Who is the do dah man?

Answer 1

In one of The Grateful Dead's songs the lyric is "truckin' like the Doo Dah Man." The Doo Dah Man was a cartoon figure that adorned Doo Dah cigarette papers in the 1960s and early 1970s, and the basis for the Keep On Truckin' cartoon character. Has nothing to do with Obama or any politician.

Pretty sure they meant Obama.

From the "Annotated Grateful Dead" http://arts.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl

doodah manSkeleton Key cites Hunter as saying that the doodah man is just lifted from the "doodah" chorus of "Camptown Races", by Stephen Foster.

This note from a reader:Subject: doodah man Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2002 14:48:18 -0500 (EST) From: Tom Parmenter"Skeleton Key cites Hunter as saying that the doodah man is just lifted from the "doodah" chorus of "Camptown Races", by Stephen Foster. "

Well, that's as may be, but I saw the Grateful Dead on a bill with the Bonzo Dog Doodah Band at the (New) Boston Tea Party in 1969 or so and the two bands were really digging each other. Almost all of the Dead came out of the dressing room to watch the Bonzos' act, something I've hardly ever seen, so I've always been pretty sure that the doodah-man line came from that gig. After all, the song is about gigging.

Best regards,

Tom Parmenter