Jazz

Trixie Smith – Jack, I’m Mellow

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Trixie Smithin ”Jack, I’m Mellow” sisältää 30-luvun huumeslangia. Smoke some gage tarkoittaa siis kannabiksen polttamista.

”I’m so high and so dry,
I’m sailin’ in the sky,
Just smoke some gage,
Come around babe,
Jack, I’m mellow.

I’m so high and so dry,
I’m way up in the sky,
The world seems light
And I’m so right,
Jack, I’m mellow.

I’m going to put my nickel in a slot machine
And play my solid sender,
I’m going to strut, peck and Suzie-Q,
Have alone a bender,

I’m so high and so dry,
I’m sailin’ in the sky,
I got my roach around
And I can’t come down,
Jack, I’m mellow.

I’m so high and so dry,
I’m sailin’ in the sky,
Just smoke some gage,
Come around babe,
Jack, I’m mellow.

I’m so high and so dry,
I’m way up in the sky,
The world seems light
And I’m so right,
Jack, I’m mellow.”

Cab Calloway and His Orchestra – Minnie the Moocher

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Cab Calloway 30-luvun jazz-hitti vilisee viittauksia huumeisiin. Vilahtaapa biisi Blues Brothers elokuvassakin.

”Folks here’s a story ’bout Minnie the Moocher; she was a red hot hoochie
coocher.
She was the roughest toughest frail; but Minnie had a heart as big as a whale.

Hi de hi de hi de hi
Ho de ho de ho de ho
Hee de hee de hee de hee
Ho oo waooo waoooo

She messed around with a bloke named Smokey; She loved him though he was kokey.
He took her down to Chinatown and showed her how to kick the gong around.

Hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi
Ho-whooooaaaa-ahhhh-ohh
He-de-he-de-hee-de-he
Ho-oh-ho-oh

She had a dream about the king of Sweden; he gave her things, that she was
needin’.
He gave her a home built of gold and steel, a diamond car, with the puh-latinum
wheels.

Hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi
Ho-de-ho-de-ho-de-ho-de-ho-de-oh
Skeedle-a-booka-diki biki skeedly beeka gookity woop!
A-booriki-booriki-booriki Hoy!

He gave her his town house and his racing horses; each meal she ate was a dozen
courses.
She had a million dollars in nickels and dimes; she sat around and counted it
all, a million times.

Hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi
Ho-oh-whoaa-oh-oh-whoa
He-de-he-de-hee-de-hee
Poor Min! Poor Min! Poo-oor Min”

Harlem Hamfats – The Weed Smoker’s Dream

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Hamppujazzia 30-luvulta. Harlem Hamfatseilla oli kyseenalainen maine tuolloin, koska useammatkin heidän sävellyksistään käsittelivät huumeita, seksiä ja viinaa.

”Sittin’ on a million
Sittin’ on it every day
Can’t make no money givin’ your stuff away
Why don’t you do now
like the millionaires do
Put your stuff on the market
And make a million too

Fay’s a betting woman
She bets on every hand
She’s a trickin’ mother for you every-where she land
Why don’t you do now
like the millionaires do
Put your stuff on the market
And make a million too

May’s a good-lookin’ frail
She lives down by the jail
On her back though she got hot stuff for sale
Why don’t you do now
like the millionaires do
Put your stuff on the market
And make a million too”

Chick Webb and His Orchestra – When I Get Low I Get High

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Tässä jazzrumpali Chick Webbin biisissä laulaa hyvin nuori Ella Fitzgerald.

”My fur coat’s sold
Oh Lord ain’t it cold
But I’m not gonna holler
Cause I’ve still got a dollar
And when I get low
Oh, I get high

My man walked out
Now you know that ain’t right
He better watch out
If I meet him tonight
I said when I get low
Oh, I get high

All this hard luck in this town has found me
Nobody knows but the troubles are all around me

Oh, I’m all alone
With no one to pet me
My old rocking chair
Ain’t never gonna get me
Cause when I get low
Oh, I get high”

Fats Waller – The Reefer Song

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Tämä jazz-pianisti Fats Wallerin vuonna 1943 äänittämä biisi on itse asiassa Stuff Smithin ”You’se a Viper” hieman muunnelluilla sanoilla. Reefer viittaa marihuanaan ja 30-luvulla sana viper viittasi pilven polttelijaan. Viper on suomennettuna myrkkykäärme ja sana viittaa jointin imemisestä kuuluvaan hieman suhisevaan ääneen.

”Say cats! It’s four o’clock in the mornin’
I just left the V-Disc studio… here we are in Harlem!
Everybody’s here but the police,
and they’ll be here any minute!
It’s high time so catch this song, here it ’tis.

Say, I dreamed about a reefer 5 feet long,
a mighty mezz but not too strong.
You’ll be high, but not for long,
If you’re a viper

I’m the king of everything,
I got to gagotta gagotta gagot to be high before I swing
let the bells ring ding dong ding
If you’re a viper!

say you know you’re high when your throat gets dry
mmmmmm everything’s dandy!
ah yes you run down to the candy store,
bust your conk on peppermint candy!
then you’ll know your little brown body’s sent
You don’t give a darn if you don’t pay rent
cause the sky is high, so am I, yes yes
yes I vipe a bit, well I’m a vipe a bit on the 88 now…

say you know you’re high, yes I know I’m high
cause everything is dandy!
yes going down to the candy store,
Get me wrigglies on some peppermint candy!
I love it I love it I love it yes baby but my body’s sent
I ain’t worried about no rent get away from me you hussy! yeah, sky’s high n so am I, n I’m gonna lay down and relax… oh yeah, oh yeah… viper.”

Harry the Hipster – Who Put the Benzedrine in Mrs. Murphy’s Ovaltine?

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Harry ”the Hipster” Gibson oli jazz-muusikko, joka joutui musiikkiteollisuuden mustalle listalle 40-luvulla tämän laulun johdosta. Hommaa tietenkin edesauttoi hänen oma huumeiden käyttönsä.

Sanoituksethan kertovat rouvasta, joka ei saa iltaisin nukuttua kunnes löytyy sopiva kemikaali, joka pitää huolen, että uni tulee. Mutta sitten joku laittaakin rouvan iltalääkkeeseen piristäviä ja seuraukset ovatkin toisenmoiset. Sanat ovat vähintäänkin veikeät!

”Mrs. Murphy couldn’t sleep
Her nerves were slightly off the bean
Until she solved her problem
With a can of Ovaltine
She drank a cupful most every night
And ooh how she would dream
Until something rough got in the stuff
And made her neighbors scream. OW!
Who put the Benzedrine, in Mrs. Murphy’s Ovaltine?
Sure was a shame, don’t know who’s to blame”