Gimme Some Skin – The Three Belles “In Full Swing” Album Track Review

The Three Belles present their new debut album "In Full Swing".
The Three Belles present their new debut album “In Full Swing”.

If you want to shake my hand, like they do it in Harlem / stick your hand right out and shout: “Gimme some skin, my friend!”

Thus the refrain of this classic Andrews Sisters number that The Three Belles do ample justice to.  This track absolutely bounces along with real verve, driven by the fast chopping jazz guitar chords and an extremely tight big band.

Naïve and hopeful in its celebration of black culture, the song was written at a time when the relationship between the white and Afro-American half of the US population were to say the very least strained. The original Andrews Sisters film clip on youtube  is telling. No black faces appear (Hollywood presumably found that too difficult to swallow). But in the modern day in which styles are stolen from every culture around the world, the song feels amazingly ahead of its time.  Using a Gospel interlude in which the Belles sing a capella while they clap along, this vibrant number absolutely revels in the joy it creates.

What more to be said of this one, except that it has a great uplifting ending, and will get your toes tapping all the way!

Order your copy of The Three Belles debut Album, In Full Swing.

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