 Apr 2009 5:46 am

Ha, I've been familiar with eefin' since the first time Dave and Deke Combo played in Finland, which was about 15 yrs ago. Deke always brought the house down with the number that combined eefin' and hillbilly moonwalk

That website has a link to Deke's version of Muleskinner Blues where he demonstrates the fine art of eefin'. It's a live radio show cut and I remember being in the studio cracking up when it was aired ( national, mind you

)

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 5 Apr 2009 1:56 pm

Here's more information, from when we discussed this several years ago.

Click Here

I can't remember what I had for dinner last night, but I remember useless cr@p like this with no problem!

Lee, from South Texas

Paul Graupp · Post by **Paul Graupp** » 5 Apr 2009 3:51 pm

But what ever happened to Iiifin??

Regards, Paul

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 5 Apr 2009 9:56 pm

Does anyone know where this actually came from? Did Jimmy Riddle invent it? Or did he just indulge in something he had heard before? In some of the articles it is mentioned as having some relationship to the Ham Bone, which it does. The Ham Bone is African American in origin, not European, but has been popular possibly for generations among southern whites. Could Eefing be a hillbilly adaptation of an African American thing derived from the Ham Bone? Or did Jimmie Riddle just invent it out of whole cloth?

Cameron Tilbury · Post by **Cameron Tilbury** » 6 Apr 2009 8:09 am

I think I first heard about it on an episode of Hee Haw. If I'm not mistaken, Mac Davis and Archie Campbell were explaining it. I could be wrong though...

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 9 Apr 2009 12:04 pm

hee haw immortalized it for me!

Leslie Ehrlich · Post by **Leslie Ehrlich** » 8 Jul 2009 9:36 pm

I found a YouTube clip of a couple of goofs on Hee Haw: one guy drumming on his leg and the other guy eefing away. It looked and sounded so ridiculous I had a hard time keeping a straight face.

Jody Sanders · Post by **Jody Sanders** » 8 Jul 2009 11:02 pm

I believe the Cajun style of effin is called scattin. Jody.

Andy Sandoval · Post by **Andy Sandoval** » 9 Jul 2009 12:02 am

More about it. Click Here

Joey Ace · Post by **Joey Ace** » 9 Jul 2009 4:11 am

I never knew the name before! No wonder I read the Forum!

I recall seeing John Hartford doing this in solo concerts, circa 1970. Cracked me up! (as a hippy kid, a lot of other stuff was funny too).

I also recall the HeeHaw clips, but accepted it as normal in that world.

What a cool piece of musical history. How it relates to the "beat box" is a lesson in evolution.

The Steel Guitar Forum

All About Eefin'

All About Eefin'

Cool, but glad I don't do it!