Cab Calloway – The Man from Harlem

Huumeet eivät olleet Cab Callowayn tuotannossa juurikaan pimennossa 30-luvulla. Tässä biisissä on melkoisen odottava fiilis. Helpotus saapuu lopussa ja laukaiseen hermostuneen venttaamisen. Ja mitäs sitä odotettiinkaan?

”It was up at Mike’s the other night,
There was really quite a sight,
Gather round, folks, while I give you all the lowdown.
Tables were filled with bloody frails,
Chewing on their fingernails;
They were waiting for the man from Harlem.

Drinks were served six bits a throw,
Things were moving kind of slow,
Everybody’s nerves were getting jumpy.
All at once the room was still,
Men forgot all about their bill,
Who should enter but the man from Harlem.

Everybody rolled their eyes,
Women starting heaving sighs,
Someone hollered, Music, lights and gin,
Everybody cleared a space,
They had big, broad smiles on every face,
How they all loved to see the man from Harlem.

When he started in to step
He filled everyone with plenty pep,
He twitched and squirmed; it just was a dirty shame.
Everyone was in a daze,
Women watched him with amaze,
Each one said she’d have the man from Harlem.

He looked over in the corner,
And saw a couple of frails
And they sure did look kinda low.
Another cat walked up, and said to the man from Harlem,
Go over there and see what’s the matter with them girls.
And they said, I’m kinda low.
And he said, I’ve got just what you need:
Come on, sisters, light up on these weeds and get high
And forget about everything”

Cab Calloway and His Orchestra – Minnie the Moocher

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”