Chrysti the Wordsmith > Radio Scripts

We most often associate the expression groovy and its ancestor in the groove and its offspring groovy with a brief period in the 1960s. Groovy showed up in the titles and lyrics of such pop tunes as "Wild Thing," "59th Street Bridge Song," and "Groovy Kind of Love." Though some of this word's panache gets lost by defining it, groovy means excellent, fine, satisfying. Being in the groove is to act correctly, work smoothly, or be in the proper mood.

Groove mongers of the 1960s did not have first claim on these expressions. Musicians Tommy Dorsey, Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong and Gene Krupa were slinging the terms throughout the 30s and 40s. In a 1943 issue of the publication Correct English, Gene Krupa said, "'In the groove' came out of those back-room music sessions where each musician would play the theme according to his individual notionsOne was, or was not, melodically in the groove..."

According to the venerable Dictionary of American Slang, in the groove and groovy were common swing and jazz expressions, that came from the technology of recorded music. The Dictionary says, "When a phonograph plays, its stylus or needle is in the groove of the record."

A 1942 quotation from musician Tommy Dorsey, however, contradicts this notion: "When the boys and I hear a good record nowadays, we says it's "groovey." The expression has nothing to do with the grooves on the record's surface, it just means we think its a fine piece of music."

Nowadays, the word groovy is most often used humorously or derisively as a linguistic conjuration of the zeitgeist of a past era.

Radio Script > Groovy