It’s Not What You Say

Song Meaning

This track lays out a pretty straightforward, if dated, thesis: a girl's physical presentation trumps her verbal communication when it comes to attracting male attention. The narrator repeatedly emphasizes that it's the way she moves—her "boogaloo," her "hip," her "strut"—that captivates the "boys" and "fellas." The core message, hammered home with the parenthetical refrain, is that actions and appearance speak louder than words. The central tension here is the dichotomy between "what you do" and "what you say." The lyrics explicitly state that a "fella'd rather see you walk / Than have to hear you talk," framing conversation as secondary, or even undesirable, compared to visual appeal. This preference is reinforced by the direct instruction to "keep your big mouth shut," positioning silence as a virtue that enhances her allure. The most striking aspect of the craft is the relentless focus on kinetic imagery and the stark contrast it creates with the dismissal of speech. Phrases like "wiggle in your every strut" and "way that you move your hip" paint a vivid picture of a specific kind of performance. This visual emphasis is amplified by the repetitive, almost chant-like bridge, which drills down on the directive to "put a wiggle in your strut / Keep your big mouth shut." Ultimately, the effectiveness of these lyrics lies in their blunt, unapologetic assertion of a particular worldview. The narrator's confidence, stemming from his self-proclaimed knowledge as "a boy and I know it's true," lends a persuasive, albeit narrow, force to his argument. The repetition of the core phrase and the vivid physical descriptions create a memorable, if controversial, portrait of attraction.