Nice Girls Don't Wear Cha Cha Heels

MP3: Razormaid remixes "Cha Cha Heels" (excerpt)

I was listening to Sigue Sigue Sputnik's "Jayne Mansfield" (click for real audio, from an archive of Diane's Kamikaze Fun Machine), and realized that the song contains a reference to cha cha heels. Of course, this term was popularized in the 1974 John Waters flick, Female Trouble, by the ultra-fabulous juvenile delinquent Dawn Davenport ("I'm a thief and a shitkicker... and I want to be famous!").

Exploring the topic further, I discovered that Bronski Beat had written a song for Divine (aka Harris Glenn Milstead) to record, entitled "Cha Cha Heels." Unfortunately Divine passed away before the tune was recorded, but as a tribute, Eartha Kitt offered to lay down the vocals. The result is available above as an MP3, as remixed by Razormaid. Divine did manage to record a few tracks before her departure, and WFMU's DJ Monica was all over that drag queen sass... check out "Native Love (Step By Step)" (real audio) for a fix.

And be sure to get yourself a proper pedicure before slipping into a pair of cha chas. (Thanks for that one, Metafilter)

Comments

[Kevin Gilmartin]

Ha, awesome. I think Divine is a person to be admired or feared or admired. Something like that. I only just recently got to see Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble, otherwise the reference would've flown right over my head.

"Not on Christmas!"

[Mark]

I'm taking mine back to the store and getting the money for them. You can do that you know.