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June 2025
posted on 06.27.2025

I was watching Girl Interrupted and noticed Lisa (Angelina Jolie) calls Susanna (Winona Ryder) "Susie Q." I wanted to know where that nickname came from.

It traces back to a 1930s jazz dance step from the Lindy Hop and tap scenes. Lil Hardin Armstrong (Louis Armstrong's wife) popularized it with her 1936 novelty tune "Doin' the Suzie-Q." One story says the dance's name came from a mishearing of "Syracuse," where a couple from Georgia first introduced the step. Dale Hawkins picked up the name for his 1957 rockabilly hit "Susie Q," which Creedence Clearwater Revival covered in 1968.

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in Naperville, IL
Last visitor from Mitaka, Japan