Dêem os parabéns ao Cab!



Se fosse vivo, Cab Calloway, um dos maiores nomes do entertainment norte-americano, faria precisamente hoje 97 anos! Nasceu a 25 de Dezembro de 1907.

JNPDI! tem uma veneração especial por este cantor/bailarino/entertainer e as suas gravações fazem parte da playlist habitual cá de casa.

Em 1931, Cab Calloway teve um grande sucesso discográfico com o famoso tema "Minnie the Moocher" e com a sua actuação regular no Cotton Club, em Nova Iorque. Das suas orquestras fizeram parte sidemen como Walter "Foots" Thomas, Bennie Payne, Doc Cheatham, Eddie Barefield, Shad Collins, Cozy Cole, Danny Barker, Milt Hinton, Mario Bauza, Chu Berry, Dizzy Gillespie, Jonah Jones, Tyree Glenn, Panama Francis e Ike Quebec.

Paralelamente às gravações e actuações, Calloway participou em vários filmes, os quais felizmente estão disponíveis em DVD.

Por falar em "Minnie the Moocher"... aqui fica a letra que, aliás, Calloway interpretou quando da sua actuação em Lisboa, nos anos 90:


Folks, now here's the story 'bout Minnie the Moocher,
She was a red-hot hootchie-cootcher,
She was the roughest, toughest frail,
But Minnie had a heart as big as a whale.

[Call and response scat chorus differs every time. The following is simplified:]
Hi-de-hi-de-hi-di-hi!
Ho-de-ho-de-ho-de-ho!
He-de-he-de-he-de-he!
Ho-de-ho-de-ho!

Now, she messed around with a bloke named Smoky,
She loved him though he was cokie,
He took her down to Chinatown,
He showed her how to kick the gong around.

Now, 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 a platinum wheel.

Now, he gave her his townhouse and his racing horses,
Each meal she ate was a dozen courses;
She had a million dollars worth of nickels and dimes,
And she sat around and counted them all a billion times.

Poor Min, poor Min, poor Min.


Calloway ficou também conhecido pelo seu scat e pelas expressões por si criadas, sendo conhecido pelo Hi-De-Ho Man.

Além disso as suas letras tinham sempre uma grande carga humorísticas, de que é exemplo o fabuloso "Everybody eats when they come to my house":


Have a banana, Hannah,
Try the salami, Tommy,
Give with the gravy, Davy,
Everybody eats when they come to my house!

Try a tomato, Plato,
Here's cacciatore, Dorie,
Taste the baloney, Tony,
Everybody eats when they come to my house!

I fix your favorite dishes,
Hopin' this good food fills ya!
Work my hands to the bone in the kitchen alone,
You better eat if it kills ya!

Pass me a pancake, Mandrake,
Have an hors-d'oeuvre-y, Irvy,
Look in the fendel (?), Mendel,
Everybody eats when they come to my house!

Hannah! Davy! Tommy! Dora! Mandrake!
Everybody eats when they come to my house!

Pastafazoola, Talullah!
Oh, do have a bagel, Fagel,
Now, don't be so bashful, Nashville,
Everybody eats when they come to my house!

Hey, this is a party, Marty,
Here, you get the cherry, Jerry,
Now, look, don't be so picky, Micky,
'Cause everybody eats when they come to my house!

All of my friends are welcome,
Don't make me coax you, moax you,
Eat the tables, the chairs, the napkins, who cares?
You gotta eat if it chokes you!

Oh, do have a knish, Nishia,
Pass me the latke, Macky,
Chile con carne for Barney,
Everybody eats when they come to my house!

Face! Buster! Chair! Chops! Fump!
Everybody eats when they come to my house!

Everybody eats when they come to my house!