Entry · catalog no. 3480
shamone
/ /ʃəˈmoʊn/ /shuh-MOHN
interjection · Chicago gospel-soul circuit (Staple Singers), rooted in the wider Southern Black · 1970s
✓ Verified
1.
A jubilant, stylized cry of "come on!" — used to hype up a crowd, egg someone on, or punctuate a moment of peak energy in a song or performance. It is not a mispronunciation so much as a performance flourish: a singer stretching "come on" into something with more soul, more push, more swagger, so the word itself becomes part of the groove rather than just an instruction.
“The choir director threw her hands up and shouted "shamone!" to bring the whole congregation to its feet.”
Origin & Attribution
Born in the Black gospel-soul vocal-ad-lib tradition, where singers stretch or reshape spoken phrases into rhythmic, half-sung exhortations during live performance. Mainstream media has long credited Michael Jackson with inventing "shamone" from his 1987 hit "Bad," but the word predates him: soul and gospel singer Mavis Staples has stated in interviews that she originated it, ad-libbing "SHA-mone" in place of "come on" during a live 1975 performance of "I'll Take You There," and that Jackson picked it up from her — a debt Jackson himself later acknowledged, according to Spike Lee's 2012 docume
1975
Mavis Staples ad-libs "SHA-mone" instead of "come on" during a live performance of "I'll Take You There."
1987
Michael Jackson uses "shamone" throughout "Bad," carrying the word to global fame without public credit to its source.
2012
Spike Lee's documentary "Bad 25" publicly confirms the word as Jackson's tribute to Staples, correcting decades of misattribution.
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
The Midwest
Chicago gospel-soul circuit (Staple Singers), rooted in the wider Southern Black · 1970s
Spoken by
Black gospel and soul performers originally, later absorbed into mainstream American pop culture through Michael Jackson
$SHAMONThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Enduring51 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
58/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1975
in the culture
Recorded here
2026
point of first record
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@chitown
Chicago, IL
@detlex
Detroit, MI
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
Mavis Staples recounts, "It's just a word I made up!" regarding "shamone" (2010 interview)
Washington Post interview / blog excerpt
■
Spike Lee's documentary credits Staples as the phrase's originator
film documentary, 'Bad 25' (2012)
■
+ Cite a sourceMichael Jackson performs "shamone" throughout the title track
song, 'Bad' (1987)
See also