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Arabian riff

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The Streets of Cairo, or the Poor Little Country Maid is a well-known melody in the United States. Alternate titles for children's songs using this melody include "The Girls in France" and "The Southern Part of France".[citation needed]

History

Purportedly the original version of the song was written by Sol Bloom, a showman (and later, a U.S. Congressman) who was the entertainment director of the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. It included an attraction called "A Street in Cairo" produced by Gaston Akoun, which featured snake charmers, camel rides, and a scandalous dancer known as Little Egypt. Songwriter James Thornton penned the words and music to his own version of this melody, "Streets Of Cairo or The Poor Little Country Maid". Copyrighted in 1895, it was made popular by his wife Lizzie Cox, who used the stage name Bonnie Thornton.[1] The oldest known recording of the song is from 1895, performed by Dan Quinn (Berliner Discs 171-Z).[2]

The first five notes of the song are similar to the beginning of a French song named "Colin Prend Sa Hotte" (1719), which in turn resembles note for note an Algerian or Arabic song titled "Kradoutja".[3] The song appears frequently in cartoons when something that is connected with deserts, Arabia, Egypt, belly dancing, or snake charming is being displayed.[citation needed]

The song was also recorded as "They Don't Wear Pants in the Southern Part of France" by John Bartles, the version sometimes played by radio host Dr. Demento.

Lyrics

As with many songs often sung by children, there are wide variations to the common lyrics.[citation needed]

Variant #1

Oh the girls in France
Wear their whiskers in their pants
And the things they do
Would kill a Russian Jew
And the clothes they wear
Would freeze a polar bear.
Do what your mama says
And do what your papa says
But don't split your pants
Doing the Hootchy Kootchy Dance

Variant #2

Oh the girls in France did the hokey cokey dance
Singing Annie put your fanny close to mine:
Oh the girls in Spain did the very, very same
Singing Nellie put your belly close to mine.

Variant #3

There's a place in France where the naked ladies dance.
With their long blond hair and the boobies in the air.
There's a hole in the wall where the men can see it all.
The way they shake is enough to kill a snake.

Variant #4 (Common in Britain)

There's a place in France where the naked ladies dance.
and the men play drums
on the naked ladies' bums !!
There are alternate endings of the final verse, including:
* But the men don't care 'cause they're in their underwear
* But the men don't care 'cause they like to see them bare
* But the men don't care 'cause they chew their underwear
* But the men don't care 'cause they smoke their underwear

Variant #5 (Common In United States)

There's a place in France where the naked ladies dance.
There's a hole in the wall where the boys can see it all.
But the cops don't care 'cause they're in their underwear.

Variant #6 (Glaswegian version)

Does yer maw drink wine, does she drink it aw the time?
Does yer da drink gin, does he drink it oot a tin?
Does she git a funny feelin' when her heed's hit the cielin

Variant #7 (Common in Canada)

In the Land of Oz, where the ladies wear no bras,
But the men don't care, 'cos they wear no underwear.
And the kids don't mind, 'cos they leave their clothes behind.

Variant #8 (Also common in Canada)

In the Land of Oz, where the women wear no bras,
And the men play drums on the naked ladies bums,
Along came a genie with an artificial weenie.

Variant #9 (Also Common in Canada)

In the Land of France where the ladies wear no pants
And the men wear glasses to see their asses.

Variant #10

There's a place in France where the naked ladies dance
And the dance they do was created by Magoo.
But Magoo couldn't dance so they kicked him in the pants
And the pants he wore cost a dollar forty-four.

Variant #11

There's a place on Mars where women smoke cigars
And men wear bikinis and children drink martinis
Every breath you take is enough to kill a snake
When the snake is dead you put roses in his head
When the roses die you put diamonds in his eys
When the diamonds crack you pour mustard on his back

Variant #12

There's a place in France where the naked ladies dance
There's a hole in the wall where you can see it all
There's a snake in the grass with a booger up his ass
There's a King and a Queen with a diamond ding-a-ling

Variant #13

There's a place in France where the sexy men dance
And they go so far you'd think you're in a bar
So I suggest that you go smoke on your cigar

Variant #14

There's a place in France where the naked ladies dance
And the men wear bikinis
And the children drink martinis

Travadja La Moukère

In France there is a popular song that immigrants from Algeria brought back in the 1960s called "Travadja La Moukère", which uses the same exact Hoochy Coochy tune. Its original tune, said to have been based on an original Arab song, was created around 1850 and subsequently adopted by the Foreign Legion.[citation needed]

Partial lyrics :

Travadja La Moukère
Travadja Bono
Trempe ton cul dans la soupière
Si c'est chaud c'est que ça brûle
Si ça brûle c'est que c'est chaud !

"Shir Hasrisim"

In Israel, a popular song for the festival of Purim is "Shir Hasrisim" ("Song of the Ignorants"), written by Natan Alterman. The song pokes fun at the story of Esther, by using silly, almost childlike descriptions of the villains of the Purim story (Ahasuerus is a Baby, Haman is a drunkard). The tune used is most likely a folk tune among the local Arab population.[4]

The use of melody in popular music

Since the piece is not copyrighted, it has been used as a basis for several songs, especially in the early 20th century:[citation needed]

  • "Hoolah! Hoolah!"
  • "Dance of the Midway"
  • "Coochi-Coochi Polka"
  • "Danse Du Ventre"
  • "Kutchi Kutchi"

Later popular songs that include all or part of the melody include:[1]

Appearances in cartoons

Appearances in computer games

From cartoons the song has been adapted to video games. It appears on following computer and videogames:

Appearances on television

Appearances in films

In Charles Lamont's 1932 film War Babies, the second film in the Baby Burlesks series. The song is briefly used while Shirley Temple's character Charmaine is dancing in the café.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Elliott, June Anne (2000-02-19). "There's a Place in France: That "Snake Charmer" Song". All About Middle Eastern Dance. Retrieved 2009-09-17.
  2. ^ Settlemier, Tyrone (2009-07-07). "Berliner Discs: Numerical Listing Discography". Online 78rpm Discographical Project. Retrieved 2009-09-17.
  3. ^ Adams, Cecil (2007-02-23). "What is the origin of the song "There's a place in France/Where the naked ladies dance?" Are bay leaves poisonous?". The Straight Dope. Creative Loafing Media, Inc. Retrieved 2009-09-17.
  4. ^ "Shir Hasrisim"

External links

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