É essencial ouvir Cab Calloway



JNPDI! é fascinado por Cab Calloway e semana sim semana não os seus discos tocam aqui pela aparelhagem.

As suas expressões vocais, a sua alegria contagiante e o espírito da época (anos 30/40) são imprescindíveis.

Por isso mesmo aqui transcrevemos hoje algumas das canções que o celebrizaram e que vale a pena ouvir em disco ou nos filmes de animação em que a sua voz integrou a respectiva banda sonora:


Minnie the Moocher(Mills-Calloway)

Transcribed from Cab Calloway and His Orchestra, recorded December 23, 1930. From Cab Calloway and His Orchestra 1930-1931; The Chronogical Classics 516.

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.


A Chicken Ain't Nothin' But a Bird

Transcribed from vocals by Cab Calloway, recorded October 14, 1940,
From Cab Calloway and His Orchestra, 1940-1941; Chronological Classics 629.

Chicken!
Nice fried chicken!
Barbecued chicken!
Won't you send it down the line.

Say!
Everyone's talking 'bout chicken;
Chicken's a popular bird;
Anywhere you go, you're bound to find,
A chicken ain't nothin' but a bird.

Some folks call it a fowl,
That's the story I heard,
But let 'em call it this and let 'em call it that,
A chicken ain't nothin' but a bird.

You can boil it, roast it, broil it,
Cook it in a pan or a pot,
Eat it with potatoes, rice or tomatoes,
But chicken's still what you got, boy!

It was a dish for old Caesar,
Also King Henry the Third,
But Columbus was smart, said "You can't fool me,
A chicken ain't nothin' but a bird."

You can boil it, roast it, broil it,
Cook it in a pan or a pot,
Eat it with potatoes, rice or tomatoes,
A chicken's still what you got, boy!

It was a dish for old Caesar,
Also King Henry the Third,
But Columbus was smart, said "You can't fool me,
A chicken ain't nothin' but a bird."


Everybody Eats When They Come To My House

Transcribed from vocals by Cab Calloway, recorded December 11, 1947,
From Cab Calloway and His Orchestra: 1942-1947, Chronological Classics 996, and also found on Cab Calloway: Are You Hep to the Jive? Columbia Legacy's Rhythm and Soul Series, CK 57645.

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!


Hep! Hep! The Jumpin' Jive

Transcribed from vocals by Cab Calloway, recorded July 17, 1939,
From Cab Calloway and His Orchestra, 1939-1940, Chronological Classics 595.


Hep-hep!
De-boodle-de-ack, de-boodle-de-ackasaki!
Hep-hep!
Oh, rang-tang, te-dah-dah,
Hep-hep!
Gonna tell you 'bout the jumpin' jive,
Hep-hep!
Jim, jam, jump, the jumpin' jive;
Hep-hep!
Cats gonna beat out this mellow jive;
Hep-hep!
Beat it out on the mellow side.

Boy?
Whatcha gonna say there, gate?
Oh, boy!
Whatcha gonna say there, gate?
Palomar, shalomar, Swanee shore,
Let me dig that jive once more,
Boy!
Lay it right on down to the gator.
Oh, boy!
Lay it flat as a gator.
Now, can't you hear those hepcats call,
Yeah!
Come on, boys, let's have a ball!
The jim, jam, jump on the jumpin' jive
Makes you dig your jive on the mellow side,
Hep-hep!
Hep-hep!
The jim, jam, jump is the solid jive
Makes you nine foot tall when you're four foot five,
Hep-hep!
Hep-hep!
Now, don't you be that ickeroo,
Get hep, come on and follow through,
Then you get your steady foo,
You make the joint jump like the gators do,
The jim, jam, jump on the jumpin' jive
Makes you like your eggs on the Jersey side,
Hep-hep!
Hep-hep!
The jim, jam, jumpin' jive
Makes you hep-hep on the mellow side!
Hep-hep!
Hep-hep!
Hep-hep!
Hep-hep!
The jim, jam, jump on the jumpin' jive,
Will make you dig your jive on the mellow side,
Hep-hep!
Hep-hep!
The jim, jam, jump, the solid jive
Makes you nine foot tall when you're four foot five,
Hep-hep!
Hep-hep!
Now, don't you be that ickeroo,
Get hep, come on and follow through,
Then you get your steady foo,
You make the joint jump like the gators do,
The jim, jam, jump on the jumpin' jive
Makes you like your eggs on the Jersey side,
Hep-hep!
Hep-hep!
The jim, jam, jumpin' jive,
Makes you hep-hep on the mellow side;
Hep-hep!
Hep-hep!
[Scating]
Now, I've told you 'bout the jumpin' jive,
The jim, jam, jump, the jumpin' jive,
I know you dug this mellow jive,
Oh, you dig it on the mellow side.