Happy birthday to Root Boy Slim, the NC-born wild man of ‘Boogie till You Puke’ fame
In my distant youth, when I worked as a deejay in a 5-watt college radio station, I admired a greasy-haired, overweight, chronically intoxicated singer named Root Boy Slim — a grubby, gravel-voiced beast of a man who performed in hot pants and a cape.
He belted out lyrics that insulted the institutions that ordinary people cherish, among them hygiene and self-respect. His song titles invited listeners to join him in a hilarious form of self-abuse:
“Boogie Till You Puke” or “Dare to Be Fat.”
Onstage, he punctuated his anti-social message by flopping on his back and kicking his legs in the air like an overturned alligator, always springing back to his feet to accept whatever drinks the audience would hand him.
Tragically, but to no one’s surprise, Root Boy died young.
So today, I resurrect his ragged memory to remind North Carolina that Foster MacKenzie III, aka Root Boy, was a bona fide Tar Heel born in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
He rests today beneath a stone just south of Asheville, and had he lived, Tuesday would mark his 80th year on Earth.
Future Music Hall of Fame member?
As a birthday tribute, I nominate Root Boy Slim for long-overdue induction to the NC Music Hall of Fame, where he might caterwaul eternally alongside Little Eva and Blind Boy Fuller.
He would certainly not lack for boozy company in those esteemed musical ranks, as I’ve heard it said that string-band legend Charlie Poole expired from “gross negligence of the liver.”
And one couldn’t argue against inducting Root Boy due to his obscurity without disqualifying numerous other Hall members — no disrespect to Lulu Belle and Scotty.
To me, Root Boy inhabits a complicated life story that broadens his self-destructive act.
Few would guess the man who sang “My Wig Fell Off” or “Liquor Store Holdup in Space” was the son of a golf course architect, shipped off to the ultra-exclusive Sidwell Friends School — famously attended by the children who commuted from the White House.
Attending Yale with George W. Bush
Not only did he attend Yale with President George W. Bush, but they belonged to the same fraternity, and according to at least one account, Root Boy got tossed off the front porch by the president-to-be.
Further Root Boy folklore holds that he once scaled the White House fence, inspired by copious and illicit substances, explaining to Secret Service agents that he was searching for the center of the universe.
As if that resume weren’t sufficiently deep, Root Boy developed a cult audience around his adopted Washington headquarters, touring with the Sex Change Band and the backup-singing Rootettes.
I saw them play only once, at the Grog & Tankard in Baltimore, not long before Root Boy’s passing in 1993. As I flipped through the records he had for sale, I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see my antihero looming over me like a beached whale propped upright.
“You wanna buy those?” he asked, in the same tone of voice one might ask for spare change.
But I was already pulling away from the Root Boy, embracing a safer and more conventional path, not quite dismissing him as a novelty act but choosing to appreciate him from a safe distance.
And on his 80th birthday, I regret a little having gravitated toward that norm, leaving Root Boy to walk a path doused with spilled alcohol and smoldering cigarette butts. He was, if nothing else, a lit match held to all that is ordinary.
So come on, NC Hall of Music Fame. Call Root Boy’s name next year. Boogie till you puke. Dare to be fat.
This story was originally published July 8, 2024 at 5:55 AM with the headline "Happy birthday to Root Boy Slim, the NC-born wild man of ‘Boogie till You Puke’ fame."